Our Kids Blog

We had hoped to go to Noah’s Ark in Wisconsin Dells this summer, so we decided to use Emma’s 4.5 birthday as the backdrop for the day. Kenny stayed home this year with Grandma and Grandpa Swany, but Cousin Landry came a long.

As you look through the pictures, I got some help from Emma for some of the captions. Anything in quotes are her exact words.

Emma didn’t know that we bought a cake at the grocery store.

She was pretty surprised.

We did save the cake until after lunch.

A little lunch. This all took place at a rest area just north of Wisconsin Dells.

Emma and dad went down a lot of the slides together. Next time Emma said she will do them by herself.

Emma did go down this slide by herself.

The two girls did a little racing down the side by side slides.

Here is the finish. A big splash.

Here the two are taking a picture that Emma claims to be “kind of cute and funny.”

Emma says, “Landry went down the turtle slide really fast.”

Emma says, “We took a picture by the turtle and I smiled really kind of good.”

“Riding on the horse, heedy haw.”

“We were in the wavy water and we had so much fun in the wavy water.”

“Wow I jumped really high over the waves. I wanted to say ‘hee haw’.”

Right after picking blackberries we went to the Edmond Historical Museum. They had a little kids’ area that was pretty fun.

We had a busy day today, so there will actually be three posts. We started the day at Sorghum Mill Christmas Tree and Blackberry Farm and picked some blackberries. The nice lady that we met at the mall yesterday told us about the place. It was fun and the owners of the farm said that they had a bumper crop of blackberries so it wasn’t too hard for us to pick a pint. A lot of the pictures do show red berries, but those were just blackberries that weren’t ripe yet. The berries were big and juicy. Our pint didn’t last long.

Our second day of our trip involved visiting our dear friends the Ongs. They visited us just before Christmas, but we wanted to visit them in St. Louis before they left to go back to Singapore. While in St. Louis we also wanted to do a little sightseeing. We, along with Grace Ong, made a quick visit to Grant’s Farm where the highlight was feeding goats from bottles. We also saw the Budweiser Clydesdales, parrots, giant tortoises, and quite a few species of deer. It was a lot of fun.

After Grant’s Farm, we went downtown to the St. Louis Gateway Arch. I didn’t mention yet that it was hot (mid 90s and humid). Well the Arch was so busy that we stood in line outside in the sun for almost a half hour just to get into the visitor center. Once inside we found out that it would be another 2 hours to get onto the elevator to the top of the arch. Needless to say, with too little kids and an 8 hour drive left, we didn’t go up the arch this time. We hope to be back someday and we will buy our tickets for the elevator in advance.

To start our trip to Oklahoma, we actually left from Welch, MN where Kenny had one week intensive Occupational Therapy with a lady named Sheryl Field. Our goal was to make it to St. Louis on this first day, which we did. Most of the driving actually was not on Insterstate Highways. Instead we took a lot of local highways. As a result, our first stop eneded up being in Pine Island, MN at an A&W.

We often head up to Great Uncle and Aunt Maloney’s on Sunday afternoon. One of the activities that has become a favorite of the kids is to ride on Uncie Dayle’s scotter. Their nice big driveway makes for some nice rides.

Memorial Day in Eau Claire means a parade. Papa Swany (who was drafted during the Viet Nam War and served in Oklahoma joined us). The last picture is of cousin Carter who actually walked in the parade handing out Express Baseball schedules. Mom and Emma were in the cities getting Uncle Joe from the airport.

Kenny wears earplugs while on lawn mower. Just like any 19 month old boy, Kenny’s motto is “Safety First.”

As a fundraiser the local theatre guild held a Fairy Tale Ball. Emma and cousin Landry got all dressed up as princesses for the event.

The local Hair Academy (beautician school) styles hair at a reasonable price, so the day started with hair.

Cousin Landry got an “up-do”.

Now off to home to get on their dresses.

Here is the crew that went to the ball. This was a great photograph and was taken by cousin Avery.

The two girls were very excited even though none of us knew exactly what to expect.

Tammy found a clearanced bridesmaid dress that made her look like a princess too.

When we arrived it was raining and cold, so we didn’t know if we would be able to go on a carriage ride, so the girls hopped up into the carriage for a picture.

Since the event was held by the Chippewa Valley Theatre Guild, they put on some little shows.

Carriage rides did happen, so we got all bundled up and took a ride around the parking lot.

Cindrella’s step-sisters and step-mother mingled with the crowd.

A local dentist, I mean the tooth fairy , was giving rides on the magic chair. If you see Emma you can ask her what the magic words were to make it go up and down. At the end of the night Emma mentioned that this was one of her favorite things that she did.

The girls did a little crown decorating.

The night ended with a dance.

Every spring local business put on an event at the Eau Claire Indoor Sports Center. It was a lot of fun, though Emma did get a rug burn that took her out of the action.

We decided that Kenny shouldn’t go by himself, so daddy got to go too.

Landry went first…head first.

Emma also went head first. Those two do a lot the same.

After all of the festivities the kids still had a little energy to play outside for a bit.

Here were all of Emma’s Easter Projects. Her mom finds some great projects for her to do.

This paper mache egg ended up taking days to complete. There needed to be enough layers so that it would be strong enough for painting. After each layer, it seemed like it still needed more. In the end it turned out nicely.

Tammy was giving Kenny some spins and dips.

A dad is basically required to throw his children into the air when they are young. You can also see Kenny’s new shoes.

We celebrated Easter at the Ternberg’s house. It was also Carter’s birthday so we celebrated that too.

Here is a picture of all the kids. This was taken just before the Easter egg hunt.

Kenny found one egg. His cousin Avery did the hiding and set the rules so that they big kids couldn’t take any of the eggs that were easy for Kenny to get.

Kenny quit after his one egg, and did a little posing for the camera.

We couldn’t get the best pose from the two of them, but you can at least see thier Easter outfits.

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Tessa helped us get a family picture.

Landry and Emma had lots of fun.

In order to take a little break from Disneyland and to give Kenny a chance to take a nap, Papa Swany drove us down to Dana Point Beach (hmmm, why did we choose that beach?).  We didn’t stay long, but we still had some fun.

It was in the mid-60s, so not balmy, but nice enough to get bare foot.

Kenny thought the sand was a little too strange to walk in. He preferred to be held, but he can say that he touched the Pacific.

Emma enjoyed the beach. She wished that she could have stayed longer.

Skirts do get wet easily, so the skirt was removed for a bit.

The sun was an issue again, but we finally are all looking at the camera.

We got to Disneyland when it opened at 8:00am. It was nice not to wait for Pirates of the Caribbean and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Emma loved the Mountain Railroad which is a pretty speedy roller coaster (here is a video of what it’s like). After 9 am the lines started to get a little longer so we hit the princesses again.

Some morning cuddle time with Kenny.

Though a day had passed, Snow White still remembered Emma from breakfast. Again, she seemed to be the nicest of the princesses.

Emma next was able to meet with Sleeping Beauty again.

The two of them posed nicely for the cameras.

Minnie Princess was a surprise and actually Emma wasn’t that excited to see her. She would have rather have seen Pocahontas.

Later in the afternoon we stood in line one more time to see the princesses. This time with cousin Landry.

Kenny and mom entertained themselves with a water bottle.

Cousin Landry was with us for this trip to the Princess Fantasy Faire.

Cinderella greeted the girls first.

The girls then met with Jasmine.

Sleeping Beauty was the last princess for the day and the trip.

We went on one last ride, Roger Rabbit’s Wild Ride. Kenny didn’t like it too much, but he did like the fountain in the front of the ride.

Kenny liked the fountain and the two girls enjoyed Kenny.

After the ride we got one last picture in front of the castle.  We flew out the next morning. It was a short trip, but one we will never forget.

Our family took a weekend trip to Anaheim California to visit Disneyland. Though it rained the first day that we were at Disneyland, we had lots of fun. We got to see lots of princesses, and the lines where short. An afternoon boat ride on It’s A Small World had a 6 minute wait (the next day was sunny and warm and the wait was close to an hour).

We were a little late for our breakfast reservation at Ariel’s Grotto, but Ariel was still taking pictures with all of her guests. Emma’s smile shows it all. She was so excited to finally meet the princesses.

The next princess Emma met was Cinderella.

Snow White was probably the nicest of the princesses. She really took the time to ask some questions of Emma.

Emma’s not really forthcoming with hugs, but Snow White was able to get one.

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) was impressed by Emma’s dress. Sleeping Beauty is probably Emma’s favorite. The only thing that Emma was disappointed with was that Aurora’s dress didn’t change color from pink to blue.

Belle stopped by for a visit.

We got all of the princesses to autograph Emma’s scrapbook. Kenny was pretty excited too, but it was the food that caught his attention. The breakfast at Ariel’s Grotto was nice, but very expensive. If you want to see princesses, we would recommend the Princess Fantasy Faire located in Disneyland. You have to wait in line, but you’ll save a lot of money and meet the princesses just the same.

Our first official ride of our Disney experience was a Merry-Go-Round in the California Adventure Park.

Kenny enjoying a drink.

It rained on and off all day. The sun would come out and we would get hot and then a dark cloud would bring a cold rain. It wasn’t too bad and it kept the crowds to a minimum.

Emma’s rain coat came in handy and it sure is cute.

Kenny got his diaper changed 150 feet up in the air on Mickey’s Fun Wheel (Ferris Wheel).

It was a little windy and cold 150 feet above the ground.

Kenny didn’t seem to be scared of how high we were.

This might be one of the favorite pictures from the trip.

Family pictures were a challenge. Kenny just had too much to look at besides the camera.

If we got Kenny to look, we had issues with the sun being to bright.

Kenny spent quite a bit of time in the Ergo Carrier. He really liked it even falling asleep once.

After 30 minutes in line, we were about to see the princesses again. As you can see, all the kids in this picture are looking for something to keep them occupied.

At the Princess Fantasy Faire, there are three random princesses that rotate about every 15 minutes. After meeting 5 princesses at breakfast, Emma was hoping that she would get to see Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Tiana. As we rounded the corner to see who she would meet, there was Jasmine.

Belle was next, and though we had already seen her, Emma was not disappointed.

Another autograph.

After Belle, there was Princess Tiana.

Princess Tiana is the newest of the Disney Princesses. She was in the movie, The Princess and The Frog.

We ended the day by going back to the California Adventure Park where we watched a live presentation of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.