An epic week in California

The cousins were here! The cousins were here! And what an adventure we had... Aunt Cheryl came with them, but the real thrill was to have two pint-size people to run around with and argue with over who would get to sit next to whom and where every time we piled into the car.

There was a lot of piling into the car. We went to Disneyland, the redwoods, the Mystery Spot, the beach, Fisherman's Wharf, the Exploratorium, Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, and even our favorite neighborhood park. But we walked to that last one. There were princesses and Star Wars villains, sea lions and a fruitless search for banana slugs, and chances for everyone to use a bit of Spanish and Mandarin. It was an exhausting week crammed with fun, and it flew by fast.

And there's still so much that was left on the kids' wish lists. (Yoda, sorry we missed you!) Here's a quick pictorial recap. (If this slideshow isn't working for you, click here to see the pix at Flickr.)

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Waterpark getaway

A few weekends ago, the Holm-Hansens snuck off for a weekend getaway...a waterpark! Just one town over, so no elaborate traveling, but just what the kids needed!There were some big waterslides, and Devon went down over and over again. Rylee's height and lack of swimming ability kept her closer to the ground, but they had some little slides that were just her speed.They loved spending lots of time in the water, sleeping in a hotel, and watching movies at night.

 

The hotel room had a special alcove just for the kids...bunk beds and their own TV. Heaven.

Both kids liked soaking in the hot tub.

Devon playing in the pool

A wintery Minnesota day

For those of you under the impression that Minnesota has awful winters...here are some photos from this weekend. To be fair, we're having unusual (and record setting) weather. It hit 81 both yesterday and today, and we spent lots of time outside. Here are some highlights of our first weekend of the spring!

Devon guiding his sister as he passes on his now too-small bike

Chalk art! Devon and "the evil bear I'll defeat when I'm a superhero"

Rylee squeezing herself into her now too-small baby swing

Devon learning to play some baseball

I suspect winter may try to re-assert itself one more time. But after a full week of 70s+ weather, we can handle anything. The leaves are budding, daffodils are peeking out, and spring will be here for good before we know it.

Costa Rica!

Scott and I just got back from a brief getaway in Costa Rica. We went his cousin Shawn, and his wife, Julie. We had a great time...the weather was lovely. It was around 90 every day, but without a lot of humidity and usually with a nice breeze, so it was easy to take. The sun was brutal, though, and I managed to burn a little bit despite my 100 SPF sunscreen. I feel like I've been posting too many pictures lately, but I had a hard time narrowing these down...

Activities

We had some fun adventures on the trip. On our first full day, we went horseback riding. The trip was fun - it was about a 2-hour trail ride through the hills. There was some great views...and some heart-racing moments as we went up and down steep trails with big drops off to the side. We saw our first monkeys and iguanas of the trip, which made us feel we were really not in Minnesota anymore!



On our second day, Scott and Shawn chartered a fishing boat and went out for a half-day of deep sea fishing. They caught lots of fish - mostly red snapper and some grouper. Scott also caught a large rooster fish, which they threw back. That night, the fishing guides took us to dinner at a local restaurant, where we were able to eat the fish that the boys caught that morning.



We took two tours arranged through the resort. On one day, we went on a forest walk, which included a number of "hanging bridges" suspended high up in the trees. We didn't see much wildlife on the walk (other than a cool huge orange bug), but we did see lots of pretty trees and plants. It felt good to get out and stretch our legs a bit.

We also took a day-trip to the Palo Verde National Park, where we went on a long boat ride (and saw lots of cool animals - see below). The rest of the time was spent hanging out at our resort....enjoying the beach, pool, naps, open bar, and trays of pineapple and other fresh fruit.

Animals

One of my favorite parts of the trip was the wildlife. At our resort, we saw lots of monkeys. Every day, 10-20 white faced capuchins would come to the beach to look for food. We also saw (and heard) howler monkeys. There were also quite a few iguanas running around. On our Palo Verde boat ride, we saw many crocodiles and lots of interesting birds. Devon was very excited to hear about the monkeys and the crocodiles ("did you pet it?"). He was also hoping we'd see cheetahs (!?), but not surprisingly, we didn't.


Landscape

I wanted to share a few pictures of the trees...it was nice to be around so much green! It was the dry season there, and we were in the dry part of the country, but it was still very lush.



Finally, a big thank you to Grandma Chris and Grandpa Jerry who spent the week with the kids. It was great to have a chance to get away, and we couldn't have done it without them!

Halloween!

Here are a few photos from this year's Halloween - first, pumpkin carving. Both kids enjoyed the pumpkin carving this year, especially Devon. He cheerfully cleaned out his pumpkin (a task deemed too icky to do in previous years), and then offered to get Rylee's ready for her as well.

Devon designed the face for his pumpkin (the one with the squiggly mouth). Rylee wanted...a princess. Of course. The zigzag line across the forehead is supposed to be a crown. Oy.

Devon's pumpkin

Rylee's princess pumpkin

Posing with the pumpkins

Halloween itself was lots of fun. The weather was perfect - clear and crisp, but not too cold. Both kids started their days with parties at school. I volunteered at Devon's party, which was a fun way to get a feel for the kindergarten room and Devon's classmates. After school, both kids came to my office. We do some elaborate decorating every year (I'll post pictures!) and host some child care centers for trick or treating on Halloween. Devon and Rylee enjoyed taking in the decorations, and doing some cubicle trick or treating. From there, we went to the town Halloween party, where the kids enjoyed pizza, balloon animals, games, and lots of bounce houses. The festivities included with a small amount of trick or treating - only about 3 houses or so. The kids had some unexpected surprises, as two of our neighbors had special treats set aside for them...including glow in the dark pez dispensers and finger puppets. All in all, a nice Halloween.

Here are some costume pictures...both kids had very strong opinions about their costumes this year, and both were excited to finally get to wear them! Devon knew he wanted to be a superhero, ultimately choosing Iron Man...and Rylee enthusiastically requested an elephant costume.

Happy Halloween!

Pony ride!

Here's a random photo from last weekend. We went to Plymouth on Parade, our town's annual fall festival. It features a small town parade (high school marching bands, scouts, etc.), followed by a festival in the park. There was a petting zoo, and both kids enjoyed petting lots of animals (llamas, donkeys, cows, ducks, rabbits, sheep, goats) and jumping in the bounce houses.

There were also pony rides. For the first time, Devon passed on the pony rides. I think he was feeling too grown up. (He seemed to regret the choice though, given how quickly he zoomed to the pony rides this past weekend at the corn maze!). Rylee, however, was very eager to take a spin on a pony. She's seen here astride "Blueberry."

And yes, Rylee did select her own outfit for the day. She was very proud to march around in her striped pants, frilly skirt, and polka dot shirt (or as Rylee calls it, her "coconut" shirt... she still gets polka dots and coconuts mixed up). That's my girl!

A few Easter photos

The Holm-Hansens had a lovely, but low-key, Easter. The kids were looking forward to a visit from the Easter bunny. Devon was worried that the bunny wouldn't come, as Scott and I had theater tickets on Saturday night which promised to get us in on the late side. Despite his concerns, they enthusiastically left out a snack for the rabbit - a carrot from Devon, goldfish crackers from Rylee. Both were delighted to find that the Easter bunny had made an appearance. Both enthusiastically hunted for eggs and enjoyed some treats and gifts in their Easter baskets (and presents from Grandma Lea!). The day was lovely, so we were also able to take a nice walk and play at the playground. All in all, a lovely spring day! Here are a few photos...Devon exploring his basket, Rylee hunting for eggs, and both of them modeling some new clothes from their baskets. Happy Easter!

Halloween - the main event

OK, here goes our last Halloween-themed post for 2010. Devon was thrilled to finally get to celebrate Halloween today. He inexplicably opted for a scarecrow costume...I assumed he'd want to be a pirate or a robot. He knew he wanted to wear overalls and a cowboy hat, and together we figured out how to manage his straw. (We glued raffia into felt arm and leg bands so that straw would be coming out of his shirt and pants). Rylee went in an adorable handmade frog costume, on loan from a colleague. The picture doesn't do it justice - imagine cute eyeballs on top of her head, and flippers attached to her shoes. She was very excited to wear her costume...hopping around the house and making "grribit" sounds. When I asked her what a frog says, however, she'd respond "thank you mommy."

We started our celebrating at the party held each year at our town's community center. Both kids loved playing in the bounce houses and eating pizza. Devon also enjoyed playing games and trying to win some prizes. After that, we headed home to do some trick-or-treating. They both enjoyed going door-to-door in the neighborhood, armed with their flashlight from Grandma Lea that made spooky sounds. After that, it was home for baths and some spooky books, and finally, sleep. Happy Halloween everyone!

Pumpkin carving

One more post in preparation for Halloween. In mid-October, Devon and I went to carve pumpkins with his friend Margaret, an annual tradition. Devon carefully drew his face on his pumpkin, for me to carve for him. He also helped to design a kitty pumpkin for his sister. He stubbornly refused to help "scoop out the goop", but enjoyed the rest of the process (especially toasting and eating pumpkin seeds). We had amazing weather this month...and had the strange experience of sitting outside carving our pumpkins in 86 degree weather. Sadly, that means that the pumpkins only lasted a short time before needing to be discarded.

One other note - Rylee is shown wearing her very favorite shirt. It's hard to make out the detail in the photo, but it's covered with robots. She would wear it every day if allowed. She calls it her "silly bobot" shirt. Also featured is her preferred hairstyle - her child care teachers introduced her to the concept of ponytails, and now she likes to have one every day.

Prequel to Halloween

The kids are both very excited about Halloween this year! Devon has been having fun decorating the house and reading spooky books. He also had a great time helping my work team decorate for the annual cube decorating contest. This year, we went with an "under the sea" theme, and Devon helped to transform their workspace with lots of homemade paperplate fish and jellyfish. He also donated lots of plush undersea friends from his room. I'm pleased to announce that our entry won first place in the "cutest" category.

On Friday, they had costume parties at school. I was worried about them destroying their actual costumes, so both kids went in their "back up" costumes. Devon opted for a pirate costume. He was especially excited about the hook and the face painting. Rylee was excited to dress as a monkey. She ran around all morning exclaiming "I a monkey" and "Rylee so fuzzy." In the afternoon, they went trick or treating at my office. Rylee managed to grasp the concept amazingly quickly, running from cube to cube with her bag extended, squealing "trick treat!"

A very big storm!

The Holm-Hansen's experienced the wrath of nature last week. We've been experiencing lots of thunder storms lately. One was particularly violent - the heaviest rain I've ever seen, strong winds, hail. During worst of it, we stood under our underhang by the front door for a few minutes, and couldn't see more than 5-10 feet ahead of us. When the storm settled, we surveyed the damage. The back yard was fine...it was pretty well protected by trees. In the front yard, we had some small limbs and lots of leaves come off the tree, but not too bad. The side yard was another story....our peonies and rhubarb were snapped off at the base. The leaves of our hostas are full of holes from the hail. We lost lots of our raspberry and blackberry plants (sadly, just before the harvest!). Most concerning was the large tree that came down. One of our pine trees fell down...narrowly missing the back of the house and garage. It was a decent sized tree, big enough to have caused some harm, so we were grateful that it fell perfectly between the house and some other trees!

Snow babies

For a Minnesota boy, Devon has spent little time playing outside in snow. Two winters ago, he was just too little. Last year, it was extremely cold. Finally, this year, Devon got to experience playing outside. These photos are from Christmas...we had lots of good snow, and it wasn't too cold. Devon (and Rylee!) enjoyed being pulled around the yard and street on the sled, and Devon finally got to make his first snowman (creatively enough, he called him Frosty). When it started to snow, Devon had requested a trip to the grocery store "to get long carrots for the nose, just in case."

A lovely Christmas!

The Holm-Hansens also had a wonderful Christmas. Devon was very excited about Christmas, and enjoyed every part of it...making/selecting and wrapping gifts, baking, singing songs, decorating. He was a bit concerned about his behavior, and gave us frequent status updates regarding his position on the nice/naughty list. He was delighted (and relieved) on Christmas to find that Santa had come.

Devon was especially excited to find that Santa had indeed brought him his much wished for "big boy bike." He had also asked for a fuzzy giraffe on behalf of his non-verbal younger sister. Santa also accommodated this wish, throwing in her own easy chair (Rylee simply loves little chairs!). Both kids had a great deal of fun playing with new toys. Devon enjoyed lots of creative gifts, while Rylee's tended towards the fuzzy and the musical (her absolute favorite things!). There was much dancing and hugging from Rylee throughout the day.

Thanks to everyone for all of the tremendously thoughtful gifts and gestures, not only for the kids but for Scott and me as well. Special thanks to Grandma Chris and Grandpa Jerry, who braved the foul weather to spend the holidays with us this year!

Annual Thanksgiving trip

In November, we made our annual Thanksgiving trip to Iowa to visit Grandma Chris, Grandpa Jerry, and all of the Iowa/Nebraska relatives. Devon was a bit more interested in the wildlife this year, and enjoyed helping Grandpa feed the turkeys. Both kids enjoyed playing with their cousins, and having outings to the Omaha Children's Museum and the Western Heritage museum. It was a great trip!

Fun with llamas

Last weekend, a small town in Wisconsin had their annual big event - the Running of the Llamas. We couldn't resist a road trip to join in the fun. The highlight of the day is llamas racing down the street's main town. While we didn't stay for the race (it was hot and the kids needed naps), we did enjoy the llama- themed events for kids and the llama parade (featuring llamas dressed up in their finest costumes). Here are a few photos from our adventures.

Llamas in costumes...

Rylee enjoys the parade and the sunshine...

Devon shows off his llama ears and llama facepaint....