Rochester Quick Trip and School Year Wrap Up

Our Rochester trip went by quicker than anticipated. Erin ended up with the flu within hours of starting the weekend adventure. Despite feeling a bit off, the family was still able to see the local zoo just outside of Rochester and go for a nice bike ride near the rivers that run through the city. At the zoo, we got to see badgers, owls, porcupines, wolves, bears, otters and big cats in action. Badgers were digging, porcupines were climbing up and down poles, and the cougar was hissing at something behind us which we couldn't discern (It definitely wasn't hissing at us because we tried to make it hiss at us but then it just ran away). Emma's first word that Dan heard her say was cougar when she was a baby. We decided that she needed a picture from her cougar reunion for her 12th birthday (see below). Besides the zoo, we found a beautiful trail where we check out some vibrant green shrubbery. Some of the shrubbery had fallen over in the last storm so we ended up dodging quite a few fallen trees as we meandered our way through the forest. The highlight of the trip for the girls was finding some art work with words etched into the cement while we checked out the Mayo Clinic in the downtown area. Everyone randomly walked onto a word that we said represented something in our future. Analise stepped on World, Emma stepped on Knowledge, Erin stepped on Abundance and Dan stepped on Sentimental. We'll just have to wait and see what awaits us. We did manange to stay overnight at our Airbnb but early in the morning we had to head home. The flu had managed to become unbearable and we returned early.

On Monday Emma celebrated her 12th birthday with Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Mark. She received so many amazing gifts from relatives. Favorite gifts this year included Lego kits, a 3D pen and puzzles. This week completes the school year for the girls. Emma's middle school group gets to go to Urban Air together for their end of the year celebration. Analise's group does a track and field event followed by water day. The final photo is Analise with her besties Ella and Tessa at the end of the year party. We made it through the first middle school year without too much damage. Overall, it was a year of great growth.

New Challenges

Emma took on one of the most challenging speeches for the middle school Speech Meet this year. She was worried that she wouldn't be able to accomplish what she intended to do by the due date, but she was able to complete the task with a week to spare. She was very ashtonished to find out that she placed. We were all very proud of her, but even more impressed that her speech made others become emotional enough to cry.

Analise has been up against her own challenges with her new gymnastics group. She joined the Stillwater gymnastics team this past spring and has been pushing herself to learn new spins and jumps on the beam. She is also getting a lot of height with her moves on the bars. She will be continuing her practices this summer along with a new sport, synchronized swimming.

Iowa Adventures

On their first day, the girls and Dan visited a park where they hiked up lots of stairs and got some amazing overlooks. They also visited the local zoo and saw rhinos, kangaroos and red pandas. They walked down by the university and then turned in for the night. As always there was lots of handstands, flips and yoga poses.

On their second day, the gang went to the capital, the history museum and a botanical garden. The garden seemed to be the place all three liked hanging out at the most.

On the third day, the girls and Dan went to Pella, Iowa. They saw a windmill and a mini version of the Netherlands which the town was based off of. They only run the windmill 3-4 days per year so it was a special treat to see the windmill in action. The blades moved at 90 miles per hour and it felt like they were in a windtunnel being inside the building as they grinded the wheat.

On the last day they spent time at the hotel pool and the Solvak museum. They even saw a painting of Emma from the 1800s. Wink-Wink

Winter Activities

During the holidays, the girls spent time completing puzzles, building with Legos, conducting science experiments and trying to beat Dan at chess. This winter has been fairly mild. Temperatures have stayed above zero and we have been able to be out most days. The girls were surprised when we went out for walks around White Bear Lake. The ice was very unstable for most of the winter. One morning when we were out, we saw the ice had slid and piled up on the sand. The girls enjoyed inspecting underneath the ice and climbing on it.

Throughout February both Emma and Analise participated in basketball. They both grew in their skills and understanding of how the game is played. Analise also made the Stillwater gymnastics team and starts with them this April. Emma tried out a group meeting this past month and plans to join the American Heritage Girl group this coming year.

During spring break, we visited Vertical Endeavors again so that Analise got her first chance at rock climbing. We also investigated the Bakken Museum of Electricity, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Elf tree at Lake Harriet, and Minnehaha Falls. Both girls had friend events during the week off. Emma went to Hannah H's birthday on Pi day. They made books and ate French Silk pie and Chicken Pot pie. Analise and mom went to Create and Paint in Stillwater while Emma celebrated Hannah. Analise got to invite Ella to Rising Stars open gym for her belated birthday celebration. The two of them had fun flipping, climbing and running around the gym together. On our last day, we went to Tamarack Nature Center to visit their fort building area. We saw deer and multiple turkeys congregating together under the trees as we adventured around the park. We thought because there was limited snow, there would be little flooding on the paths, but we were wrong. We had to find some alternative routes when the paths became waterlogged. Due to the warm winter, Analise convinced Dan and I that it was okay to take out the trampoline. We experimented with some electricity while jumping.

For the second week of break, Dan took the girls to Iowa to see some farms, parks and city events. Their week started withan adventure to Jurassic World in downtown Minneapolis.

Rock Climbing

Dan took Emma rock climbing while Erin had a broken arm over holiday break.