Field trips

This summer the kids' daycare has organized a number of field trips. They have been to the movies (they saw the Muppets Movie), they have been to Peterson's Produce to inspect the crops and review the state of the upcoming pumpkin harvest. They also took a trip to the Wright County fair to look at the animals. Ericka, having the summer off, volunteered to chaperone many of these trips.

But the field trip that was the most exciting was the trip to go behind the scenes at our local Dairy Queen. Among other things, each kid got to make their own ice cream cone.

Where were the field trips to the ice cream shop when I was a kid?!

Fair season

It's fair season!  We have taken in the Wright and Carver county fairs.
The boys have enjoyed eating deep fried food, feeding animals, "testing" farm equipment, and - of course - taking in a couple of demolition derbies.
Johan very much enjoyed feeding the ostriches. Mathias' favorite, by a wide margin, was the light blue Angry Birds car in the demolition derby. Sadly it didn't win and the paint job isn't as nice as it once was.

Kindergarten orientation

Tuesday was a big day for both kids and parents - the introduction to Kindergarten.  

It was probably a bigger deal for parents than kids. To the kids it was the start of a new adventure. To most parents it seemed like a deep twitch of nostalgia in a reminder that their children rapidly are growing up. We're all passing a major milestone. The kids just don't realize it yet. 

Kids got to visit their future class rooms and meet their teachers - Mathias is blessed to have Mrs. Jordan for his teacher. The kids also got to meet their new classmates. Our town has no less than 8 different Kindergarten classes so the chances of ending up with your favorite friends aren't great. Mathias lucked out here too and several kids he knows, and likes, are in his group.
Mathias is very excited to go. And we're excited for him.   

Bending it like Beckham

Mathias and Johan have tried their hands, or rather feet, at soccer this summer. Kids summer soccer in our town was a surprisingly large undertaking with about a 120 kids divided into cohorts of 6-7 players. 

Mathias played in the six-year-old group called the Wild Ones, wearing green jerseys.  After a bit of a slow start he finished strong scoring three goals in the last game of the season. 

Johan's group, the Lollipop Sharks, worked more on the basics, such as keeping track of which goal you were supposed to shoot at (and which one not to). Johan spend most of his time running around smiling and waiving at mom. 

Both boys really enjoyed their summer activity.  I'm sure the sidelines were crowded with undercover talent scouts.  

Counting down to the big K

Yes, KINDERGARTEN is looming on the not-so-distant horizon. 

Mathias is pretty excited about it. He created a countdown chart of sorts to track the remaining days until the BIG day. 

Summer road trip: Mamma, we're all cowboys now!

We left the Black Hills but everyone, especially Johan took a bit of it with us home. 

He has been wearing his souvenir hat just about every day since we came home.

Howdy! 

Summer road trip: splash!

If there was an Olympic sport just for 6-year-olds  I think it should be throwing rocks into lakes. And there is no better place to do it than Pactola Lake in the black hills.  The lake bottom and the shore are both made up entirely by little rocks. So as long as you were shoes while wading around in the shallow water you can throw rocks all day. 

Summer road trip: Reptile Gardens

If you have driven along any of the major roads in South Dakota you have no doubt seen the signs promoting Reptile Gardens. You see the signs and presume it is a hokey tourist trap that you'll regret pulling over for. But we were pleasantly surprised.  It is a combination of a garden and a zoo where you are very pleased to have a thick layer of glass between you and the animals. We saw a huge variety of snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and alligators, bugs and spiders.  The only animal you could get close to were the giant Aldabra tortoises (live on land as oppose to their marine relative the turtle).  Oddly enough Johan's favorite by far was a display of regular cockroaches. Yikes!

Summer road trip: Custer Park

With good timing we drove the wildlife loop through Custer park at dusk when most of the animals seemed to be out and about. The boys were really excited to have a some close encounters with bison from the relative safety of the car.