Special friend day

I know without a doubt that my little girl, Sevea, is very special. I love her to pieces but I also know that she has many other people in her life that love her lots. She’s very lucky to have people that support her parents in raising her and helping her to feel loved. Her school has a couple days during the year where she gets to show off her class and school to a special friend. Michelle has proven many times how great of a special friend/person she is in Sevea’s life. So we were both very excited when she was able to attend Sevea’s special friend day at school. Not only did Sevea feel very special at school but she got to have a special afternoon treat of playing at the park and having a Caribou smoothie and cookie.

Thanks for making her feel special on so many different occasions Michelle! We love you!

I know Sevea is very excited for the next time she is able to bring a special friend to school. She is accepting applications for the spot now

Cohen sports class

At the end of September Cohen started a 4 week long introduction to sports class at the Community Center. The class was for 3 and 4 year olds and consisted of learning the basics of 4 different sports. They started out with soccer, then football, followed by baseball, and finishing with hockey. For all the classes the kids had some one on one practice time with the parent and then time spent as a group with the instructors. Cohen’s favorite part of all the sports was the time with the instructors. It was great seeing him interact with them. They often played red light green light and freeze tag. He loved it….even if he didn’t listen closely enough to stop on red and go on green ;) He didn’t seem to have a favorite of the classes and wasn’t even close to being a star athlete. But he had fun and got to do something active. I think this type of program was perfect for him. Hopefully it sparks more interest in being active or finding some sport he will enjoy.

Impromptu Valleyfair visit

We lived in Shakopee now for over 5 years. In those 5 years we have never made a trip down the road to Valleyfair. This shocks me too. I remember thinking when I was younger that if I lived near Valleyfair I would go all the time. Somehow we just haven’t taken the time to go. So I put it on the kid’s and my bucket lists. I planned to make an adult trip for my birthday but changed those plans. So by the end of September I was thinking I’d have to wait to cross this off the bucket list till next year. Enter the Witzel family. They have season passes to Valleyfair and planned to take their kids the last Sunday of the month. On a whim we decided to tag along. It ended up being a great impromptu trip. The weather was perfect and felt a little more like summer than fall. It was a great day to spend outside soaking it all in. The really nice day didn’t mean really long lines though. Which made our visit even better.

The kids loved standing by the fence waiting for the water to splash them from the Wave ride. We spent a good portion of time in front of the fence two times during our visit. Also I love how you can see Regan slowly getting closer and closer to the action. Out of the four of them she was really the only one with any sort of fear for the rides. I’d say that is pretty good for their age. I feel like my kids will be the ones ready for the big rides before they are actually able to ride them…especially considering the height requirements, haha! There was one kiddie ride that was a pretty good rollercoaster. I wondered how the kids would handle it. Sevea and I rode in the front and she absolutely loved it. Cohen rode with Troy and had the most fun on that ride.

The kids had such a great time. We can totally see why the Witzel’s have season passes. What a great way to spend time with the kids and do something outside while not feeling guilty if you only go for a couple hours. You go twice and it pays for the pass so it is something we are considering….especially since we our visit didn’t even include the waterpark area. It really makes me question what took us so long to go.

So kid’s bucket list item crossed off. Now I need to make an adult trip to the park to cross it off mine. I just hope it doesn’t take another five years living in Shakopee to make it happen. Season passes just might help to make it happen.

Corn Maze 2014

I turned another year older. And you know what that means? Time for the corn maze. We’ve tried to make this a yearly tradition typically going the weekend after my birthday. Well even though someone had a really good time the night before (pointing finger at me) we still gathered up the kids and enjoyed the afternoon at the local corn maze. Each year gets better and better as they get older. It is fun to see Sevea still enjoy so much about the corn maze (which I should add we have actually only done the maze itself once…the first year we went when Sevea had just turned 1!). Cohen is getting into more and more and Brynna saw the whole thing from a different view. No longer was she stuck in the carrier or car seat. She got to join in on the fun…for some things anyway.

Our first stop is always the corn pit. Cohen is really into jumping lately and enjoyed jumping in over and over again. He puts so much effort into his jumps you can’t help but smile at him. Brynna totally loved the corn pit. Thankfully she isn’t a kid who puts everything immediately in her mouth.

Next we made our way to the train and the jumping pillows. Great way for the kids to burn off some energy. I gotta say you couldn’t have gotten much better of an expression shot on Grayson. He sort looks like the conductor in his hat and everything. So cute!

One thing that we haven’t done in years past because it costs extra is the big slide. For some reason I always thought it cost $5 and just didn’t feel it was worth it. Well this year Cohen begged to go down the slide (crazy since he used to have such a fear after breaking his leg). We were happy to find out that the slide was only $2 and even better you only paid by the rug not the person. Sevea suggested we do a race between the boys and girls. $4 for a race which I knew Sevea and I would so win….game on!

If I was the judge I’d say we won. The prize was mini donuts and well we shared those between us all so I guess it was really a win for all.

We watched the magic show, climbed on some big tires, saw the animals, and explored an old fire truck. We certainly fill the afternoon with fun. The kids have a great time each year. So you better believe I look forward to turning another year older if it means I get to share in a day like this with them.