Brothers Pearson

Winter!

2012-01-16T15:39:00.000-06:00

Hi blog followers - sorry we have been a little lax lately. We've been out enjoying winter the last few weekends. Lots of skating, skiing (cross country and downhill), hockey, hikes, campfires, etc. A lot of these photos are courtesy Grandma Nancy (thanks!).

Typical Duluth January, right?

2012-01-05T17:08:00.001-06:00

The unfortunately warm weather prompted Leif to bust out the skuut. When is winter going to get here?

Holiday Season Catch-Up

2012-01-01T18:57:00.000-06:00

Our holiday season has been amazing! First, we celebrated an early christmas with the Johnsons in Maple Grove.

Cousins:

Uncle Sam and the tough guys:

We spent christmas proper in Iowa and had a blast:

The week between christmas and new years was spent skiing, topped off with a new years eve party at our house:

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Hockey!

2011-12-28T15:44:00.001-06:00

The winter sport extravaganza continues! Here is a shot of Finn, all geared up got his first practice with the rink rats. (Leif, sadly, refused to play tonight. Next time?)

Ski camp

2011-12-27T10:19:00.001-06:00

Today, Finn started downhill ski camp. Here he is enjoying a quick break with some hot cocoa, plus some action shots.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-27T15:19:00.000-06:00

Odin is two!

2011-11-07T08:24:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday, Odin! We love you!

Leif is four!

2011-10-31T07:58:00.001-06:00

Leif turned four yesterday and to celebrate, we had a huge, weekend-long bash. Both sets of grandparents, plus Uncle Sam, Aunt Nicole, cousin Nora, and Aunt Erika all were in attendance to help Leif mark another year on his calendar.

Good times! Happy birthday, dude!

Fall and new house!

2011-10-09T21:05:00.000-05:00

Hi! We realize we haven't posted any photos of the new house, so here are a few. Here's the deck - it's awesome! We spend a ton of time on it:

View from the deck:

Dining room - needs paint and a new light fixture:

Kitchen and doorway into the main floor laundry/mud room:

Backyard:

Side yard:

Climbing tree in our yard:

The series of photos below are hiking in OUR BACKYARD! Yes, seriously. It is so awesome!

The front:

Wrestling in the almost empty living room (we need more furniture):

Finn and Leif's room:

The secret hide-out/science lab in F/L's room:

Odin's room - we'll repaint it eventually, but it works for now:

Moving!

2011-09-19T21:12:00.000-05:00

Hi! As you are probably aware, we moved last Friday. Our new house is awesome so far! We love the location, set-up, modernish feel, etc. No photos of the new place yet (wait until we've painted and organized), but here are a few from the last week in our house on Sussex. It was an emotional week for all of us. Finn cried a lot (he's totally fine now) and it was hard for Mickey and I to leave the house where two of our kids were born in the dining room. Without further ado, here are the photos.

We all camped on the boys' floor for the last few nights. It was hard to stay on the beds:

4/5 of us sleeping. Mickey chose to sleep in a different room on a camping pad that night:

Moving night pizza dinner in our dining room - complete with "kid wine" (aka sparkling juice) and ice cream sandwiches:

For closure, we buried a rock under the boys' favorite climbing tree. It says, "we lived, laughed and loved here 2007-2011."

Finn digging the hole:

We also traced the boys' hands in the closet and had them write their names. Finn helped with Odin's, since he was not into participating.

Our new house is ~1 mile from the old one, so we didn't go far. A young couple bought the house and are very excited about it. We hope they enjoy it as much as we did and it brings them much love and happiness.

Finn starts kindergarten today!

2011-09-08T07:33:00.000-05:00

Today is Finn's first day of kindergarten. Good luck, dude! We love you!

Leif's first day of school

2011-09-06T12:05:00.001-05:00

Today is Leif's first day of school at Summit!

Nice Little Sunday

2011-09-04T20:02:00.000-05:00

Camping!

2011-08-21T20:00:00.000-05:00

We went camping this weekend and had a blast! The weather was perfect, the company good, the food great, the water warm, etc...

Sold!

2011-08-17T18:04:00.000-05:00

Most of you already know this via facebook, but we sold our house! We'll miss it, but are excited to be closer to schools, the lake, Tischer (!), downtown, friends, etc.

Art by the big boys

2011-08-16T14:48:00.000-05:00

Finn and Leif have been very interested in photography and videography for the last couple of days. Here are some choice shots they've taken.

Up first are Leif's photos:

And here are Finn's photos:

Finally, Finn drew this pretty cool picture of Woody and Buzz today that I thought I'd share.

Soccer!

2011-08-03T15:03:00.001-05:00

Finn sports his "soccer face."

Driving towards the goal, Finn (in his enormous #54 jersey) illustrates that he has a better grasp on the fundamentals of soccer than those of baseball.

Another drive towards the goal! He gets it!

2011-07-31T21:06:00.000-05:00

Family camping weekend in Grand Rapids. Thanks to grandparents Johnsons for lending your house this weekend to our fabulous friends!

The kids - from left to right: Huxley, Max, Esmae, Elsa, Anja, Lev, Mikah, Leif, Finn, Klaus, Odin, Avery.

Summer!

2011-07-25T09:40:00.000-05:00

Summer fun

2011-07-14T21:03:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos from our trip to Okoboji (swimming, Arnolds Park, Camp Foster) and a few cute ones at the end of Odin. We couldn't decide, so included them all.

2011-07-06T15:07:00.000-05:00

We apologize for being so far behind on the blog. Below are some photos from Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Sam taken over the last month or so. Also included are some photos from Grandma's 1/2 Marathon. We'll update as we load more photos and have more summer adventures. Enjoy!

Boys, boys, boys

2011-06-19T14:14:00.000-05:00

Beautiful weekend!

2011-06-06T06:54:00.000-05:00

Finn had his last day of preschool on Wednesday. We are taking the summer off before he starts Kindergarten in the fall. His summer is full of big kid activities - baseball, soccer, YMCA camp, nature camp. Fun! It will be a big change for everyone when he starts school. For the last 1.5 years Finn went to preschool two days per week, so five days will be a big change.

Celebrating the last day with super special sundaes:

This weekend was so beautiful! We played outside every moment we could. It was awesome - filled with lots of trampoline jumping, playdates with friends, BBQs, hiking, biking....

Long weekend

2011-06-01T13:32:00.000-05:00

Memorial Day on Pokegama Lake:

Adorable big kids

2011-05-31T15:17:00.000-05:00

Lego-mania!

Yes, he has an awesome fat lip from an encounter with a toy car.

Smiles!

2011-05-19T11:57:00.000-05:00

April

2011-05-01T08:36:00.004-05:00

For some reason the photos in this post are blurry. If you click on them they're crystal clear. I don't know what's going on...

Sorry we have been so far behind. April has been an awesome, busy month for us. Finn celebrated his 5th (!) birthday in Minneapolis, we had a superhero themed birthday party with his friends in Duluth, and we went on a family road trip to Iowa/Chicago. Below are a bunch of photos documenting all our fun.

Here are the boys at Lego Land in the MOA. It was a dream come true for lego-enthusiasts Finn and Leif:

We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe for Fin's special day:

Lego Woody! Thumbs up!

Checking out Sea Life (formerly Underwater World):

We also hit up Nickelodean Universe (formerly Camp Snoopy):

Finn's volcano cake at the Rainforest Cafe:

Tired brothers after a long day:

Superheroes on a scavenger hunt at Finn's birthday party:

This is how Leif fell asleep after Finn's party:

Now we're to the pictures from our road trip. Stop #1 - Twins game! Unfortunately, it was rained out. We got there an hour before the game and were able to enjoy hotdogs and french fries before the game was postponed. The good news is that the make-up date is sometime in July or August, probably.

Next on our stop was Okoboji for Easter. Unfortunately, the pictures of the boys hunting for eggs did not turn out. Rest assured, they had fun. After Okoboji, we stopped in Iowa City en route to Chicago to hang out with the McDonalds and meet Henry. Kelly got us a sweet deal at her Sheraton hotel (poolside!) and left us a welcome gift of cookies and milk. Thanks Kelly!

Leif plays peekaboo with Henry. He loved him!

The boys:

Finn and Leif read their new books in the hotel lobby:

Now, onto Chicago! Navy Pier:

Watching the whales at the Shedd:

On the steps of the Field Museum (perhaps the highlight of the trip for the boys):

Requisite photos of each boy with Sue:

This photo captures the boys holding hands, which they did a lot. Finn gets a little nervous in crowds and was always looking for Leif. It was very sweet.

Millenium Park:

We ran into good friend Kyle, who was in Chicago to present research on something related to kids' ears, noses and throats. Thanks facebook for telling Kyle that we were in Chicago at the same time.

Lincoln Park Observatory:

Awesome climbing thing at Lincoln Park Zoo:

Home to rain:

We had so much fun! The boys were really good. Finn cried when we left the hotel (real tears, not tantrum tears). In Chicago, we got to see Tasha and Jake and meet Axel. They had us to their place for pizza, PBS Kids and fun conversation. Sadly, we do not have photos from that. We stopped at a small waterpark at the Dells on the way back to Duluth and Finn learned how to cannonball into the water solo. So, in a nutshell, that's our April. Fun times!

Happy Birthday Finn!

2011-04-12T20:53:00.000-05:00

Finn's official birthday is tomorrow, but I have a moment to post from the hotel while Odin is sleeping, Mickey is buying swim diapers and Finn and Leif are reading with Grandma Teresa. We're in the cities (poolside!), so I don't have photos, but here's a link to April 5 years ago:

http://baby-pearson.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html

Our little guy has grown so much! He brings so much joy to our lives. He's growing into a curious, witty, shy, loving boy. We love you Finn!

Exploring the shore!

2011-04-05T07:46:00.001-05:00

In an effort to enjoy the occasionally warm weather, we've been frequenting Park Point and exploring the remnants of winter along Lake Superior. Duluthians, take note: if you haven't seen the enormous ice cliffs yet, get down there and enjoy them before they're gone.

The boys love playing at the beach again and this summer will certainly find us on the sand as often as possible.

Odin!

2011-03-20T20:18:00.000-06:00

This post is all Odin, as he was cooperative with the camera this weekend. Enjoy!

He is starting to figure out how things work. For example, he pulls the green chair and red stool with him to help him climb. Step 1 - place the chair and stool:

Step 2 - climb onto green chair:

Step 3 - climb onto stool:

Step 4 - kneel:

Step 5 - stand:

Step 6 - so proud:

2011-03-17T19:03:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. The boys are still cute!

Wrestling is huge at our house these days:

Date night!

Our little superhero had kindergarten round-up today. Wait. What? Yes, he is that old already!

Puzzles and Ely

2011-03-01T08:54:00.001-06:00

Finn is still a puzzle fiend, and here is his latest triumph. With the help of his parents on the 500-piecers, Finn completed all of these Disney-themed jigsaws. The 100-piecers are no match for him, and he does surprisingly well on the 350's by himself.

A grand accomplishment: all the "little piece" puzzles done!

So proud, he permitted a photo.

Last weekend, we went to Ely for a winter getaway to a cabin on Garden Lake. Despite ridiculously cold temperatures (-30 on Saturday morning), we still managed to play outdoors and explore the lake and woods. Other highlights included visiting the International Wolf Center and the North American Bear Center.

At Ely's International Wolf Center

One of many bear dens the boys built

Odin's new favorite spot in the house

2011-02-21T21:26:00.000-06:00

Odin spends most of his day perched on top of the block-case in our house. He climbs up there himself using the tic tac toe box thing. If we move the box after he goes to bed, the first thing he does in the morning is move it back so he can climb. He also enjoys climbing onto the dining room table, kitchen counters, coffee tables, etc.

The weekend

2011-02-13T18:03:00.000-06:00

We went to Spirit Mountain today and yesterday. Finn thinks downhill is great, Leif doesn't like it ("my feet hurt"). Both wear the ski bum look well and we are excited for lots of family skiing days in Duluth. When we weren't skiing, we played outside since the weather was awesome! Video of Finn skiing and Leif singing coming soon.

Haircuts + Cousin Nora

2011-02-06T21:59:00.000-06:00

Update!

2011-01-26T21:59:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the hiatus. It's been cold and we were hit with the stomach bug going around. Nobody has been very photogenic. To make up for it, we're currently up(down?)loading some video of the boys skating. Stay tuned for that. We were also told by a loyal reader that we don't include enough text or pictures of the adults in the family. Can't help you with pics of Mickey and I tonight, but after the photos, if you're interested, you can read about what we've been up to.

Finn playing his new favorite game - Uno.

Blueberries! Long hair!

What have we been up to? Odin is growing up fast. Leif corrects people if they call him a baby ("he's a toddler"). He can make lots of animal noises, uses a few signs and is tons of fun. He has yet to sleep through the night, but is only waking up to nurse 2 times as of late.

Leif is a very loving little boy. He likes to give kisses and insists on a parent sleeping with him at night to scratch his back under his shirt. He's also very funny and gregarious - definitely the life of the party. He likes to play with anything with wheels and read books about trucks and dinosaurs.

Finn is going to be 5 soon! He's a little more shy than the other two, but only in new situations. He loves to skate, swim, read (especially books about fossils and dinosaurs), do puzzles and play games. He's getting really good at games like Crazy 8s, Uno, Go Fish, Memory.

Mickey's band was voted best new local band by one of the local papers. Go Mickey!

Cuties

2011-01-09T13:43:00.000-06:00

Enjoy our cuteness!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T22:20:00.000-06:00

Finn writes a letter to Santa. They left a stout instead of milk.

The letter and goodies.

Christmas morning.

Sled rides through the woods to the sledding hill and bonfire.

Sledding! Snow!

Cousin Nora's baptism and 1st birthday party.

Lots of love between Leif and frousin Evan.

Cake!

Waterslide!

As you can see from the photos above, Christmas was a blast! We played outside, ate lots of yummy food, opened presents, celebrated Nora's birthday and baptism at a hotel waterpark. So great!

Last night we had friends over to celebrate the New Year. We put the "babies" (Odin, Elsa and Lev) to bed upstairs and let the big kids watch movies. Finn is the only big kid who fell asleep. The others were up until almost 1 am! Party!

Christmas with the Pearsons

2010-12-21T14:44:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday, Grandpa Perry!

If it has wheels, it's a safe bet Leif will love it.

Toy Story Yahtzee is a big hit with Finn.

Odin appraises the new blocks.

At Bentleyville, Finn practices the dance moves Aunt Erika taught him.

Thanks for a fun weekend, Grandma & Grandpa!

Catching up on the blog

2010-12-14T21:11:00.000-06:00

At the Mill City Museum, Finn ponders a puzzle and farm life.

Since we can't get a good photo of our own family, here's a cute one of the Johnsons.

ODIN!

En route to Macy's eighth floor exhibit, A Day in the Life of an Elf

More line waiting with exceedingly patient kids

Finn is fascinated and Aunt Erika is happy

S+N Holidazzling

Leif & grandma Nancy Holidazzling

Finn is on the lookout for Holidazzle floats

Busy weekends make for quiet car trips to Duluth

Leif complained that caroling with neighbors was "too loud."

Caroling with neighbors

Why yes, I do walk now! Thanks for inquiring!

Odin loves dress-up time!

Thanksgiving!

2010-11-26T15:11:00.000-06:00

Aunt Erika visited us in Duluth for Thanksgiving. We had a great meal, went to Bentleyville, played, etc. It was a blast!

Did you miss us?

2010-11-21T10:36:00.000-06:00

Don't worry, we're still cute.

Happy (belated) 1st birthday, Odin!

2010-11-08T12:56:00.000-06:00

Sorry folks, we were out of posting range yesterday for Odin's first birthday. Happy birthday, little dude!

One year old!

One day old!

Finn's School Photo

2010-11-03T09:10:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween from Buzz, Woody & Hamm

2010-11-01T18:56:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday, Leif!

2010-10-30T09:12:00.000-05:00

Your standard mega-update

2010-10-25T15:13:00.000-05:00

Monster cupcakes for Leif & Odin's costume party

Anja & Kelton join the big boys for costumed sandbox fun.

The bounce house!

Esmae & Finn are on the lookout.

Anja, Leif, & Esmae

Pinata time!

Pinata goodies abound!

Baby race between Elsa C. & Autumn

Ground Control to Major Leif...

Off to see the Wizard @ the Grand Rapids Children's Museum

Costume spoiler alert!

2010-10-10T20:43:00.000-05:00

We love Fall!

2010-09-30T22:01:00.000-05:00

Super post!

2010-09-26T20:42:00.000-05:00

These days, Finn climbs on any surface he can.

Brotherly love often looks a little more aggressive than it is.

Please note: All three boys were still enough for one photo.

Yum! Non-foods!

Spoiler alert: The butterflies emerge later that day.

"It's me, butterfly!"

Yeah, we stacked a lot of wood this weekend.

BFF

2010-09-13T13:58:00.000-05:00

It's really fun to see Finn develop a friendship with Tenzy. They spent 6 hours together yesterday, talking about birthday parties, Toy Story 3, Halloween, barbie and princesses. Cute!

Iowa!

2010-09-11T07:20:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we visited Okoboji. Activities included flying kites, visits to the butterfly garden, a trip to Arnold's Park, hanging with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Erika and Great Grandma, and just generally being cute. Enjoy!

Johnson Family Camping!

2010-08-22T20:14:00.001-05:00

We had our annual Johnson family campout this weekend. Due to very cute but very young children (Odin & Nora), we skipped the Boundary Waters and instead made our outdoor home on Lake Wabana near Grand Rapids, MN. Much fun was had, naturally.

Swimming was the number one activity for the boys, as you could probably guess. The sand beach allowed them plenty of freedom to romp and play in the warm water. Here are a couple of Finn in full-swim mode, one of which captures his accidental foray underwater:

A close second to swimming was riding in the boat. The boys enjoyed cruising to Lake Blue Water and Trout Lake, especially because of the very low bridges under which all the passengers need to duck so as to allow the boat to fit.

Finn offers Papa Sam some instruction on appropriate boat speed:

A very tired Finn takes advantage of a chill in the air to catch some rest on the boat seats:

S'mores!

Naked wood nymphs periodically emerged to greet us at our campsite:

There is a unique joy found in camping filth:

Odin and Nora discussing toy-chewing techniques:

Finn shows Papa Sam how to really carry one's weight while gathering firewood:

Upon arriving home, we promptly bathed the boys and celebrated a successful camping trip.

PS - Odin has been walking with his walker for a couple of weeks:

Weekend

2010-08-15T20:42:00.000-05:00

We had a nice, relaxing weekend. The weather was beautiful, especially today. We played at the lake, hung out with friends and relaxed.

Leif and Finn are best pals these days. They follow each other everywhere:

Here's an attempt to get a photo of all 3 boys together:

New hairdo

2010-08-10T20:15:00.000-05:00

Fun week

2010-08-09T21:10:00.000-05:00

We had a fun week/weekend. We visited the cities to hang with Aunts Erika and Kimberly at a local park, the Longfellow Grill and Children's Museum:

Then we spent a fabulous weekend in Grand Rapids at Grandparents Johnson's house on Pokegama Lake with 5 other Duluth families (11 adults, 11 kids). It was soooo much fun. We swam, played, ate well, enjoyed great company, sat by the fire, roasted marshmallows, and slept a little. Finn and Tenzin were the two oldest and hung out all weekend - swimming way out past the dock. Leif hung with the other toddlers - Rilo, Anja, Esmae, Max and Jasper, while the babies - Odin, Elsa and Lev ate sand.

Here are all the kids:

Triathlon

2010-08-02T20:49:00.000-05:00


Mickey and Odin post-race. Mickey kicked some major butt - finishing in under an hour, which is really amazing. His average time during the run was 5:41 per mile. Wowzers! Also note, he's lost 50 lbs since January 1st of this year! Good job Mickey - we're all proud of you.

Starting line. Can you see Mickey? He has the green swim cap.

Odin watches the swimmers from the swing.

Odin plays at the beach after the triathlon.

Odin watches the bikers go by. Note his one arm hold. He's so close to standing without hanging onto anything. Sorry for the weird formatting of this post. Blogger is being a pain tonight. Also, sorry about the lack of Finn and Leif in this post. Someone needs to tell them it's ok to have their photos taken.

Fun times

2010-07-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

Leif warms up at Wednesday Night at the Races:

The boys show off their ribbons with friends Sasha and Ilya:

Finn gets ready to snap a photo. How meta of us.

Odin taste tests each grain of sand before building a castle:

The big boys had friends Esmae & Anja over for dinner:

Odin and Elsa sharing a love of objects in their mouths:

Some photos for y'all

2010-07-19T21:06:00.000-05:00

Cute faces:

Team Pearson has been working for the last year on raising money for a new playground in our neighborhood. We raised over $40K and constructed the park two weeks ago. Friday it was ready to play. We love it!

The next two photos are immediately before (notice the happy faces) and immediately following (notice the tears and head rubs) the boys bonking their heads together while bouncing the dinosaur.

Yesterday we took a trip to the Iron Range to visit the Minnesota Discovery Center. Finn earned a trip there from his reward chart. Grandparents Johnson met us there and a fun time was had by all. The trip brought back a lot of memories for Papa Sam, who used to work in the mines. He used to drive this huge machine (seriously folks):

Bounce House!

2010-07-05T20:51:00.000-05:00

In celebration of a homebound 4th of July, we threw a little party in our yard this weekend. The guest of honor? A bounce house:

We bounced...

and bounced.

When Finn and Leif tired of bouncing, they wrestled a bit.

Then they tried jumping.

And pogo-ing.

Leaping was also popular.

On the fourth, Keely took Finn and Leif to watch the fireworks. Despite extreme fatigue, they made it through and enjoyed it thoroughly.

In other news, Odin is cute.

The Brighton Beach boys:

Leif takes an important call on his rock phone:

Family

2010-07-04T13:54:00.000-05:00

In the last week and a half we have seen lots of family. Below is the photo documentation.

This week, Grandparents Pearson came up to Duluth for a visit. We had a ton of fun visiting Tischer, Congdon playground, Enger, Gooseberry and Hartley.

Last weekend we were in Grand Rapids to visit Aunts Kathy and Laura, from Colorado and Maine, respectively.

Two weeks ago Finn went to YMCA camp Kitchigami, a day camp (mornings only) for kids 4-5. He loved loved loved it so much (can't you tell by his face in this photo?), we are going to send him back again in August.

Weekend fun

2010-06-20T20:15:00.003-05:00

We had a fantastic weekend. On Saturday Mickey ran the half marathon at lightening speed. He placed 386 out of almost 6000 people. Good job, Mickey! The boys, Grandma Nancy and I were there to cheer him on. He started to cry when the boys ran out and hugged him - they were so excited to see him run.

Grandma Nancy and Odin watching:

Grandma Nancy and Finn watching Mickey run the TC Marathon 4 years ago. The boys are roughly the same age with the same shirts on. Yes, I did it on purpose. I'm good like that.

Today we celebrated Fathers' Day with adventures to some of Mickey's favorite Duluth spots - Chester, the lakewalk, Holy Rosary playground and the Brewhouse. Happy Fathers' Day Mickey - we love you!

Cute faces:

Funny faces:

Blue Fin!

2010-06-14T17:26:00.000-05:00

This weekend Team Pearson and Team Johnsons went to Blue Fin, a resort just up the North Shore. The weather was kinda cold and wet, but we had plenty of fun swimming, hiking, playing on the rocks, celebrating papa Sam's birthday, playing take two, eating good food, etc. Basically, just being awesome. Below is some photo documentation.

The crew:

Being wet:

Family portraits:

Jumping:

Laughing:

Cute close-ups:

Playing:

The little boys made Papa Sam alien cupcakes for his birthday party on Sunday, because, according to them, Toy Story 3 is probably his favorite movie. Happy 53rd birthday, Papa!

We spent lots of time with baby cousin Nora. She's so sweet and we all love her:

Finn photography

2010-06-09T08:20:00.000-05:00

Finn found his camera interesting again, and was excited about posting these photos on the "bwog." Enjoy some portraits of his family as well as random things he finds very important, like a cardboard box fort decorated with Toy Story stickers and a Lego bin full of toys.

Summer weather means outdoor time

2010-06-07T20:06:00.000-05:00

It's time for another installment in Pearson boy land!

Last weekend brought much needed rain to Duluth, but Sunday afternoon cleared up enough for an outdoor expedition to Bagley Nature Center. Here are the big boys pointing out the turtles warming their cold-blooded bodies:

A cool lookout spot sits atop the largest hill in Bagley, and the boys were eager to hike to the top and check out the view.

Finn was not into getting his face photographed, as usual:

Odin has been super-happy these days, thanks in no small part to his mobility and growing strength. He has full reign of the floor, scooting and pseudo-crawling around to get whatever he deems worthy of his mouth. He's also sitting up pretty well and pulling himself to standing on occasion, which is surely going to lead to some upright steps long before his brothers hit that milestone.

This picture, admittedly, isn't the greatest, but Finn actually smiled at the camera which makes it blog-worthy. Also, Leif is just being a goofball which is pretty fun, too:

Again, Leif being silly:

Favorite activites

2010-05-24T20:07:00.000-05:00

Odin enjoying his favorite activity - eating grass.

Long-haired Leif enjoying his favorite activity - being goofy.

Finn enjoying his favorite activity - climbing rocks.

It nearly impossible to get a decent photo of all three boys at the same time. Here are a couple of attempts.

Pink eye strikes again!

2010-05-16T11:02:00.000-05:00

Just when we thought we were in the clear, pink eye struck again! Now Odin has it and he's looking less than great. I know you all visit to see cute pictures of our kids, but this is sort of cute, in a completely miserable way.

Glorious sunshine!

2010-05-15T19:46:00.002-05:00

Despite the varied illnesses with which we've been contending lately, we did our best to cleanse our bodies with fresh air and sunshine today.

Before we get to the fun pics, here's a sweet one of Finn with his brutal pink eye affliction from earlier this week.

The big boys outside Hartley Nature Center, enjoying a nice snack.

Odin, chilling in the grass. His new favorite activity is crawling. Yes, our six month old started crawling several months earlier than either of his brothers.

Park Point was a must-visit destination, with temps in the balmy low 60's and the water a refreshing 41.

Finn and Leif were eager to dip their toes in the water...

Toes became legs...

And, inevitably, they swam after their clothes got wet.

Finn's face here illustrates the chill, but for more context, I couldn't stay in the water for more than a couple of minutes, and I was only in up to my ankles. Leif and Finn didn't really seem to notice and swam for about 45 minutes.

Sunny Days

2010-05-04T19:35:00.000-05:00

We Pearsons have been venturing out of doors as much as possible recently. Here's the proof.

This past weekend, however, we were not outside. Rather, we were stuck inside because all of us had the stomach flu. That's right - all of us. Finn learned how to empty his throw up bucket into the toilet and rinse it out because Keely and I were too busy throwing up to help him. Odin thought it was hilarious when Finn was throwing up, as evidenced below:

Lots o' photos

2010-04-25T13:07:00.000-05:00

Blogger won't let me put text at the top of the page. Finn had his 4th birthday party yesterday. It was so so much fun! There were 12 kids (Finn's 4 year old friends and their siblings), an alien pinata courtesy Grandma Nancy, craft projects, pizza, an alien cake, presents, etc. The other photos are catch up from the last month or so. We took our house off the market, so we hooked up the computer and are back to blogging. We are going to remodel instead of move. Very exciting...

Weekend fun

2010-04-20T11:57:00.000-05:00

This weekend the little boys and mom were in the cities while dad was at Andrew Bussey's bachelor party. The weather was awesome! We played at many different parks, watched uncle Sam fly a kite, played with cousin Nora, hung out with aunt Erika, celebrated Finn's birthday with a bbq and cake, raced Brianna in the backyard, played hockey, etc. It was a blast. Thanks to Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Sam for the photos below. The birthday bbq photos are coming soon.