Edinborough Indoor Park

Attention, all Twin Cities mommies! We found a cool new place to play since this endless winter is hampering Miles' need to get the wiggles out! Last night, Miles and I visited Edinborough Park in Edina for the first time. What a great facility. It's really an indoor park with lots of trees and plants. They have a huge 3-story play system with a jumpy castle, slides, etc. They also have a huge gym area with another jumpy castle in the corner, where kids were playing basketball, throwing frisbees, and scooting around on various wheelie chairs. Last night was not very busy, but I can imagine that winter weekends are nutty there.

It was also really cool to watch Miles' behavior in a new space with new people. He was very tentative and watched the other kids for a while. In the big gym, he was very concerned with stacking the cones and putting all the playground balls away in the crate instead of running around like crazy. He was also tentative of the jumpy castle the first time in, but then ran over there before we left after watching other kids jump around. Of course I was worried about him getting pounced on by the big kids. On the big play system, Miles stuck to the safe toddler area and played with the puzzles on the wall for a while, and then eventually climbed up in the play system once some bigger kids ran through. He's a very thoughtful little guy and we love watching him learn!

Christmas Recap

We had a very relaxing Christmas holiday with a week of vacation for all of us in Wisconsin with Katie's family. Katie was able to sing Christmas masses at the Basilica before we traveled east, a treat to be part of the candlelit midnight mass! Miles got right into the groove of tearing paper and bows at every house we visited. Some of his favorite hits were a work bench, laptop, Duplos, a vacuum, train set, and easel. He certainly has more than he needs! Lots more photos of Miles and our family visits are in our photos link to the right. Our week included a day trip to Oshkosh to visit Katie's grandmothers, aunts, & uncles. It's so fun to share Miles with everyone! We also took advantage of grandparents' time to get away for a night to celebrate our anniversary at Sundara Inn & Spa in Wisconsin Dells. We highly recommend it if you have the chance to get there! Now we look ahead to some down time in the new year before our work heats up again. Happy 2011 to you all!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the three of us! We look forward to spending time with Katie's family this Christmas in Wisconsin and send love to Jason's family all over the U.S. this year. All the best for a happy 2011!

Snow Days

I case you haven't heard, Minneapolis (in fact most of the Midwest) got ridiculous amounts of snow last weekend. We got around 17" at our house on Saturday. This storm pretty much shut down the city: airports, busses, and lots of events were shut down on Saturday and Sunday. Schools did not reopen until Wednesday. I am relieved that the city is coming back to life. Traffic and temperatures have been horrible all week. I wanted to give you a peek of what our family did in the snow storm. Miles and I got up early to make daddy some pancakes and after breakfast Jason headed out for snowblowing round 1 and to help many of the neighbors who needed it. I've always loved this city, but this week I'm not so sure!

18 Months

Miles recently turned 18 months old and we are constantly amazed by how fast he grows and changes! He is at the stage where his motor skills are very developed and the language skills are just starting. Miles is very physical: running, jumping, galloping, marching, and climbing. If you turn away from him while playing the basement, he will climb to the 2nd step and jump off onto the floor. Miles' fine motor skills are also impressive. We started with a velcro obsession, then zippers, and now laces. He is interested in everything mechanical and studies to learn how things work. Thankfully, he is able to focus on things for quite a long time. On the language side, Miles understands everything we say. His own words are coming slowly including doggie, daddy, yeah, no, all done, right there, and just starting to say mama. Jason and I find it humbling as we realize that he mimics everything we do - all of the good stuff (like putting his napkin on his lap at dinner) and all of the bad stuff (like shooing the dog away from the dinner table.) Things continue to get easier as Miles gets more independent. We say "time to go upstairs to bed" and he says "yeah" and heads up the stairs. Same with putting his boots & coat on, going to the dinner table, etc. Such fun adventures watching him learn about the world! More to come as Miles learns about the holidays!!

Baaa Boo Boo, Waddy!

Here's a little peek into our living room after work one day. Miles found this book particularly funny, especially when the baby speaks to the dog in the story. He's starting to repeat words after us, and in this one it's "Boo Boo!"

Trick or Treat!

This Halloween was Miles first experience carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating - so fun to watch him learn! Grammy was here on Halloween afternoon when we carved pumpkins and although she hates carving pumpkins, she helped Miles to scoop out the seeds and Jason did the rest. Miles wasn't so sure he liked getting his hands dirty! We all headed out trick-or-treating around dusk and visited our friends in the neighborhood. Miles got a ride in the wagon. He got the hang of holding his bucket tightly and walking up to each front door, but he wanted all of the candy, not just a few pieces. When we got home and kids came to our door, he screamed and stomped his feet because we were giving away our candy. He wasn't in charge of answering the door for long! I'm sure next year will be a whole new adventure!