Spring Break 2010: The Stay-cation / Part 2: The Zoo

The Minnesota Zoo is a long, long way from our house, so we had never been (except for Ben on a field trip once). Today, we changed that.

It looks like we went up north on a trip so the Maritz Family lodge, but really this was the start of the Minnesota Trail, which highlights animals and habitats from Minnesota.


We think Dad was suggesting that Ben is a gray wolf and Cameron is a coyote here.


Ainsley eyed the gray wolf sculpture with some skepticism.


Ben's wingspan is slightly smaller than a bald eagle.


Cameron's is slightly bigger than a swallow.


After the Minnesota Trail, we went on the tropical trail.

We also got to pet an African millipede.


We saw some marine animals inside and then we visited the animal sculpture garden.





Next, we headed into the Grizzly Coast, where we suddenly became fascinated with having our pictures taken.







We were trying to wrangle Ainsley for a picture with another wolf sculpture, when this young man jumped up behind the world. Dad told him to smile too, and he did.



Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron

Spring Break 2010: The Stay-cation / Part 1: The Hockey Game

This year, we decided to stay around home during spring break and do things we've talked about doing, but never did.

Part 1: Go see a hockey game. We wanted to go see the Wild play the Flames, but tickets were $96 each. Instead, we went to see the Women's NCAA "Frozen Four" Ice Hockey Championship, where three tickets that were on center ice and four rows behind the bench were $84 (total).

Here's our view of center ice during warm ups.


Here's how close we were to the UM-Duluth bench.


Here we are! We ended up sitting by a lot of current and former women's Olympic hockey super stars. Julie Chu sat right behind us and gave us pointers throughout the game.


The game was the University of Minnesota - Duluth versus Cornell. In the end, the game went to triple over time. UMD had a power play goal with 30 seconds to go the third over time to win!



Love,
Ben and Cameron

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day by going outside for a walk! It's finally nice enough for me to go outside, and I love it!




Love,
Ainsley

All I Want for Easter...

... is my two front teeth! I lost my first teeth, two days in a row!


Love,
Cameron

Carnival of the Animals

We went to see the Minnesota Orchestra and the Minnesota Dance Theatre perform "Carnival of the Animals" today at Orchestra Hall. Here we are before the show.




I really enjoyed myself, and I think I might be a ballerina someday.

Love,
Ainsley

PS: A special thanks to our friends to Target for footing the bill!

My First (Real) Haircut

I got my first real haircut today. Many of you have said to my parents, "She's too young!" or "Already?!" People, look at what I'm working with.


So, yes, we went to Kid's Hair today and I got a haircut. I sat in the chair by myself like a big girl without crying at all.



So, what do you think?





Love,
Ainsley

A Visit From Grandma Jan

Grandma Jan was here while Daddy was in Florida. It was lots of fun. Sometimes, we'd talk.


Other times, we'd cuddle.



Love,
Ainsley

7 (and a half) months!

Here is my seven (and a half) month picture with Ruby. Please note that I am getting a hair cut tomorrow!


Love,
Ainsley

Brothers

More from Ainsley's 6/7 month photo shoot... of us boys!


Love,
Ben and Cameron

The Makings of a Fort

As you can see, we are hard at work building a fort with our neighbor Wyatt.


Love,
Ben and Cameron

Remembrances of an Afternoon at Guernsey's

My Mom and Dad thought this might remind some of you of a day we spent at Guernsey's in Northville...


Love,
Ben

100 Days of School

Dad thinks it's silly, but we had a 100 Days of School celebration on Friday (Ben had his on Thursday - Kindergarten is a day behind). Mom came and helped and took this funny picture of me and my friends Raghav and Shaelyn.



Love,
Cameron

Me and My Shadow

The light was hitting me just right and I happened to notice my shadow. By the end of the morning, I owned my shadow.



Love,
Ainsley

My Favoritest Neighbor

This is a picture of me and Piper, my favoritest neighbor. She is my favorite because she comes over and plays with me and then she feeds me. If she would just change my diapers, I think Mom and Dad would let her move in.


Love,
Ainsley

Coming Soon: My 6 (really 7) Month Photo Shoot

Daddy got some lights and a back drop kit last week and we put it to good use last night. Here's a sneak peek of my six month pictures.


Love,
Ainsley

Violet's Studio Debut

Dad is working on setting up our photo studio and the only subject that was willing to participate was Violet. How does she look?


Love,
Ainsley

Deer Alert!

Today, we had six deer in our backyard, three on each side of the pine tree. Can you find them all?



Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day, everyone! Today, I sat with my brothers while they put together Star Wars LEGO kits. It was awesome!






Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron

Basketball 2010

My basketball pictures came late last week. Check 'em out!




Even though we finished the season 0-7-1, our coach made sure we had fun and learned some basketball skills.

Love,
Ben

School Project Catch Up

Here are two fun projects that I just brought home from school.
This is a tiger from art class.


This is the outside of my government folder. We got to go to Plymouth's city hall and meet the mayor, among other fun things.


Love,
Ben

Testing Out Our New Lights

Dad got some new lights for the camera and decided to test them out on me. Can you tell which pictures were with the flash and which pictures were the new lights?






Love,
Cameron

My First Biter Biscuit

As I understand it, the messes from a biter biscuit are legendary in my house. Apparently, I'm no exception.





Love,
Ainsley