Pearsons hit the water

The weather has been absolutely beautiful the past week, so Team Pearson has spent a great deal of time at the beach. Enjoy the photos below. Some photos courtesy Grandma Nancy.













Beach yoga! Downward facing dog:


























Tree pose!










































































Grandparents Johnson also sent some photos from the Boundary Waters trip, including the first family photo taken in a long time.

The weekends slip away!

Whoops! The end of summer seems to have gotten the best of us. We left you, loyal readers, without a blog post or two! Here's what we've been up to:

A couple of weeks ago, we made a somewhat impromptu trip to the cities and while there, we paid a visit to our friends, the Whetstone family. Benjamin is a big dude now with a little brother of his own, Abram. The boys had a great time with trains and trucks, as would be expected.


Also that weekend we hit up the Como Park Zoo, a family favorite, and ComoTown, the adjacent amusement park.
Here's me with the boys on the teacups. My stomach can't handle the prolonged spinning the way it once could...



Then last weekend, we made our first trip to the Boundary Waters with the boys, with both sets of grandparents as support staff. Our entry into Lake One was a bit rainy, but it held off long enough once we got to our campsite so we could cook and set up our tents. The next two days were progressively nicer and everyone had a great time. Keely and I are looking forward to many more trips with our boys.






Keely was pretty psyched to portage the canoe while pregnant, even for just a little while.

Playing in the mud

Rain has been the name of the game for the last week or so around our parts. However, after the sun broke through the clouds one day, the boys enjoyed some quality time with the mud and muck in the yard.

Swimming & Sleeping

Last week we had a fun little picnic with some friends down on Park Point. The boys, of course, were more interested in swimming than in eating.

Leif and Anja play in the foreground while Finn explores the outer reaches of the sandbar:

The kids had a blast on this log until some weird teenagers took it away from them. Thanks to Max's grandma for laying down the law and getting it back!


The boys, as of tonight, are both in big kid beds. Leif has been insistent on spending naps and some early mornings in his bed, so we took the plunge tonight. They had a hard time resting for the first hour or so, but as these photos illustrate, they eventually crashed hard.




PS: New video to your right! The boys are big fans of the band Animal Collective and their song, "My Girls."

Wednesday Night at the Races

Grandma's Marathon, along with a lot of other sponsors, puts on a series of Wednesday night races for young athletes. Last night, we took Finn and Leif to their first race and they had a great time.

Here are Finn and Leif at the starting line for the third wave of boys 4 and under. There are a ton of participants, which is relay (ha ha) fun.


(Photo credits: Sarah Szymczak & Erik Riker-Coleman, respectively)

Porcupine 1 : Gracie 0

Gracie made a new enemy last night in Grand Rapids!

Okoboji!

Last weekend we went to Okoboji to help Uncle Ian and Aunt Kimberly celebrate their spring nuptials with the midwestern crowd. The boys had a great time playing with their cousin Alex (son to Mickey's cousin Anne Marie, also there) and their Great Aunts Betsy & Maureen from Utah.

En route to Okoboji, we stopped at the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul, which was a blast.






While in 'boji, we did a ton of swimming, but we'll spare you more shots of the boys in their neon swimsuits. We also went to Arnolds Park, a local amusement park that Mickey used to go to as a kid. Very little has changed in the ensuing years, but the fun was still there. Finn loved the roller coaster and Spin the Apples, and Leif thought the fish ride was awesome.




Finn and Alex loving the rollercoaster:

Finn and Alex team up to secure Leif in his booster seat, per Leif's request:

Snuggling with Grandpa Perry:

Two posts in two days!

Our Sunday was a mellow, yet fun-filled affair. The clouds broke sometime in the night and we awoke to a particularly clear and beautiful morning. We decided to make it a beach day!

En route, we noticed a big ship coming in and as we reached Canal Park, the lift bridge started to come up. We took the opportunity to play like tourists and watch the shipping barge come through. The boys thought it was cool, but Finn was not pleased by the loud horns.
























Despite the somewhat chilly water, the boys frolicked for nearly an hour with nary a shiver!

Here's Finn, working at writing his name in the sand. He got the F & I done, but the water came in before he tried the N's, and then he lost interest.

Saturday!

We had a nice little Saturday - a visit to a new park and lots of time outside. We went to the Brewhouse for dinner to celebrate our six year anniversary (it's tomorrow, but the boys' moods were amenable to dinner out tonight).

Playing by the lake:












The only way Finn will have his picture taken these days is if he is making a silly face. Here are his favorite poses:
















































Finn learned a new trick at the Brewhouse tonight - dipping pickles in ketchup and...












feeding them to Leif. Yum!