We had a few hours free and the need to show our Canadian visitor Uncle Sean a little Minnesota history… what better place than the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul? HERE

We have our teacher’s membership (totally an awesome deal… you get a discount on the year and access to so many great educational venues) renewed so we were good to go. The drive wasn’t overly long and the weather absolutely beautiful! 

There was so much to see (and photograph) so I indulged. Right in the center of a rather impressive set of staircase is the replica of an old wooden flyer – a Jennie. 

This model took 10 yrs to create.

Then there were the different sections of the museum itself to enjoy. We did not visit all of them but managed to take in quite a bit. Sean was especially interested in the war era section complete with videos, a malt shop and more. 

Behind the counter

Do my kids even truly understand what this is???

A very simple pinball game.

What songs were popular back then?

Of course we checked out the weather area so that Sean could see the tornado video that freaked out the twins a year or two ago.

How dare I interrupt their reading???

Learning about how to ready wild rice eat.

And we ran through the grainery, the section on settler life and the area on the native american roots. 

Finally tall enough to play in the whole area!

I was absolutely thrilled that we managed to not miss the very impressive Hmong exhibit. This is a special exhibit that is only in place for a limited time and I was rather concerned we would miss it. I absolutely loved the colours in the traditional clothing… I am absolutely committed to covering the Hmong people and their history and reasons for coming to Minnesota next year. I think it will be a great experience for all of us. 

Cherished items brought to Minnesota.

I think we wore out Uncle Sean!

So sit back and enjoy the rest of the images. All in all a GREAT outing… I think we all learned something new. 

Part of “The Greatest Generation” display.

I used to collect Betty Boop items myself!

Echo was pro at assembling artillery shells.

I found this an interesting artifact… a medal for a large family…

Retro… but yet… popular recently too!

Waving good-bye before she “boards the plane”.

Victory undergarments… these made me giggle. They were designed the year BEFORE the USA went to war.

Can you lift a pack half the weight of what someone could carry in one pack on a hunting expedition? Echo can’t … it weighed more than her!

Creating a pattern.

Learning about the fur trade.

We listened to part of the video about the schools the native children were sent to… such a weird image… our kids who have their right to whatever education I chose for them and the children who had no choice.

Airport seating hasn’t changed much has it?

And now for the rest of my Hmong images:

Such a wonderful day!

Where were you in 2007? This bridge collapse in Minnesota will always stick in our minds… Ken’s folks drove that bridge the morning it fell and dear friends would have been on it at the time of collapse if not for a dr’s appointment! HERE

June 13-14

I know I have posted a wonderful picture filled post about Cory and Karen Mathews’ beautiful wedding HERE but Matron of Honour and friend Renee (also sister of the bride!) sent me HER pictures to share. I am looking forward to seeing the photographer’s pictures when we get the chance. There was HOURS of photos before and after the ceremony. I am sure there were some real gems.

Anyway. The 13th had us saying good bye to Sean. Ken was smart and scheduled his counselling appointment for the week before Sean left so I was able to go and talk with his amazing psychologist. This is my second chance to do so and I have to say she makes me so confident in Ken’s ongoing quest for a healthier mental state. I am so proud of my husband for facing his depression face on and for accepting that I need to be a part of this process.

Saying good bye to Uncle Sean

After Ken drove Sean to the airport he returned to pick all of us up and we headed to the Catholic church for the rehearsal. They had a lovely sanctuary and a sizable wedding party.

Keeping the kids busy

Once the ushers knew their jobs and the kids’ portion was done (Renee and Chris’ sons Evan and Nathan were ring bearers) Matt (Chris’ brother and Ken’s friend) took our 5 and Evan with him to the park around the back of the building. Which was a nice mini break for yours truly.

After the rehearsal was done it was time to head off to the Italian restaurant for a buffet style grooms’ dinner.

Bride and Groom

The girls chose to wear matching dresses

Yum!

Karen and Renee

That was it for us for the day… the next day was a rather large adventure for everyone. We started with dropping me off for my hair by 9 then Ken dropping the kids at the Novaks’ (thank you so much Andy and Darcy for taking our 5!) and then back to get me to head to the church to get him dressed for the pictures beforehand. Whew and that was BEFORE the ceremony! It was a beautiful ceremony with a lovely reception and now I am going to share the rest of the pictures Renee sent me! Enjoy the additional wedding pretty!!!

Mother of the bride center

Beautiful sisters

Going into the reception they all dressed silly. This is Chris (Renee’s husband)

Kevin brother of Renee and Karen

Throwing the bouquet

June 9-12

What to do on a Monday… a true summer holiday Monday? Well we went down to half days. At least we tried our best with a houseguest and the weather and the new knowledge for the boys that summer vacation really means VACATION grrrr. So to mix it up a bit I gave each of the kids a file folder to decorate. We will put their worksheets, colouring pages etc in there to get to when they want and when it is needed. Eventually I would love to have special boxes or drawers but until we have funds or space this is the go to measure for the year. If you notice Trinity wrote her name in the Chinese characters we have been practicing. I am still not set up to fully teach a second language but we are enjoying practicing our names and the numbers 1-5 (later to do 1-10). I got my numbers from the site Chinese-word.com HERE. The names are thanks to Aunty Xinny.

Echo and Trinity worked their pattern skills and helped me make our traditional thematic paper chains… this time in red and white for Canada Day. We definitely need a better stapler. The tiny one I have from MY school days is very hard for them to use and go through the papers safely but we managed.

I really quickly crocheted up a new object for our Geocaching trips. Thanks to CrochetSpot.com I got the instructions for making a water bottle holder. You can find these free instructions HERE. It is a quick stitch up and I used my favourite variegated Caron Simply Soft. I think I added a few rounds and of course reinforced my strap. I figure it frees up the boys’ hands when we need that bottle of water. Much safer for all the climbing about they do!

Seriously this year we have exchanged copious amounts of squirrels for bunnies this year! Everywhere hop hop hop. The kids are loving it, the greenery not so much. And every time there is one we HAVE TO take a picture !!!

Rabbits or not this did not stop the fun for the kids when Cousin Robbie showed up for a gaming evening. This brought our numbers up to 4. Ken and Sean were out when he got there which was perfect for the kids to get in their cousin play time (crucial if we want ANY alone game time!).

We played various games including my Christmas present – MUNCHKIN! Lots of fun!

And ended the evening in the basement with the PS3. It is great to have a family member who embraces gaming as much as we do! AND likes some of the games Ken likes and that I like as well!

On Tuesday Emanuel finished decorating his folder. We definitely had to bring out the sticker box. I am in need of adding to my stash finally!

We took some time to watch a Wild Kratts. The show is still being made which is AWESOME. I don’t think we will ever tire of making our mini posters. I have noticed the retention of information and the urgency to have me pause the show to write it down has increased.

Elf and Burrowing Owls

On Wednesday there was a garden to tend with Nana and Baba…

And Books to read through…

By Thursday things are getting busy busy. First Nana and Baba are working to get ready to fly out in the middle of the night with Joe and Faithe and the cousins for 10 days in Mexico. At the same time we have our half day of school and Sean’s last full day in Minnesota. Miss Echo is right in the thick of it with colouring sheets and her file folder. It is so wonderful to see her so interested in getting involved in our daily schooling though sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to keep her going and deal with the other 4! We are definitely learning to take our turns.

With the Pizza Hut summer reading program there is a dragon theme and one of the worksheets had the twins finding the different sorts of dragons in a wordsearch. We have printed a few of those out after hunting them down online and the kids are working on colouring them when they are interested. I love the time they are taking with these.

Back came the bunny as well… and rather persistently NOT scared of noises or anything from the sunroom. Not until the kids ran out to see it did it actually (and rather leisurely) hop away.

Since it was the last day for Sean we managed to finagle Nana and Baba as sitters and headed to Mall of America for dinner and some shopping. We had some amazing Japanese food and a fun run through the mall including my favourite stationary store Typo and an amazing hat store where Sean got himself a new hat for all the walking and jogging he does.

It was definitely an adventure… we hunted down the bubble tea shop, found out that the Sanrio store was gone AND had a flat tire in the best possible access parking spot. So I got to watch the guys put on a spare. Quite the entertaining experience and a further proof of how healthy Ken has begun… he was so calm and even able to joke about it!

And that was that… oh we did stay up super late to watch Hot Fuzz and hang out but Ken had to get up and drive to the airport and all that… A week that counted I really think! With a wedding coming up next!