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...