The Sliver

One day at work last week, I received a call from daycare.  When I see my phone ring and the caller ID is daycare, it is never a good sign.  It means that something is wrong. So I always answer the phone with trepidation- It normally means that Marcus needs to be picked up and the plans for the rest of the day are about to completely change.

I answered the phone and the first thing the teacher on the other end said "Don't worry, Marcus isn't sick".   I instantly felt a bit but I knew that a BUT was about to come up, they wouldn't be calling me otherwise. The bad news came quickly "Marcus has a sliver".  Well my first thought was "OK and"..... I quickly learned that due to liability reasons our daycare cannot remove slivers because it is considered invasive and therefore their insurance does not allow it.

I felt a bit annoyed but I really do get it (unfortunately) and we live in a highly litigious society and they are creating policies to decrease risk.  Anyway, the choice was leave the sliver in Marcus's hand (and the teacher said it was bothering him) for the rest of the day or drive home over lunch (and take a long lunch) and go remove the sliver.

I decided to go and remove the sliver.  It is about 25 miles each way and I had to pick up a tweezers on the way (they didn't have one at daycare).  I also grabbed a needle (just in case), TMNT Band-aids, and chocolate treat to keep him occupied during the sliver removal process.

I finally made it to daycare about 1 hour after the call and safely removed the sliver.  It was actually a pretty big sliver and he was much happier with it out of his hand!  Marcus was not very happy that he had to stay at daycare and Mommy went back to work.

This is just a taste of what it is like to be a modern Mommy and balance life and work.  I don't always have the luxury of easily balancing both.  This is actually one of the good things about my job- I work at a consulting firm- and they are fine with me handling family matters when it comes up.  That makes life a whole lot easier (and I think everyone was giggling about my sliver trip).

The sliver with a pen for comparison

The best part of the trip (only maybe the only good part) is that I got a hug and a kiss from Marcus AND I got to be his hero.  At least for now, he knows that Mommy will save the day when needed!

Marcus's First Race

We have had a really fun summer this year and have done a ton of activities.  One of the fun things that we did, the week-end of Marcus's birthday, is attend Minnetonka Summer Fest.  This is the Minnetonka town festival that occurs the last Saturday in June.  This is a ton of fun for kids because it includes lots of activities and the good part for parents is that a ton of it is FREE!

One of the Summer Fest activities is a kids run.  

It is for kids 2-7 (they run in 3 heats (2-3, 4-5, 6-7)).  The distances are different by age with Marcus's group running about 1/2 block and the oldest kids running a lot farther.

We thought this would be a super fun and cute thing for Marcus to do.  We got to the park in time for the run and tried hard to explain what to do.  We quickly noticed that everyone in Marcus's group had parents lining up with them.  So Luke and I both took a hand and when they said "go" we were off.  Lisa was also in this same group with Sophie.  Marcus did great- Well except for the small period where he said "carry mine" and Mommy carried him while running for a bit.  He did finish the race on his own two feet and so was excited to get the finisher medal!

I think this may be the start of a new family tradition.

Post Race Family Photo

It was really fun that Lisa and kids were in town so they also completed the race in their age groups.  Bryce was super fast and came in second place.  Carson ran the longest distance and even helped a girl who feel. 

It was pretty much impossible to get a good picture of the kids with their medals but here are a few attempts.

 It has been a few weeks and Marcus is still very excited and proud of his metal.  He likes to show it off and it we are not careful he tries to sneak it into his bedroom so he can sleep in it.  It almost makes me think I may need to make a metal holder of some kind.

This was an awesome day and I had so much fun watching Marcus run his first race and I couldn't have been much prouder of him!

A fun Father's Day with a hidden gem- Minnesota Transportation Museum- Jackson Street Roundhouse

Every year on Father's day (like most wives) I try to pull off an awesome day for my awesome husband.  It is, for me, about trying to plan something that Luke wants to do- involving the entire family.  Not always an easy feat but this year it was a pretty great day!

We love our Daddy! - Marcus and Sandy

In the morning when Marcus and I got up we knew what we needed to do to start the day!  Pancake in bed for Daddy-  Marcus even helped to make them.  Next we figured out what to do with the day.  Luke has been doing a lot of biking for the past few years and he really likes to check out new trails across the metro area (and sometimes beyond).  He had been eyeing the Gateway Trail (Gateway Trail Info) that connects St. Paul to Stillwater.  It is one of the many rail trains in MN.  Marcus and I thought it would be a lot of fun to drive and be support.

We headed to St. Paul to find the trail head.  It is not as easy as it sounds as the beginning section of the trail was actually under construction and so we meandered around for awhile and came across a REALLY COOL place that we have never heard of before.  

The Minnesota Transportation Museum- Jackson Street Roundhouse

Museum Information

We were driving by around noon-  the sign actually said that it was closed on Sundays but we drove into the parking lot to check out all of the train cars that were parked there.  A few few minutes later a volunteer opened up the museum-  We learned they were opening it special for Father's day.  That was pretty lucky for us!                                               I didn't take as many pictures as I should have but I guess that means we will have to go back another time.  Right next to the parking lot there were a ton of train cars to check out and explore and that was just the beginning of the fun.  In the museum there were a bunch more.  My favorite thing was the caboose-  I had always wondered what they were like inside and know I know.

I think that Luke and Marcus's favorite thing was the simulator where they got to drive the train.

Don't worry Mom and Dad - I got this.

This is a very hands on museum.  With a lot of things to touch and explore.  I would highly recommend it for ANYONE. 

At the back of the building there are a ton more trains to see and the closest thing of of all-  They have the actual Jackson Street Roundhouse-  For people who may not be as train savvy as me (I do read a lot of books about trains to Marcus).  A roundhouse is the device they use to turn train engines around.  I had never seen one in real life and it was super cool-  So cool that I forgot to take any pictures of it :(

We spent about 1.5 hours there and then we headed off to complete the goal of the day.  Luke jumped on his bike and Marcus and I drove away to meet him at the first predestined stop.

Luke's Gear

Overall the ride went off without a hitch-  we saw Luke several times along the way.  The only probably is that Marcus never actually took a nap- that wasn't good.  When Luke got close to Stillwater he switched over to the Brown's Creek State Trail (Brown's Creek Trail Info) and cruised his way into Stillwater.  Marcus got so excited when he saw him coming!

We spent a bit of time hanging out in Stillwater and we checked a few things out-  Including the Teddy Bear Park (it was neat but I wasn't overly impressed) and ate dinner at a diner.  They gave Luke a free "Dad's Rootbeer" for his day.

Overall it was a really fun day for all.

Marcus's First Twins Game

June was a pretty amazing month- oh and I got really far behind on blogs so it is time to kick it up for the next few days.

Again- Let's talk about all of the awesome things we did in June.  Marcus had a pretty amazing time learning new things and having new experiences.... Now it is my turn to get them all documented!

Let's start here:

Marcus's First Twins Game

One of the fun thing about my job is that the company has twins tickets- and some times they give them away to the employees.  I put my name in for a game and yippee we got some tickets.  It was a lot of fun- and what made it even better was the Twins won.

My work gives 4 tickets to the game so we brought Grandpa Harvey along- and Marcus had a lot of fun climbing on him like he was a play gym the entire game.

Uncle Christian is up there some where!

We found him!

It was a fun day in the ball park.  Besides the awesome game and the yummy food we also had a blast taking the light rail from the Mall of America to Target Stadium and back again.