Trip to Minot

We spent the day in Minot visiting Grandma and Grandpa LaFleur. Mommy forgot the camera, so there are no pictures to post.

A few of the days highlights:

• Grandparents had cool monster truck toys waiting for the boys, and a flashlight toy and book for Megan.
• Grandma had Buster Bars in the freezer.
• Megan actually napped.
• We all had a good time

A few lowlights:

• Eric suffered a minor scalp laceration when Jonathan catapulted the previously mentioned monster truck over a ramp constructed by Daddy. The bleeding was minimal, and any scarring will be covered by hair. Mommy got a good cuddle with Eric because of this (the cuddle should be listed as highlight.)
  
• Eric suffered a bloody nose when Jonathan accidently collided with him while chasing a ball.

After the second incident involving blood loss, Eric did request we return to Mandan, perhaps feeling he was safer from injury while buckled in to his car seat than he was out in the open. It seemed like a good suggestion, and since it was close to 7 pm, we obliged.

18 month pics

Here are Megan's 18 month pics. Got them in just 5 days before she turned 19 months. We didn't take too many, since they were 40 minutes late starting our appt. In other LaFleur News, both boys cried this morning when I told them they had to go to kindergarten again. I guess the honeymoon is over. I don't know why this font is blue and underlined.

Soccer

The boys started soccer tonight. Pure chaos. It was fun, nonetheless. Parents have to coach. Luckily our team has a parent that actually knows things about soccer. The boys thought it was way cool that their team color is green, just like it was for T-ball. They had so much fun they played more soccer in the backyard when they got home.

The Big Day, pt 2

The boys had a great day today! When I was driving them to school, I asked them if they wanted me to walk them to the playground or drop them off. I guess they don't need any hand holding, as they both said "drop off". When the exited the Silver Bullet, I didn't even get a glance back my way. I guess they are ready. After school, I picked them up before getting Megan. When we got to daycare, they asked the first friend they saw "Do you remember us?". They also made a point to say "hi" to all of their teachers, who probably missed them terribly.
Each day, they will get a color stamp on their daily calender they bring home. Green means good, yellow means you got a warning, blue means you missed 5' of recess/fun activity, red means you lose recess/activity. I am happy to report both came home with a green stamp. Some kid named Levi didn't fare so well-he got a yellow. He was the talk of the night....
My first day of school went well, too. Lots of running around.

The Big Day

More pictures

Here are some more pictures from our trip. We had an open house at the boys' school tonight. They met Mrs. Kautzman, found their desk, and toured the school. The Big Day is just around the corner.

Vacation, day 5

Today was our long day of driving....but we survived. Went out to Uncle Jim's lake home on Lake Coeur D'Alene-very scenic, but we could only stay for a bit as we had 8 1/2 hours of driving to tackle. Then, we did just that-drove and drove and drove all the way to Billings. Too late to swim when we arrived, so we just crashed.

Vacation, day 4

Daddy got some quiet time with Megan today. The boys and I, Grandma, Amy, Aunt Shirley, and Aunt Cherryll drove up to Coeur D'Alene today for shopping and sight seeing. Completed the obligatory swimming when we got back to the hotel, then off to the anniversary party, which I prefer to call my 35th birthday party. The kids stayed in the hospitality room with a sitter and several young cousins they rarely get to see and had a blast. Not many pics were taken today.

Day 3, Spokane, WA

Headed up to Spokane, WA today to explore Riverfront Park. This was home to the World's Fair in 1974 (is there still a World Fair?), and the boys rode some famous carousel associated w/it. Only got lost a little bit getting there, but luckily found the tourism center that not only gave us good directions, but also some coupons for discounted tickets! The boys enjoyed a skyride over Spokane Falls-Megan and Mommy passed as Mommy is not fond of dangling high in the sky in a small box supported only by a cable. Don and the boys went to an IMax movie-some movie on sea creatures. Megan and Mom walked around and enjoyed some girl time. Perhaps a highlight for the boys was riding the ferris wheel......alone......Mom was just a wee bit nervous w/this but did keep her shaking hands steady enough to take a few pics of the rite of passage. Did not get lost returning to Coeur D'Alene.
Grandma and Aunt Amy arrived today, as well as many other aunts and uncles. Again, enjoyed some swimming and a yummy yummy seafood buffet.

Vacation, day 2

Another day on the road-all went well. We headed up to Helena to visit my cousin. Had a nice visit, and the boys enjoyed playing their Wii. The boys were thrilled to see real mountains for the first time-the view was pretty awesome, but Mommy wished she had some valium on the curvy roads going up and down. Mom and Dad realized to power of Nintendo DS and i-Tunes/books on CD during the long car drive. Megan was a good traveler, and napped like a good little girl.
Upon arrival in Coeur D'Alene, the boys had the long awaited trip to McDonald's for supper, and were extra excited to get an Optimus Prime as their toy. Enjoyed some swimming at the hotel before going to bed at 11:15 central time.

Vacation, Day 1

We survived day 1! All the kids were great little travelers, including Megan! We left Mandan by 8:30 and arrived at Livingston, MT at 9 pm. We took our time, stretching our legs at New Salem (for a geocache), Medora, and Billings. The boys got t-shirts in Medora, thanks to Eric's bloody nose-it was easier to buy a new shirt than dig through the back of the van for the suitcase. We were all excited to go to Zoo Montana in Billings, and were disgusted to learn in the parking lot, outside of the zoo, that the zoo closes at 4 pm (it was 4:15). Thankfully a local who was also with disappointed children directed us to a fun playground, where the kids burned energy for an hour before dining at Denny's. The boys were super excited to see mountains for the first time on the way from Billings to Livingston. Megan was thrilled to see cows. We are all tired and ready for bed, and excited for what tomorrow will bring!

Tattoos and frogs

Amy, Jason, Laura, and I all enjoyed a mid-life crisis together and got tattooed at Dead Rockstar in Fargo. We are wild and crazy people! Afterwards, we had a BBQ at Laura's house, where the boys enjoyed playing with frogs.

Major Award

We received notification early this afternoon that Eric won a major award. He was the winner of a coloring contest at one of the local grocery stores. He was ecstatic.

Company

We enjoyed a visit from the Moody clan over the weekend. The kids had a jolly good time playing together in the backyard. We went to the Capital A'Fair yesterday, toured the Heritage Center, and enjoyed a pizza cruise on the Lewis and Clark Riverboat. Today we have very tired children, and a very tired Mommy.

Black Eye

Megan got her first black eye on Saturday. She had an unfortunate run in with her ring stacker toy.