The Great Outdoors...

We have had such an amazing fall...the bright sunny skies and warm days have extended our summer in SD! We have taken full advantage of this by visiting many parks and doing lots of little hikes.

These pictures were taken in the gardens at Tuthill Park. I love all their gardens and huge trees up there!

The boys also enjoy the great big hill to run down (I can imagine that is an awesome tubing hill in the winter) and all the little hiking trails.

We also spent a fun afternoon at the Big Sioux Recreation Area near Brandon. This is a favorite for picnicking, playing Frisbee with Jessie and lots of exploring in the woods.

We had so much flooding this spring that many of the trees along the river were uprooted and fell in the river...sad :(

Josh is getting ready to catch a football here...pretty good stance!

Josh is so interested in fossils and he was thrilled to find his own "raccoon fossil footprint!" Because of all the flooding and mud earlier in the summer there were lots of deer and little critter footprints around. Fun for Josh!

He was so happy to find this nice raccoon print and wanted to take it home!

We finished our beautiful afternoon with a picnic and playing in the park...what a perfect day :)

Off to the Twin Cities...

Jon purchased some tickets to see a Twins game earlier in the summer (when they actually had a chance at the playoffs). The boys have watched enough games to know about this guy named Bert that circles people in the crown and they get to be on TV. So...were excited about the chance of getting circled by Bert too! We explained that the chances were extremely slim but they wanted to make posters...just in case?!

Our first stop was a fun afternoon/evening at the Mall of America. We bought some wristbands for the kids and they were off!

Caleb chose this swing ride and really enjoyed it!

We stopped at the toy store and told the boys they could select a toy for $10 or less...easier said than done!!

Caleb found a Webkinz (could have guessed that) and Josh chose a wind-up race car. And, he wanted to try on this cute hat (actually mom made him and he eagerly agreed)!

We played in Lego Land...it was free!!

Got back on a few more rides!

Jon convinced Caleb to ride this roller coaster and he reluctantly went with his dad. He started out laughing and thinking it was really great, but after a few loops, that laughter turned to screams and cries...then back to laughter! Needless to say, it will be a long time before he goes on one of those again.

Josh chose this hopper ride and Caleb went along to for moral support. All started out well, but that quickly changed when the little boy next to Josh thought maybe this ride was not a good idea...

the little boys smiles turned to frantic screams...

then Josh thought maybe he should cry too...

here they are kind of doing the laugh & cry at the same time thing...

whew...the ride is about done...maybe this WAS fun??!!

After that roller coaster of emotions we thought it was time to eat. What better place than their favorite place to eat at the MOA, Rainforest Cafe.

We goofed off a little and ate a lot!

The next day we were off to the game!

The boys were ready with their signs! Josh became less enthusiastic about it but Caleb held his up during every commercial break. We recorded the game at home just in case he was circled and on TV, but no luck :(

Watching warm-ups...

After the game, we took the boys to a great park that we call "Rope Park!" It was a wonderful way to burn off some energy and have lots of fun!

Backyard Camp Out...

The boys did not know that we were planning this but we wanted to surprise them with a backyard camp out weekend. Jon got them some donuts for breakfast (something we rarely do) and told them the big news. They were soooo exited to say the least :)

Caleb loves to make little plays with all his Webkinz, so they made a "Webkinz Camping" movie! Complete with a "real" campfire made with rocks, sticks & a flashlight :) So creative!

Playing and making forts in the tent is so fun for them. They drag in all their blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, toys and books and have all kinds of fun!

Jon brought home some old comics that he read when he was a kid and Caleb just gobbled them up!

Jessie even loved all the cuddling going on in the tent!

We also made a campfire and some smores!

Josh did a little late night sand castle building!