Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Easter 2009

Easter was fun this year. Syd had us up at 7:15, so we went down and she looked for eggs the Bunny hid. She also found all of the cool stuff the Easter Bunny left for her.

Syd and Mom went to church with Grandma & Grandpa Capwell and then we all went over to their house for Easter dinner. While we were there, G & G's neighbor invited Syd over for an Easter Egg Hunt at their house with their grandkids. They had hidden 160 plastic eggs, all with stuff in them. Syd found about 40 of them, gaining a lot of candy and about $3 in change (made up mostly of pennies, nickels, and dimes, but with some quarters). It was a long, but good day. The weather was perfect and Syd had a good time.

Here are the eggs we colored for Easter this year. Some of them ended up being very interesting. We had paints this year in addition to the dye, so Syd had fun with those.



Here is Syd sporting her new Wall-E sunglasses the Easter Bunny brought.



And here she is with her new bunny.



These are the eggs she scored at Grandma & Grandpa's neighbor's house.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Spring is close.

Today Syd played outside for a few hours. It was pretty nice out, very sunny and somewhat warm. It's at least starting to look and feel like Spring. A few of the neighborhood kids came over to play too. In the picture are Audrey, Keira, and Cade. Ahhh, chalk on the driveway... Spring must be close.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

St. Louis Trip

Mom had a conference in St. Louis this past week. Dad and Syd decided to go along, since Syd had never been before. We had a great time and found some really kid friendly stuff, that is also fun for adults.

On Thursday, while Mom was at some meetings, Dad and Syd went to the St. Louis Arch and the Mississippi River, which happened to be right across the street from our hotel. Here are some pics from their adventure.

These are from the Arch.










And these are from the Mississippi.




As a family we went to the St. Louis Zoo on Friday. It's an amazing zoo and is free to the public. You have to pay $11 for parking, but admission is free. They have a really good collection of animals, including three different types of penguins, which are Syds favorites. They also have a train and merry-go-round, which were a big hit as well. Here are some pics from our trip to the zoo.



Here is a young tiger cub we saw. He was very cute.



Here is Syd on the Merry-Go-Round.



And here are Dad and Syd in the Butterfly Exhibit.



Friday evening we went to the City Museum, which is a decieving title. Dad didn't want to go, being a person who doesn't really enjoy museums of any sort. But he was really happy he went after we got there. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I'll give it my best shot. It is this old, very large factory that they have converted into a chidlren's museum. Inside, they have a lot of different exhibits including a huge room set up for skateboarders, a huge room set up for gymnastics teams, and other hands on stuff. There is also a foodcourt. Outside, attached to the side of the building is this huge, very tall structure made out of iron, steel, and other metals that is a massive jungle gym for kids to run around and play on. I can't possibly do this justice with my description. You would have to see it to really understand how big and unique this is. Syd, on her own, climbed up to the top of one part that is even with the top of the building. Up there was a piece of a fire truck that she slid down to another level. There was also a whole airplane up at the top in another area. I have no idea how they get insurance on this thing since it's all metal and at first glance doesn't look safe at all. We just kept hoping that the engineers and welders that put it together knew what they were doing. The really cool part was that down at the bottom of this structure they had a bar and fire pits for the parents. So, we got pizza from the foodcourt, Zack got a couple of beers and we sat around the fire pit and watched Syd run and climb for hours. It was great.



Here is Syd in the skate boarding area, running up and down the ramps.



Here is Syd in the ball pit, which was at the base of the metal structure. There were actually two ball pits, one open to everyone and one for 6 and under. This is the 6 and under, because in the other one kids were trying to kill each other with the balls. We're not entirely sure where the parents of any of these kids were, but oh well.



And these are of Syd climbing around on the structure. You'll have to look close for her in a couple of them. I was using my phone camera, it was dusk, and with all the metal, good pics were hard to come by.




Thursday, February 26, 2009

Syd earns her Advanced Orange Belt in karate

Yesterday Syd earned her Advanced Orange Belt. She was only going for a tip on her orange belt, but did so well during testing that Sensei Amanda promoted her to Advanced Orange Belt. We are so proud of her!

Here's Syd leading push ups at the beginning of class during warm ups.



This is after testing. Sensei Amanda is putting her new belt on.



And this is Syd receiving her certificate for the advanced belt.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Skating at BGSU

Sunday we went skating at BGSU. Zack bought Syd some hockey equipment, so she had to try it out. She's the one in the Mickey jersey and black helmet.



Saturday, February 14, 2009

Nagoya

We ate dinner at Nagoya in Levis Commons the other night. It's a Japanese restaurant that has a section where you can watch people making stuff on a grill and a part where you can sit and order sushi and other stuff off the menu. We are huge sushi fans so we went that route. Syd had Terriyaki chicken. In the picture she's eating with chopsticks and doing a really good job at it.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Syd in Karate

Here are some pics of Syd in her karate class. She's doing so well. She'll be testing for Advanced Orange Belt soon. She can't wait.


Monday, January 19, 2009

Boyne Trip 2009

We decided to go skiing at Boyne again this year, since we had so much fun last year. We stayed at the Lodge again, which is great since you can ski in, ski out at will. Syd had a great time again. She's getting REALLY good on skis. She can maneuver around things and can stop quickly. We actually spent a lot of time on the bigger hills this year. Syd did great on the Intermediate hills. She really enjoyed being able to ski longer (with the bigger hills) and of course, the lifts were the best part. Most skiers take the lift up so they can ski down, but Syd skis down, so she can take the lift up.

Here are some pics of her and Zack at the pool. It's an outdoor pool, as you can see. It was about 20 degrees and snowing when these were taken. They thought it was funny to stand in the snow, then jump back into the heated pool.







We have some great videos of Syd skiing. In the first one, Syd and I are skiing and Zack is on his snowboard filming. He gets ahead of us and plops down/falls. My favorite part of this video is Syd's reaction to him "falling".



In the second one, I am at the bottom first and get Syd and Zack coming down the hill. Note the great turning ability of Syd.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Hanging with Big Boy

We went to Big Boy for dinner the other night and Syd couldn't resist getting her picture taken with Big Boy himself. Cute right?

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Burns

We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Burns as is the tradition. Santa made an appearance and gave presents to the kids and we had a great time.

It was nice to see Syd and her cousins hanging out together.



Here's Syd with Santa.



And here's Syd and Zane with Santa.



And here's a great picture of Syd, Zane, and Scarlett with Grandma & Grandpa Burns.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Christmas Tree Farm

We went with Grandma and Grandpa Capwell to pick out a Christmas tree again this year. After picking out the tree, we had hot chocolate and hot dogs, sat around a nice fire, and rode on a horse and buggy. Most of the pics from this trip were lost (camera malfunction), but here are a couple that made it.



Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving at Great Wolf Lodge

We went to Great Wolf Lodge with the Burns and Nold family for Thanksgiving for the third year in a row. We had a ton of fun (how could we not when Syd's most favorite thing is swimming). Here are some pics from our adventure.









Monday, November 10, 2008

Field Trip to Country Lane Tree Farm

Last Wednesday, Syd's kindergarten class (and all the other kindergarten classes at her school) had a field trip to Country Lane Tree Farm (http://countrylanetreefarm.com/). Mom went along as a parent volunteer to help out. We boarded buses at about 9:15 and headed to the farm. At the farm the kids got to pet baby chicks, baby ducks, donkeys, horses, ponies, rabbits, etc. as well as milk a cow and see a bunch more animals. They also went on a hayride and got to pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, rode in a really cool barrell train pulled by a four wheeler, and got to see bees making honey. There was also a playground (that probably would have been enough for most of the kids). And one of Syd's favorite parts was a straw maze in a barn, at the end of which were two slides, one really tall one and another winding tunnel one. The kids ate lunch there in between all of the events and animals. We left the farm at about 2:00 or so and headed back to school. It was a really long day and we were all tired, adults and kids, by the end. We lucked out with weather, since it was 75 degrees and sunny. People were actually complaining it was too hot. Crazy for November 5th.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

This is the kids at tables listening to instructions from the farm owner.



Here is Syd petting a baby chick and rabbit.




Here they are in the barrel train.



And here's Syd having some fun on the playground.