Chatterbox Pub

After ice skating lessons we’ve been going to Chatterbox to play Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. Helena played trivia one day and came in first place, beating zero opponents!

Libby and Peter’s Easter Vacation

When Helena, Liam, and I got back into town from Chicago, Libby and Peter were to arrive in about an hour and a half, so I took them to Barnes and Nobel at the mall instead of going home, then, pretending to be lost, ended up at the airport. The kids had a nice surprise to see their aunt and uncle there. Libby was about halfway through her pregnancy at this point, so she may have been trying to spend a weekend with us to see if it all is really worth it.

The weather was nice, so we spent some time outside. Libby and Peter took the kids to Toys ‘R Us, and Helena didn’t really want anything, which was the biggest surprise of the weekend. Libby and Peter took the kids to an egg hunt at Linden Hills park while Dalen and I ran into Target, Walgreens, and Cub Foods looking for Speckled Eggs, which were never found. Peter colored eggs for the first time, while the rest of us wondered if he grew up in a cave. With Libby saving days off to be with her own kid, she only got to stay a couple of days, but after Easter morning, she’d probably had enough!

Peter’s first egg

Helena’s excited

Three dozen eggs to color

Two packs of dye this year – 12 cups of fun

Ada figuring out which will taste best

Having lots of fun

Proud of themselves!

Family portrait

Ada with an egg first thing in the morning

Good morning! Time to get Libby and Peter up

Getting ready

Ada begins

Easter morning breakfast

Ada ate 1/4 pound of jelly beans in ten minutes

Ada finds one – she didn’t look too hard

Libby gets fooled by my fake egg

Helena finds the most again, despite our protests

Helena is excited to find some money

“That’s the guy you like, right dad?”

Liam the striker

Not really an athlete

Pooped

Chicago

Dad, Helena, and Liam went to Chicago over our Spring Break. The weather was great – just a little chilly but sunny.

We left Minneapolis at 4:00 and were in Chicago by 11:00. Our hotel room was ready, so we immediately went across the street to the Field Museum. After that, we had dinner on our walk over to the Sears Tower, then took a cab back to the hotel where Liam immediately fell asleep while Helena and I laughed at Mythbusters on the television.

The next morning we went to breakfast then went to the Shedd Aquarium because Liam wanted to see the dolphin show. In typical fashion, that part of the aquarium was under renovation. But we spent some time there, and afterword in Grant Park, where the kids played with some others, and rolled down the hill over and over. They also found the carcass of a squirrel, which was quite exciting.

Then we went to the hotel for a little nap, then we took the subway into town for dinner (Pizzeria Uno, which we all hated), then we took a cab to the Children’s Museum, where we stayed until they closed. A cab home, sleep, and we were on the road by 6:15 the next morning for the kids to be surprised that their Aunt Libby and Uncle Peter were going to be there that night.