Springbrook Nature Center

Last Saturday the kids and I went to the Springbrook Nature Center for a walk in the woods. The day was beautiful -- warm and not humid. The smell of fall was in the air. We met my friend Shelah and her son Wyatt there. We were going to just walk around the beaver pond but ended up walking the whole 2 mile route by accident. Yup, should have turned right back there. The kids were troopers. Us moms were worn out. Kids are pretty loud in the woods.

Another Zoo-licious Day

Another trip to the Como Zoo...this time with Grandpa Ron and Grandma Lori. We enjoyed the new outdoor water features and the new Amazon Jungle display. Pretty cool! This excursion took place a couple of weekends ago already. Can't believe how quickly time flies. The boys acted like monkeys all mornings. Very hard to get any decent photos of them. They were pretty bouncy.

Eeek! It's a Spider!

It's been the summer of spiders inside and outside our home. Little black weird ones in the house and this HUGE monster spider who happens to be living outside on our laundry room window. (Thank God.) He's been living there for weeks. It was hard to photograph the monster because his web is on the window. But I think I got a pretty good photo of him finally after about 30 shots. Haha. The kids and I tried to figure out what kind of spider it is by looking at spiders on the web (no pun intended). The closest picture we found was of a "house spider." How vague is that name? At least it's not a brown recluse! That was my main concern. The spider's body is about the size of a dime, a dime with really long, hairy, multi-colored legs. The spider is very gross and intriguing at the same time.

Anyone know what kind of spider this is? I'm letting him live for now. Jonathan had to show out neighbor Steve the spider. Steve then showed his wife, Lynn, who let out quite the squeal. Funny. The neighbor offered to "do away" with him for us. I said I wasn't ready for that yet. Why? I don't really know. He's just kind of interesting and like I said he's OUTSIDE.

Eric's New Room

For those of you who have been in our home, you may remember the gross decor poor little Eric had in his room. Blech! We were finally able to redecorate. It looks great! Somehow my photos turned out blurry and the photos do not do the room justice. You'll get the general idea, however. Eric LOVES his new room.

Train Park - Part 2

Train Park

There is a new park in Fridley that the boys and I like to go to with friends of ours. The one big bonus for the park is the railroad tracks that run past the park. Trains roll by regularly and are a big attraction for Jonathan and Eric. We like to count the cars and compare how fast they are going. Every once in a while, we get lucky and see two trains at the same time going opposite ways. That's always a hit. The train engineers wave and smile at the boys as they watch wide-eyed. Luckily, the train whistle is blown farther down the line.

Eric and Zachary

On Labor Day, we were at John and Jackie's for dinner. The Blair family was there as well. Eric thought it would be fun to hold Zachary. Aren't they cute? I think Zachary was kind of intrigued by Eric. Eric enjoyed the experience although I think Zach got a bit heavy while I was hunting for the camera. After taking several photos of the two, Eric was ready to have his lap back to himself.