— my little corner of randomness —
One weekend, earlier in the summer (I think it was July), we went and wandered around the Sculpture Garden. There’s lots to see and Maddie had fun running around. Dannie wasn’t feeling very well, so we were happy to get out of the house for a while. I don’t remember the last time I walked around the whole garden.
Maddie has a love obsession with fire hydrants.
We had to stop for a little picnic/snack.
What a great way to spend the morning.
This morning we went to the Farmer’s Market and then Como Zoo. We haven’t been to the Farmer’s Market in quite a while. It was so nice to go now that there are so many fruits and vegetables there! WE got the most delicious watermelon, a cantaloupe (because Maddie LOVES them), green beans (because Chuck makes really yummy ones) and the black bean and chipotle hummus that I like. I can’t stop eating the watermelon. SOOOO good!
We also saw the cutest food ever! Check out these baby cucumbers!
Maddie got a bag of popcorn and we were off to the zoo. She had a good time riding on Chuck’s shoulders today.
She was able to get a good view of the baby giraffe! So very cute. It was 130 pounds when it was born. I think the volunteer said it was only 5 days old!
These cute little Spider Monkeys were snuggling!
And the tiger was hanging out in his pool.
The antelopes were fighting, the zebras were walking around, the wolves were chasing each other, the seal was being trained and doing fun tricks, the polar bear was swimming all over in front of the glass and the orangutan was wearing a box to entertain its baby. It was a great trip to the zoo!
Dannie loved it, too!
The girls went right down for naps. We wore them out! That’s the sign of a good Sunday morning! And who knows what adventures we will have this afternoon. Weekends are the best!
We bought Maddie a balance bike. The first while that she had it, she wouldn’t go near the thing. Then one day, she decided she wanted to ride it and took off! She has gotten so good with it. She can go pretty fast. She likes to ride her bike to the park or up and down the block. She also knows that she has to wear her helmet to ride it. I let her pick out the helmet and she picked a very lovely pink one!
We really like going to the Farmer’s Market. We have gone to all sorts of them around town. I really like the St. Paul Farmer’s Market because there’s a stand that sells this yummy Black Bean and Chipotle Hummus. I love it!
A favorite thing to do at any of the Farmer’s Markets is to get Maddie to point out fruits and veggies. I keep hoping she will be adventurous and try some new foods, but that will come eventually. 
Another small Farmer’s Market we have gone to a couple times is the Mill City Farmer’s Market. It’s not very big, but we like to take a walk over to the Stone Arch Bridge. We look at the waterfall and let Maddie meander and look at stuff. It’s a fun morning activity.
We invited Chuck’s sister, Paige, her husband, Brian, and their daughter, Amira, to come with us one day. We got some really cute pictures of the girls.
Chuck took one of our all time favorite pictures of Maddie this day.
We have been doing a lot of fishing. Maddie really likes it and we have fun bringing her. We have been trying out a bunch of lakes in the area to see what we like best. And before this outing, we got her a fishing pole. We let her pick out the one she wanted. It’s a Barbie one and there’s a little rubber fish you can tie on the end of it to help them learn to cast. She would drop it in the water over and over and over, each time proclaiming “I got one!”
This was on the 4th of July. It was really hot this day! We tried out one lake first. we weren’t having much luck catching anything, but Maddie was having fun!
Here’s a video of Maddie.
After not having much luck at this lake, we went to another lake by our house. Chuck caught a few little fish, but Maddie really liked being able to stand (and sit)
in the water and fish.
Maddie was really starting to get the hang of casting.
After all this fishing fun, we went to Wendy’s for lunch. Then it was home for the girls to nap so Chuck and I could clean before his mom and step dad came over to grill and hang out.
We took some pictures of the girls in their festive attire, ate some watermelon, played on the porch, ate dinner on the porch, rode bikes, played with fireworks, ate popsicles and played some hockey.
It was a very busy and extremely fun day.
We really wanted to take Maddie out for fireworks. My dad was going to come and sit at our house while Dannie slept, but Maddie wasn’t feeling well a couple days before the 4th, so we decided we would try next year. Plus, they were really late and Maddie isn’t used to staying up past her bedtime. Oh well. Next year! 
I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July with your family!
A couple weekends ago we took the girls to Lebanon Hills Park and went on a StoryWalk (a walk around a trail with pages of a book set up to read as you walk).
Maddie also needed to stop and look at bugs. And she was very curteous to her doll she was carrying. She would turn so the baby could see the pages of the book. How very considerate of her. 
We also took Maddie fishing for the first time. Maddie touched some of the fish Chuck caught. Most of the time was spent collecting rocks to throw into the water, but she was happy either way. Chuck caught a couple sunfish, some bullheads and a turtle! Now Maddie is going to expect a turtle every time we go fishing!
Today we checked out a new park that opened in Eagan. It’s called Good Times Park. It’s an indoor playground/gym/picnic place/art station/bouncy pillow/soccer field. It wasn’t too crowded and the kids (ages almost 2-almost 4) had a great time!
Some pros:
Some cons:
And here are pictures! I was the first one in there today, so I took lots of pictures.
Overall, we had a blast and we had to drag the kids out of there. It was perfect for this rainy day we had today. It’s definitely worth checking out.
We love the Children’s Museum! It’s not too far away and Chuck works in the connecting skyway, so we can go meet him for lunch. They have two floors full of various rooms for the kids. I can stay on just one floor for hours with Maddie and she doesn’t get bored. It’s wonderful! (Maddie has gotten so big since the last time I wrote about the museum!)
I just renewed my membership so I can have a free guest come with me. We already utilized it and brought Chuck’s mom with us. It’s fun for grandma to hang out and Maddie loves showing her everything!
I have pictures from a couple various trips we have taken there. It will be nice when Dannie is a little older and gets to enjoy in the fun, too! Although, she is pretty happy in her carrier watching all the kids run around!
The shopping and cooking area is her favorite. She could play there all day!
She also loves the puppy and the music area. Some times she even takes the puppy into the singing area!
There are gears, water tables, bubbles, blocks, a climbing wall (in the current exhibit….Dora), a room like a forest with tunnels to crawl thought like ants, lighted rooms and a room for babies/young kids, too!
And Dannie has fun when we are there, too!
Some other random thoughts:
If you haven’t been here with your kiddos yet, I highly recommend it! You could spend the whole day here!
It’s no secret that Maddie is very clean when she eats. She doesn’t like her hands dirty and hardly gets food on her. We went to our neighbors’ son’s 3rd birthday party last weekend and Maddie displayed her cleanliness while she ate her cake.
And the other day, Chuck snapped a picture of her licking her toast. 
Oh, I just love her! She cracks me up!
We go to the zoo quite often. It only takes us about 10 minutes to get there and we have a membership so I like to go frequently to make good use of it.
My brother was in the process of switching jobs (he starts his new job today!), so we went to the zoo last week while he had some free time. It was still cold, but we managed to see everything at the zoo. We even walked out to see the farm babies! (And chatted with a really friendly zoo keeper about the cows!)
The wolves were really friendly!
This cow was only 2 days old!
The bears were wrestling!
Maddie LOVES the turtles!
Some pretty flowers to cheer me up from this dreary weather!
I love the zoo and I am so glad we live so close so the girls will get to go there all the time! In the summer there is a splash pad and two different play grounds for the kids to play on. I can’t wait for it to warm up!
