Art-A-Whirl

I had heard about Art-A-Whirl recently, a weekend where art studios in Minneapolis open their doors to the public, so we gave it a go.


It was fun to see the different art styles and mediums and I think even the kids thought some of it was cool. The interactive stuff was always their favorite, of course.


Since the studios are spread all over the city, I researched what would be the mostly likely places for us to enjoy, narrowing down to two corridors. We'd take the free trolley from one to the other.


Except, the trolley only came every half hour or so without a posted schedule. So after waiting a while and getting very hungry, we decided to just walk and see if we could snag food along the way.


The trolley passed us a few minutes in, of course. And there was no food to be found.


But I got to take some time to practice my own art and snag some portraits of my cuties.


But then we found some snacks. And some kind people gave us balloons. And another kind soul offered to take our family photo. And we DID get to take the trolley back to our car after we explored the second corridor and got some tasty egg rolls. I give Art-A-Whirl a thumbs up but will be happier to do it again when not pregnant.

Bubbles in Chairs

Twins Turning Five- Star Wars Party!

Back in May, the twins turned five!


On their actual birthday, they got to have cake for breakfast, since we knew Sean would be home with much time to do it in the evening (except he was able to get out a little early, which was awesome). That's a good way to start you special day, eh?


Being sung to.


We opened presents, like their Star Wars Lego kits, a Lego Star Wars Wii game, and a Peter Pan book with tickets to see the play.


We did other fun things that day though I truly can't remember exactly what. They definitely spent a long time working on Legos, their first real kit. They've since aquired a few more kits and work on them daily.


Have you caught on to the fact that Liam and Dash love Star Wars? A couple months ago, Sean just really wanted to watch Star Wars with them, so I acquiesced. And an obsession was born. So a Star Wars party a few days after their birthday was natural, even if none of their guests had seen the movies.


I haven't ever done a big party like this for my kids, in the past it was just playing as a family or doing a glorified play date with cupcakes. I figured turning five qualified for something a bit more grand.


But I was not a born party planner. It totally stresses me out. For a week leading up to the party, it was all I could think about. The day of the party, I was just zipping from one thing to the other, hardly able to focus.



I was getting ready even when friends started arriving. I quick snapped some photos of the set up and realized I hadn't made the punch yet, ha!


Light saber cupcakes!


So after consuming our Star Wars meal, we began Jedi Training! After donning their brown padawan robes (if so desired), they designed their own R2 unit.


The next step was Pinning the Lightsaber on Yoda.


Right on target!


Grey thought it was just funny to walk around blindfolded.


Unphotographed was our attempt to defeat the Death Star by throwing a Death Star ball through the tire swing. Then we competed our training by working with lightsabers to fight Stormtrooper balloons. All successfully learned to use the Force and became Jedi!


Then we did presents (everyone gave such perfect gifts) and cupcakes and called it good. As crazy as it was for me to plan and setup, I think the kids had a grand time. Now I'm going to wait a few more years before we do another big party!

Sabered

This is my last set of Colorado photos, featuring the lightsabers the kids found (which we consequently frequently hid- those things hurt). I had asked Sean to come up with some Star Wars-y story to accompany the images, but you know what? That guy's busy. So how about some sound effects instead?

::Cuzzzhhh::

::voohhh woohhh::

::zwhoo zwhoo::

::Psschicscch::

That's a Colorado Wrap!

Nature and Science

As per Bradley Family Law of Visitation, we explored the Denver Nature and Science Museum.


There we saw some stalactites that were must grander than the ones we saw in the Cave of the Winds.


I've never been much into geology, I don't remember what kind of rock this is. But it looks pretty cool.


I had always wanted a geode when I saw younger (because they're pretty, duh) but one size of Pogo is just nuts!


We also found the newer kids playing area which was super fun.


We had gone to the zoo a few days previous, Grey must be remembering the giraffe's tongue.


Speaking of which, may as well put my zoo video here. Feeding the giraffes is always the highlight. Grey wanted to keep his distance though, it was a little freaky for him.



Dash, it turns out, is a master drummer. The things you learn at the museum!

Garden of the Gods

We visited the Garden of the Gods! This is another place I visted pre-Sean's Mission but it was super fun (and tiring, on my part) with kids!


First, to admire some rocks. I don't remember what was special about these rocks. They're not even very red.


I instructed them to make Kissy Faces to match the Kissing Camels formation (top of the rocks above Dash) but only one child complied.


So we embraced some more silly faces.


And some angry faces.


How about some sweet faces?


That's it.


Sweet enough.


Now, time to climb!


A perfect Grey-sized nook.


The kids were all very daring.


And they sure liked it.


So many nooks and crannies to probe.


It all made me very nervous.


And sometimes it made them nervous, too.


I generally stayed with Grey while Sean stayed with Liam and Dash, so he could scramble up after them when necessary. I'm... not so capable of scrambling right now.


Grey's missing because he's in my arms screaming about us making him leave the climbing area.


We had other rocks to see, after all.


Not to worry, more climbing areas were found.


And claimed.


Look, I was there!


Sweet bruddahs.


Now we were all starting to get a bit tired and hungry after a while. Sean tried to get one more round of photos. Grey complied by showing off a rock.


Dash gave a little 'tude.


And Liam just wasn't having it.


Time to go- thanks for the fun, red rocks!