Easter Mega-post

The Easter Bunny brought treats to this blog today! Lots of photos!

Leif has croup, which has made for a somewhat unpleasant weekend, but we've done our best to get out and enjoy the long-awaited arrival of spring!

This first batch of pics is from a trek down to Leif Erikson park, a Pearson family favorite destination.



These photos of Leif and Finn respectively were shot in the same locale when Finn was the same age Leif is now.



Saturday brought visits to the "park with the swings" (as Finn calls it) and the Lake Superior Zoo, both of which were great fun, as usual.


Here's Finn at the park in his "house."



The boys claim they were shampooing this snake, but I suspect they were trying to reenact some sort of nightmare for me.


Which brings us to today! The Easter Bunny left a lot of treat-filled eggs for Finn and Leif this morning, which Finn found awesome and Leif found uninteresting (until the eggs were opened and their contents revealed to be sweet and delicious.)



After the egg hunt and breakfast, we trekked to the park at Chester Bowl for more playground fun!

Silly Boys

Here are a few photos of the boys being silly. These days Leif likes to do whatever Finn is doing, which is really funny and cute.






























So, I know it looks like Finn is hurting Leif, but he's just giving him a hug. In the closet, of course.

Finn at Syrup Camp

This weekend Finn and Mickey went to Sand Lake (about 2.5 hours west and a little north of Duluth) to help Grandpa Sam collect sap to boil down into yummy maple syrup. Keely and Leif stayed home with Gracie, who is still on a "no playing with other dogs and no off leash play" restriction from the vet, post surgery. Below are several photos from syrup camp. There are no photos from the Keely/Leif part of the weekend, but their activities included the zoo, Grand Opening of the new Animal Allies Animal Shelter (which is fantastic, by the way), dinner at Hacienda with three of Leif's friends and their parents, walks, naps, etc.

Finn, Mickey and Uncle Sam relax by the fire:














Finn shows Grandpa where to pour the sap:














Finn watches while Uncle Sam drinks sap straight from the tree (tastes like water at this point):

April showers...

...bring third babies! Yes, for those of you who haven't heard, Team Pearson is growing by one. Baby Pearson #3 is due in late October, just in time for Leif's second birthday.

And now... on to the photos!

Apparently, nature's cruel April Fools' Day joke came a day early, and we got a fresh dumping of snow. On the bright side, it was perfect snow for building snow monsters, so we got to work this afternoon.

Our first creature was a wild thing, but a combination of poor construction and warm temps made it fall apart, sadly. Our second creature was a snow triceratops, which was more successful.

Here's Finn holding the triceratops' hand as they "crossed the street."

Spring is springing?

The weather was fantastic here in Duluth today. We opened windows and frolicked outside, enjoying the fresh breeze and warm sun.

Here are the boys down in Canal Park, playing on the snow banks by the lake.







Also this weekend was our friends Ryan & Sarah's annual curling tournament, which many of our college friends came up to compete in. We only got one good photo during their visit, though, and here it is. Finn thought it was the height of comedy to lay on Kyle's chest:

Pearsons in the News

Last Saturday, we went to Hartley Nature Center for the annual ski & snowshoe event, which was a lot of fun. While there, we were interviewed by the local news and ended up making it on a "Nature Matters" segment. Enjoy!

A big ol' Saturday

Taking full advantage of the sunny day and somewhat mild temperatures, Team Pearson had a big day today. First up was a trip to the Lake Superior Zoo, which is always a fun time for everyone. Finn was a little disappointed there were no elephants or rhinos, but all in all, it was a lot of fun.

Leif plays at the zoo playground:


In a post-walk playtime, the boys do some auto-maintenance.


This evening we went to Hartley Nature Center for their annual candlelight ski & snowshoe night, which is sort of a member appreciation party. We hiked out to the pond, where a winter camper was baking brownies in his tent, and then back to the center for dinner and s'mores.

Finn's first s'more!

Fun at Bagley

Grandpa Sam delivered some firewood today, and we took the opportunity to go sledding at Bagley with him.





Though really in mid-fall, it sure looks like Leif is balancing on one foot here.

A rare photo of the boys together

The boys are feeling much better - yipee! We even convinced them to sit in the same chair for a rare photo opportunity.

...and we're back!

Many apologies, constant readers. We were doing really well regularly updating the blog for a while, and all of a sudden... *poof!* We seemingly disappeared for the better part of three weeks. Well, in that hiatus, we were decidedly photography-free, due in no small part to a rampant variety of germs and viruses making their way through the Pearson family.

Today's post reflects our efforts at capturing our kids' cuteness, against all odds. As you can tell by these pictures, the boys haven't felt up to bringing their A-game in the photogenic department.

It's only mild hyperbole to say this was one of the closest things to a smile we could get out of Leif:


Finn thwarts the paparazzi:


Once Finn was over his particular illness, his old playful and imaginative self came back full speed. Here he is pretending his rocking horse and a laundry basket full of stuffed animals is a horse-drawn carriage:


I was trying to document Leif's low spirits. How fun for a blog post!


This afternoon seemed to be a turning point for our little guy, and here he is, feeling better but looking dazed:


Here's Leif's fun hairdo post-bathtime: