Our Kids Blog

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.

After going to church last night, we headed to the local Renaissance Faire. We didn’t stay too long, but the weather was great and we had a lot of fun.

Tammy started the day with a free archery lesson. She only fired one arrow and she actually hit the pile of hay bails on which the target was attached.

Kenny didn’t eat enough iron for breakfast.

Emma started with the cup of corn for the goats, but she did give Kenny a turn before the corn was all gone.

Kenny did a little feeding.

Even when the corn was all gone he still tried to do some feeding.

Kenny moved on to try to give the goats some water. He was quite confused though, he would dunk the little flower pot into the water and within two steps of leaving the bucket the water in the pot would be all gone.

Kenny is hoping to give some of the imaginary water to this “woof-woof.”

The had a few rides and one was a lot like the swings at a regular fair, but the seats were a little more relaxed and the whole thing was operated by two men turning a big crank to get the thing to go around.

Kenny and mom didn’t get to go for a ride, but they did try out the seats.

Emma still likes princesses, but we had to pretty much force her to put on this princess dress (the face tells that story). She has been anti dress lately.

We got to take in a little jousting. This show was just a preliminary joust involving cabbages and rings. Later in the day would be the “joust to the death.”

Petting the horses was a treat.

Emma soon forgot that she had the dress on and enjoyed herself again. Kenny was wearing a pirate costume that we got at a garage sale.

One last ride. Another spinning ride that was all, in this case, women powered.

We ended the day with an elephant ride. This was a little bit of a surprise. Yes, the elephants themselves were a surprise, but the bigger surprise was that when we sent our little girl to ride the elephant without either of us, we assumed that one of the workers would be riding with her. Nope. Our little four year old was all by herself.

After wards, Emma said she didn’t want to say anything while on the elephant, but she did get a little scared when she thought the elephant was going to tip over (not just her, but the whole elephant). Just a little scared though.

Cousin Norah has been visiting for a few days. It has been pretty warm so water fun as been quite common.

Our indoor waterpark was the first water stop.

Norah enjoyed the water.

She also looked pretty cute in a swimsuit that Emma wore.

Kenny and Norah tried to play with the water without letting it spray them in their faces.

Emma is pretting daring at our homemade waterpark in our back yard.

The water wasn’t very warm.

Kenny and Norah just hung out. They didn’t try the slide.

After lots of fun outside the kids did need a bath.

The Swanstrom’s celebrated Mother’s Day up on Lake Wissota. It was a beautiful day outside and we all had a lot of fun. Tammy was recovering from a cold, so she wasn’t feeling the best, but she still was blessed to spend the time with her great kids.

Kenny did not want to just sit for a picture. He wanted to play. For anyone who has held a toddler who doesn’t want to sit, Kenny is just starting the move used by any child–straighten those legs and arch the back and then just slip out of the lap.

Here Kenny is just trying to crawl away. Emma is also interested in doing something else than take pictures and she is letting us know oh so subtly.

This was the best of the three of them. Two smiles out of three isn’t bad.

Don’t know the problem with the little one in the middle, but once again two smiles out of three isn’t bad.

The shirt that Tammy is wearing was painted by Emma for Mother’s Day. It turned out very nice.

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.

Kenny turned 1.5 today. We’ve been working towards it this week and with tonights feeding Kenny is officially weened. Since Kenny has no idea it is happening, he seems to be fine with it. Tammy on the other hand is going to miss it. With Kenny weened, Tammy can get back on some of the medication that she has been off of for about 5 years that can help with her fibromyalgia.

Ever since we found out about Kenny’s left hand, nursing has been a time for some massage therapy. Tammy would massage and rotate his left arm and hand. We may never know how much this “therapy” has helped with his development.

Afterwards Kenny was in great spirits (he has no idea that anything is different). He had to pull off his mom’s glasses one more time as that is usually part of the nursing ritual.

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.

There is a farm in Menomonie that has figured out that if you open up to the public to come and see your baby animals, that people will come and will even pay for it. We met up with some friends and spent a couple hours on a farm that amazingly was so busy with people that their might have been more people than animals.

Emma and Jack went to the craft store Michael’s for a little craft work with some special clay. Emma made a flower and Jack made a dinosaur that soon turned into a cell phone and then into a square.

We checked out the horses and mules first.

Then inside the barn (at a cost of $5 a person) to see the goats.

Next a lamb.

It took a little while to convince Emma to hold the lamb, but once she did she was hooked.

Kenny left but Emma kept holding the lamb.

Some little chicks needed some tender touches.

Emma dropped only one chick, but there were no injuries as a result.

Kenny never held a chick, which was good news for the chicks.

We ended the trip with a little wagon ride pulled by some horses.

Here is one more of Emma and Jack after a fun day together.

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.

America’s largest mall is only 100 miles away and every Tuesday they have discounts for little kids and their parents. Emma, Tammy, Jack, and Leslie made the trip and everyone agreed that it was a very fun day and that they hoped to do it again sometime soon.

Emma and Jack started the day on the Merry-Go-Round.

There were few of the rides that Emma and Jack could go on by themselves.

On the other rides Tammy and Leslie were able to join the young ones.

Emma enjoyed the hot air balloon ride.

The whole time she was in awe of the ups and downs and all the things you could see.

They had a little roller coaster type ride. It didn’t go upside down, but it was still pretty fun.

Emma maybe found her profession…truck driving.

To make it even more realistic she picked up a hitch hicker along her route.

Then again, after watching her drive bumper cars, truck driving might not be the safest career.

This was one of the rides that they rode on multiple times. It would take them up high and then bounce them up and down on their voyage back to the solid ground.

Emma had an action packed birthday. We wanted to fill it with memories that she could look back on.

The first event of the day was going to the Children’s Museum with Emma’s good friend Ava. Papa Fish came along to for the fun.

Eau Claire has a great children’s museum with lots of neat and realistic activities.

These two ladies did a nice job painting their tractors.

After the museum they went to Emma’s favorite place to eat…Noodles and Company.

This might be controversial, but Emma did get her ears pierced on her birthday.

As you can tell there was a little discomfort, but she didn’t cry at all.

If you look really close you can see the pink little flowers in her ears.

I mentioned in the last post that the day was action packed. When I got home from school I took Emma and Landry sledding. The weather here in Eau Claire finally got a bit warmer (upper 20s) so being outside was an option.

Mom had the camera and we had to make a couple stops in some places where the light was good.

We had a lot of fun sledding and we would have stayed later, but we had to get home for the big party.