St. Paul Winter Carnival

A good time was had by all on our trip to MN for the Winter Carnival. Eric and Simon experienced their first Winter Carnival which included the following events:

• A warm day for Medallion hunting (even Grandpa hunted - he was the driver).
• Reading and pondering the clues each morning in the Pioneer Press
• Buying and proudly wearing Winter Carnival buttons
• Too warm of a day that caused ice sculptures to melt away :(
• Watching the snow and ice sculptures being created on Harriet Island
• Enjoying the warmth of the Hot Dish Tent and appreciating hot cocoa
• Warming up/running around in the Landmark Center
• Standing outside in January for the Grande Day Parade
• Enjoying coffee, hot cocoa, and cookies at the St. Paul Hotel after the parade
• Being misled in the hunt for the Medallion, not in Como Park after all :(
• For more carnival fun, go to http://www.winter-carnival.com/

Simon warmed up quickly to Grandma and Grandpa and played his little heart out with my childhood toys. How fun it is to play with those toys again. Aunt Christina even showed him some of the fun tricks with the toys. He figured out how to ride the rocking horse made by Great Grandpa Schaffer!

Simon was a great traveler; he slept and entertained himself along the way. We had a spur of the moment stop in Eau Claire on the way back to IL and were lucky enough to visit with Jessica (Becky's cousin). She was in town visiting friends, as she is soon off to study in Australia for a semester. We had a great time catching up!

So, in closing I have one final comment:

GO BEARS!!!

Bear Down, Chicago Bears

Sing along to the CHICAGO BEARS fight song! (FYI- This is the poem of the week for a first grade class at Becky's school.)

Da Bears . . . . and ears!!

THE BEARS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!!

and Simon is getting ear tubes on Wednesday.

Can you tell that his ear is bugging him?

Simon is in MN training to enjoy the Winter Carnival. How come he keeps Mommy's and Daddy's mittens on but his stay on for only 2 minutes?

Round and Round I Go!!

Simon learned how to use his Sit-n-Spin quite quickly! I actually captured the first time he figured out how to keep spinning! You will also hear one of his famous words "out"!

GO BEARS!

As you can tell, we are quite EXCITED that the BEARS won! Eric enjoyed a great game at SOLDIER FIELD, with tailgating before and after. Simon enjoyed the game napping in his crib. Becky watched the game sitting on the couch with heat - while Simon napped! GO BEARS!!!!

Pen in Hand

One recent afternoon, Simon and I were writing thank-you cards. He took the job of signing his name quite seriously! I looked up at him and saw him shaking his head back and forth with a pen in his hand. You can see for yourself the results. Sometimes I do not know what Simon enjoys more, making the mess or washing up after the mess is on him. Don't you just love how the bottom teeth look lopsided? That is because we are waiting for the fourth bottom tooth to grow taller to match the other three.

Bubble Wrap

An afternoon of fun walking on bubble wrap sent by Grandma and Grandpa Wiens!
Part 1


Part 2

First Video Clip

Hello to those blogging with us today. We have accomplished a new feature of attaching short video clips to the blog. Enjoy Simon's attempt of walking in his first snow (early December). While this clip may be a few weeks old, few videos actually make the cut. He now realizes that the camera is on and stops to walk up to us and reach for the camera. Just click on the arrow in the middle of Simon's picture and look forward to more short snippets to come!