A Day at Minnetonka Orchards

JV's preschool class is taking a fieldtrip to the apple orchard this week and since he will be taking a trip to NC he can't join his friends on the fieldtrip.  Needless to say, he wasn't too happy about that so we decided to take him as a family.  Unfortunately, the apples had been picked over but we made the best of it anyway.

 

 

The tractor/train ride was the hit of the day. 

 

A wooden train to play in.  Kinda reminds me of The Box Car Children books.



 

Next up, Apple donuts of course! 

As you can see, he was quite interested in the tire swing.

 I love this picture!

 Little Boy Blue...

The day wouldn't be complete without checking out the pumkins.

Ok, one more picture before we REALLY leave for the day.

Happy 4th Birthday!

How did he get so big?  Today he turns 4!

I'm this big!

                          Cheese!

A little birthday decoration for the birthday boy.

       And let the party begin!

  

Effective water gun use against the "bad guy" aka: dad.

This is my favorite part of the party when JV and E finished off the cake.  So much for nap time!

Creativity at it's Best

Creativity at it's best:

 

I've let this project go on for about 3 days so far.  This has been JV's idea from the beginning.  I've given no directions.  It's unstructured play at it's best.  Sure, it's a bit messy leaving this project on the kitchen floor, but I've noticed that he's been whining less and has taken more control and pride in his work.  He even cleaned up a spill that he had, without whining for me to do it.  From the role of a child having to do what everyone else wants and when they want to do it, I have to imagine that it's nice knowing that he can completely control something from start to finish. 

 

So yes, my floor is a mess, but my child it happy and that's what really matters. 

Tater Daze Festival

If there is one good thing about Minnesota, it's that there is always a festival going on in the summer, so tonight we headed out to the Tater Daze festival.  I only took $12 thinking that was enough for a ride or two and a sweet snack.  Hahahaha!  Not the case!  Thank goodness we had dinner before hand and JV didn't ask for snacks, because there was nothing left over. 

Regardless, we had fun, but next time I will bring extra for funnel cake.

 

 JV is all boy and picked the motorcycle ride over the rest.  I expected him to hesitate since I couldn't ride this one with him, but he said, "It's just for kids."  Um, when did he become so big?

 

 $3.00 for 1 dart to hopefully pop a balloon.  Yes, I said $3 for ONE dart!  I caved and paid the money for him to throw the dart.  As he stood there I held my breath, hopeing that he would pop one and then....he NAILED it!  I guess Tball lessons are paying off. 

He's very proud of his new snake that he named, "Wormy".

 

 Oh look, something that is free. Sort of.  There was a tent selling music classes and JV took the opportunity to play all the instruments.  I think his favorite was the piano.

 

1st off, I am TERRIFIED of rollercoasters.  Then JV sees this ride and tells me that he is "brave enough".  I tried to avoid it several times, but he really, really, wanted to ride, so off to the ticket booth we went to buy tickets for me since he required an adult due to his height. 

 

When it was our turn to get on, JV sat there excitedly.  I was a little nervous, but trying to keep calm so that he wouldn't be scared of the ride.  As it started, he started giggling.  I wish I had a picture of him during the ride.  He was grinning from ear to ear.  

 

After we got off, he kept telling me how he was so "brave" on the rollercoaster.  He was beaming with pride. He continued to talk about the ride the rest of the night.  

 

But, for rollercoasters any bigger than that, daddy is going to have to go. 



Como Zoo and Friends

Yesterday, we decided that we were going to go to the Como Zoo today.  The first thing JV said to me this morning was, "Mom, look!  The sun is up.  We can go to the zoo now!"  So off we went.  Fortunately, friends that we haven't seen in a some time were able to join us for the day!  The boys hit it off right away even after not seeing each other since the summer.  Having "E" there made JV's day.

 

As I said, it didn't take long to warm up.

 

"The bear is going to get us!  Ahhh!"

 Yes, we did see animals between all the playtime.

 

...and animal prints...

 

Time for a lunch break

 

"E" has twin baby sisters who needed to nap, but JV and I stayed a bit longer to enjoy the flower.

 

How does a child learn?  Through, touch of course.

 

JV's taking a moment to enjoy the wishing well.

 

He really wants to touch the water at the wishing well, but is using good 'listening ears' and refraining.

 

One last picture before we leave, "Cheese!"

 

Believe it or not he learned a lot today.    Next time you see him ask:

How does a polar bear stay warm? 

JV would say, "Blubber". 

What's the difference between a monkey and an ape? 

"A monkey has a tail.  An 'acorn' has no tail."

Kiddywampus

Today we went to Kiddywampus' Art Studio.  They have lots of craft ideas, but you can pretty much create anything you want.  JV started with dinosaur crafts, but spent the majority of the time painting on the wall. 

 

 

He's painting the ocean.

 

Working on his dinosaurs.

 

Below is JV's masterpiece, an ocean: sea turtles, fish, sharks, and of course, fish food included. 

 

Showing off his dino projects.

 

"Cheese!"