Time to Sing

This past week Happy Time had their annual Christmas show. We weren't exactly sure what Isaac was going to do when it was his group's turn. Apparently, he wasn't in the mood to sing at that moment. See for yourself...

I almost get the feeling he's thinking something like "if I just stay perfectly still...maybe they'll stop" :-)

What's that smell?

I can give you three good reasons why using an oven as a storage location for plastic containers might not be a good idea. Let the reasons begin:

Fortunately, the error was corrected before any serious damage was done to the oven, home or persons. The same can't be said about the cookies and rice crispy treats inside those containers though.

Thanksgiving and Bentleyville Lights

This Thanksgiving weekend we were joined by Joel's parents, Pat and Tom, for a few days of Holiday celebration in Duluth . We enjoyed a Thanksgiving Eve church service on Wed. evening, a day full of good eating on Thursday, and a couple of fun outings on Friday. I'm proud to say that my turkey turned out relatively well, considering it's the 2nd turkey I've fixed in my married life of 7 1/2 years. I'm sure I'll learn new tricks of the trade in the years to come, but for now I'm satisfied with the turnout my trusty roaster gives! Friday we ventured out to experience a bit of "Black Friday" - just visiting one store - which was enough. Then on Friday evening we took the train ride to visit Bentleyville, the Midwest's largest Holiday light display, located at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth. For those of you within the state, we would highly recommend you make the trip North to visit (open evenings through 12/23). Check it out here: www.bentleyvilleusa.org
Here's a few highlights of the Bentleyville excursion (photos courtesy of Papa J/Tom):

A snapshot of us on the train ride down to Bayfront...toasty warm but soon to be cold...

The tree's stats are pretty impressive...more than twice as tall as the tree at Rockefeller Plaza in New York, which makes it the tallest man-made Christmas tree in the U.S. Not only was it beautiful, it was very cool to watch it synchronized with the music that was playing through the speakers throughout the park.

Hope you all had a good Turkey Day!

Fun at the Parade

This past Friday evening we attended the Duluth "City of the North Parade." It reminds me of the Minneapolis Aquatennial Torchlight Parade - an evening parade with lights and sounds - except for the cold part. For some reason Duluthians thought it would be a good tradition to start a Holiday parade the Friday night before Thanksgiving and it has stuck all of these years. Regardless of the cold, hundreds of Duluthians lined the streets in the 20-degree (and falling) temperatures between Lake Ave and 5th Ave W downtown to see the 80-unit parade, complete with marching bands, lighted floats, dance lines, fire trucks, and other fun entries. We didn't make it through the entire parade, but we saw enough for a good time. Here's a photo to prove we were there - on the sidelines and bundled up:


And here's a couple of photos of the parade units:


Our favorite entry (and the talk of the parade) was a float built by float-maker and local business owner, who designed a lit-up steam engine train, cars full of oversized toys, and a fog that was released from the train funnel on top of the engine that smelled like peppermint. The float maker had apparently experimented with scented floats before, but the peppermint was a first. It was quite a hit, and the float was pretty cool, too.

Announcing...The Number Two

Yes, the number two is very significant to us these days. Isaac being 2 (1/2) years old, and also we're excited to announce that we are expecting our second child (consequently, we are 2 1/2 months along :-)), due in mid-June. Let me include 2 pictures below to put things into perspective (not to mention the 2nd Lilypie ticker you now see on top of our blog)...Not sure which one of us looks more excited in the photos above...I'll let you decide :-)

Halloween Fun

This year for Halloween we decided to check out the Duluth "Malloween," where they offer indoor trick-or-treating at the Miller Hill Mall for young children in costume from 4-6 p.m. Of course, we made a quick pit stop on the way to scoop up our free hot chocolate from Caribou due to our participation in the Halloween Holiday via costume (thanks, Isaac!)...

To us, the mall was a great alternative to spending a cold and dark evening outside going from house to house. We enjoyed seeing the many other children in their costumes, too. Isaac enjoyed getting the candies in his pumpkin pail, and we still made it home in time to be able to hand out candy to our neighborhood trick-or-treaters, too, which Isaac also enjoyed (once we explained the candy in his pumpkin pail was his, and the candy in the "big orange bowl" was for the other friends...) Here's a few highlights of the experience...
And what would a trip to the mall be without riding (what seems like) a few hundred times up & down the escalator...

Hope you had a fun and safe Halloween!

Full House

This past weekend we joined the rest of my fam (2 sisters, 1 brother, their sign others/spouses and children) and parents in Alexandria, MN where we all stayed under one roof in large (b-e-a-utiful) 6-bedroom vacation rental on Lake Latoka. Kids (cousins) had a great time together, and we adults managed to have a few laughs, too. The home was fully furnished and equipped with everything we could need for an enjoyable time - even some outdoor bikes and toys. Saturday when the weather was crummy we headed to the large indoor waterpark (Arrowwood) in Alex and the kids had a blast. Here's a few snapshots/highlights of the weekend (click on the link below for entire gallery):

http://picasaweb.google.com/joeltjohnson/AlexandriaThompsonVacation2010

We're already talking about a weekend next summer when we can do it again...

Fireman at the Zoo

This weekend we attended our 2nd consecutive "Boo at the Zoo" at the Duluth Lake Superior Zoo. This year, Isaac is dressing as a fireman (not sure if you can make this out, but his pants actually say "F" Fire "D" Department - I thought it was a nice touch):We saw some friends from preschool during our rounds of trick-or-treating:And of course saw our fair share of animals on the zoo grounds:We enjoyed a boo-riffic time of spook-tacular trick-or-treating, had a not-so-scary hayride, and saw some scary (and some not-so-scary) costumes. And we're still enjoying the occasional remnant of our trick-or-treating treasures!

Fun on the Farm

This past weekend we visited my Grandma Rudy on her farm outside of Clarkfield, MN. It was a great weather weekend, and a perfect time to visit the farm - during prime harvest season. We got to see plenty of "big tractors" in action which was very exciting for Isaac. Mostly, he just enjoyed being able to run without any restrictions or worry of traffic or city roads. In fact, in the photo below, you can see that he was half-way across a plowed field before he even turned around. Grandpa John went after him...Isaac also really enjoyed the "big red barn" and other farm buildings...

The boys got busy mowing with Isaac's help...

And enjoyed some swing/snack time with Nana...

And what would a visit to the farm be without a "tractor ride?"

And finally a play time with his 2nd cousin, Allison and a tractor ride to follow...
Isaac is still talking about "Grandma Rudy's Barn" and the "tractor ride" and I know that he'll have fond memories of the weekend for quite some time. We will, too...

Swim Lessons

For the past 4 weeks, Isaac and I participated in a Parent/Child swim class on Mondays and Wednesdays at the University of MN-Duluth Sports and Health Center here in Duluth. The class is designed for children 2-3 years of age and is designed to get the children comfortable with being in the water and teaching skills such as entering and leaving the water at their own will, kicking front and back with support, and crawling along the edge of the pool on their own. Isaac was the youngest of 3 boys in the class, but he kept up with the others. I was pleasantly surprised at his enthusiasm for getting in the water and tried not to show my *gasps* when I jumped into the colder-than-I-would-like-water. We're finished with our lessons for the season but will attend another Parent/Child class in the spring before he graduates to the preschool class where he'll be ready to be in the pool on his own (with an instructor). Here's a few highlights of our pool time...

Fall Colors in Duluth

Took my camera out this past weekend to capture some amazing fall colors. I'll keep the writing to a minimum so you can get right to the beautiful pics...

Gotta love Duluth in the fall :-)

Fall Fun

This weekend we checked out the Duluth Engwalls Corn Maze and Fall Fest: www.engwalls.com/cornmaze.html

The owners turned a 1-acre lot into a maze amidst corn stacks with 17 different dead ends and clues at each dead end that would lead to a word needing to be unscrambled. The word: "Lost in the Corn Maze." Joel got into the puzzle piece of it, while I (surprise) *chased* Isaac through the maze. It started out fun, but I think Isaac got a little frustrated that we couldn't find our way out. He finally asked for me to carry him and probably thought that I would know the way out. Turns out I didn't. Safe to way we found all 17 dead ends (at least once, sometime twice) and finally had to resort to following the orange safety tape that served as a perimeter back to the beginning. Check out this picture of Isaac running through the maze - pretty much my view for most of the maze. We managed to get a cute photo by the pumpkins, too. Our favorite part of the afternoon was picking out our pumpkins that we brought home to decorate, and sharing a nice cup of hot (warm) chocolate. Isaac especially enjoyed the tasty drink! Not sure if we'll visit any more mazes with a 2-year-old, though...

our "Vista" Voyage

Yesterday we put our tourist hats on (literally) and ventured out on the "Vista Star" for a 90-minute sightseeing cruise on the harbor of Lake Superior. It was a crisp September morning but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day to be on the water. Isaac has been talking so much about the 'big boats' that he always sees on the Lake, so we decided to get a boat ride of our own done before the weather turns too much colder. He enjoyed it and the many things we saw along our ride - the famous Aerial Lift Bridge and going underneath it (twice), the many ships we saw anchored in the harbor and other smaller boats/sail boats along the way. We love that we can still be tourists in our own city that has so much to offer - we're still experiencing new things and never tire of experiencing the great Lake Superior.