Memorial Day Weekend

This was the first weekend in a while there was no girl scouts, no soccer….nothing, just had to live life.  The weekend started with me taking Addy to a water park for a birthday party.  Tip for anyone going to an indoor water park…its humid!  I shouldn’t have worn jeans.  It was steamy.  Addy had a good time though.  I sat by the pool, at the bar with a couple $6 drinks.  It was a good night.  Saturday the old kids and I hit the zoo while the little one was out cold for her AM nap.  After lunch Bray took a nap and so did Ry in the afternoon.  Then did some grilling of supper and some laundry. Also had Hayden get her first summer time cut.  No more clumps of hair all around. 

Sunday was also really fricken HOT.  So the morning was just hanging out at home.   Watched a little bit of the Indy 500 pre race stuff, then after lunch figured the old kids needed to get out so too them to the Science Center.  Last time there with them we did the Egypt exhibit, this time they were getting ready for the Mars exhibit, opens in about a week so we’ll have to get back there for that.  We just hit the animals, too many snakes there, the discovery zone and the kids played a lot.  Addy and I got the little water power generator going pretty good.  Bray got to run around and explore too.  We watched a little film in the planetarium about the moon landings.  Then hit the play area.  Addy found a friend she knew there and played a bit with her there.

I love that we have this option in Iowa and have a the science center, but I think they need to build on and be bigger, add more stuff.  If you can get through in about an hour and the exhibits change but nothing else does, add on.  It will become stale.  It should be something that takes 2-3 hours or more.  That being said I’m excited to go back for the Mars exhibit.  (I’ll rant on the zoo..again later)

After the science center the kids wanted a snack and asked them what they wanted, they both responded “HIGH LIFE” (I love my kids!)  So we went to the High Life Lounge and had some tots and some drinks, grainbelt for me and shirley temples for the kids.  They had a blast, just sitting at the bar eating and then playing with the buck hunter game.  We went home and had some supper and Bray and I watched the 600…Addy did girl stuff with her mom.

Monday it was just me and 3 kids pretty much and it, and it was a pretty good day.  We hit the zoo early in the am and were there for about an hour and a half (please Zoo add on and get bigger – good job adding a Rhino in 2013 but build on and compete with Omaha, and get more monkeys!), the kids had fun again and usually do all the time there.  Saw the Tiger and Snow leopard up close.  The lions also a bit too; one was laying on a rock close to the fence and they are awesome creatures up close.  We left the zoo at the right time, there was a LOOOONG line forming as we left.  We then headed downtown and hit the Sculpture Park and I let Ryleigh go out and run.  She loved it, she ran after her older siblings.  I got a great shot of her and Addy walking up to the letter sculpture. 

After about 30 mins or so there we went east to the Capital to check out the cannons and memorials.  The kids asked a lot of questions about the memorials which is good, Addy especially was starting to realize the meaning of Memorial Day.  There are a bunch of memorials up by the capital and cannons and cool statues around the capital that everyone should see.  And you get a great view looking downtown Des Moines and to the ball park on the river.  Des Moines isn’t really that bad of a place.

We then headed home for mac & cheese with hotdogs for lunch and Ryleigh went down.  When Ry woke up all 3 kids were then out on the deck playing and it was perfect.  It was great weather, I brought out Bray’s cube and had the ipod playing some good ole country music, and some nice cold beverages too.  We grilled burgers, brats and dogs and the kids wanted to eat outside so I complied.  It was awesome, perfect.  A trip to DQ and then shower time and it was bed time just in time for the Hatfield’s & McCoy’s on History Channel. 

Overall Monday topped the weekend of GREAT!  Hoping not to insult others BUT my kids are the best 3 kids in the world!

Best and Worst of the Weekend

Well once again I’ve seen the weekend fly by.  Was a good weekend, hot and humid on Sunday, and then Stormy.  Started out good on Friday night though, got hot and humid the rest of the weekend.

Friday Shawnna and I went to Centro for supper, mom came down to babysit the kids.  It was my first time at Centro, rated one of the top restaurants in Des Moines year in and year out.  I had the Seared Shrimp and Scallops with greens and smashed potatoes, and a couple adult beverages!  Very good…then decided it was to late for a movie and ended up heading home and just chatted with mom for the rest of the night.

Saturday Shawnna’s mom came down with our niece Makenna and went to the zoo.  Now it was really freakin hot and I sweat our butts off.  The Des Moines zoo does need a little help, they are under construction and really need to add a few more things.  Did spend about 2 hours there.  Why can’t it get to be at least half of what Omaha is.  The rest of the day was napping.  The Sun wore us out.

Sunday was just hot.  We were going to go fishing but it was just oppressive.  Bray and I played instead inside and did laundry and watched movies.  Was kind of nice to have a lazy day to just sit around. 

Best and Worst of the Weekend - Happy Moms Day!

BEST - The weekend started with me getting off work early and going to see Thor, (blogged about it).  Friday night Addy had a birthday party at AllPlay that I took her too.  Really cool she (and I) got to play video games for a half hour.  And then the meat of the weekend was the 3rd Annual trip to Omaha to the Zoo with the Anderson's for Mother's Day.

Also we sent a dozen roses to mom on Friday for Mother's day.  Thanks Mom for everything you've done for me and all of us, kids and grand kids.

The zoo was the zoo.  Omaha's is one of the best in the nation, one day can't get you everything, and in the 3 years we've done the zoo, we haven't done everything in the one day we were there.  We stayed at the Kelly Inn this year rather than the DoubleTree Guest Suites.  Plus is it has a really kid friendly pool, con is it has no suite before you get to the bed room in your room.  Can't win em all.  The kids love the pool and the slides.  Crappy thing though Shawnna didn't swim as Ryleigh was not able to get into the water being 11 weeks old.  But the kid had a blast, and burnt them self out good Saturday Night.

Sunday we swam in the morning, and had a great brunch at UpStream Brewery, so much so that I didn't eat supper Sunday Night.

It was a great trip with great friends and great kids.  Can't wait for year 4.

Worst - None

Best and Worst of the Weekend

Best – Well most of the whole weekend.  Saturday the older kids and I did a tour of the city with our “Pirate Gold” and went and did a lot. 

We hit the Zoo, the Sculpture Garden, the Capital, the Botanical Center and then the new Ped Bridge by Wells Fargo arena.  We got some coins at the zoo and I called it our Pirate Gold to play a game with them and too keep Brayden interested and focused when he got a little crazy.  But we had a great time.

So we started out at the zoo, and wow are they changing some things up there.  The little walking area they had with the peacocks is all getting redone to an Australian Outback deal, and then the sea lions aquarium is a big mud pit, and it should look really good when it’s all done.  Will it be Omaha?  No…but it should be nice.  The kids and I went and hit up all the animals.  The kids favorite was the monkeys…I liked the otters but boy they stunk. Cool to see the giraffes out.

Then we started to trek downtown.  We drove around the sculpture park and Addyson noticed the new sculpture, so we got out and looked for some places to hide  our pirate gold.  The new sculpture looked pretty cool, and I still think the Letter Sculpture is pretty cool.  The kids just ran and that was cool too.

Next up we wanted to go get some cannons for our Pirate Gold, so we stopped up at the Capital.  It’s pretty cool what they’ve done all around up there.  It’s really person friendly to walk up too.  We stopped by the statue of Lincoln and Tad, and I asked Addy, who is that, her response “Is it God and Jesus?”  Kind of appropriate response for the weekend.  After that it was up to the cannons, or shooters and Brayden called them.  He loved them.  Addy wasn’t as impressed but we walked around and saw most of them.  There are still some monuments there we can go see.

Then we headed off to the botanical center.  They have a scavenger hunt for kids that you can do when you are there, and I told the kids when we completed it, it would lead us to the perfect spot to hide our pirate gold.  Addy and Bray looked all over and completed the tasks and enjoyed the trip this time more than the last time we were there. 

Finally we parked by the Chinese Culture Center and the ped bridge over the river.  I told the kids it was a Chinese Pirate ship and they wanted to go explore it.  We got there and I told the kids there were Pirate ghosts there that we had to keep away from our gold.  We got our trip there cut short due to potty breaks and ended up going home after our Pirate Car got blown up.  So it was a fun Saturday with the kids so we might have to recreate this some weekend.

Easter then was great!  The morning we did the egg hunt and kids mowed down too much candy.  Shawnna made a great lunch.  Ham, mashed potatoes with ham gravy, green bean casserole, cherry pie too.  Mom brought wedding potatoes, Sue brought cake and a relish tray.  The meal was great.  Then we had the kids do the Just Dance for kids on the Wii and they showed off their moves.  Then the real fun happened.  Wii Bowling!  Dad got into it.  He and Brendan were trash talking.  Brendan was rolling and then when dad got the hang of it, he was whipping up on people.  Dad had the belt, and then Shawnna beat him by a few pins.  Then Brendan wanted one more shot, Shawnna beat him by 90 pins.

Ended the weekend with Celebrity Apprentice.

WORST – So on Thursday I apparently misplaced or lost Shawnna’s wedding ring and tore apart the bed room and can’t find it, and it sucks.  One she wants it so she can wear it again since she couldn’t when she was pregnant, and it was the ring she wore when we got married so she feels bad that she doesn’t have it.  I’m going to tear the kids rooms apart tonight to try to find it.  Also LAUNDRY sucks.