Trip to Viroqua

We went to Viroqua this weekend to spend some time with family. We didn't know it but this weekend was the annual syttende mai festival. There was a parade, breakfast, craft booths, donkey rides and my favorite - cheese curds. I honestly have never had cheese curds like the ones from the local creamery. We hope to make this an annual trip because we enjoyed it so much.



Cooper has been obsessed with horses lately and we are very lucky that Di and Rog have 6 horses for us to play with. Grandma Donna was there the prior weekend and left a bag of treats for Cooper to feed the horses. He started out a little afraid to give them treats but by the end of the weekend he was a pro!

He was so excited to ride the horses that he wouldn't go to bed on Friday night and Saturday morning as soon as the sun came up he jumped up from his pack and play and said, "Mom! The sun is out, can we ride the horses now?" It was 7:00 am.. He got to ride Moon first

then Annie though Moon was definitely his favorite.

He also helped with chores while we were there. He was surprisingly good at peeling hard boiled eggs and loved helping Rog in the barn.

The best part of the weekend? We got to spend time with Rob's grandma. She really is an amazing lady! She is 90 and she loves to play with Cooper. They played cars, trucks, read books and shared a lot of laughs together.

Mother's day

Earlier this year Christy and I decided to do the Susan G Komen 5k Walk for a Cure, we couldn't think of a better way to spend mothers day than to do something for our amazing mom. Our team name is Fights like a Boie so we had custom shirts made for the walk.

We met at mom and dad's house for breakfast and then took the lightrail to the Mall of America for the walk. The walk was a lot of fun and it was fun to hang out with just Christy which hardly happens anymore. Once we got to the finish line my parents, Adrian and Kaylin were waiting for us!

After the walk we met Rob and Cooper at my parent's house for a BBQ which was also a lot of fun. I want to thank everyone who donated - we raised a combined total of $2,635.01 for Breast Cancer research!! We were truly humbled and amazed! Mom and dad both said they plan on walking with us next year, so this will become another loved Boie family tradition.

After we got home from the walk Rob's parents and Tim came over to continue our Mother's day celebration. We had dinner, played with Cooper and relaxed.

First Twins Game

I was lucky enough to score some free tickets to today's Twins game from work. Rob had school work he needed to get done so I took Cooper to his first Twins game. The weather didn't fully cooperate with us, when we stepped off the light rail it was actually sleeting. Thankfully it stopped but it was still pretty chilly. We walked around for a while taking in the sights and enjoying the new stadium before finding our seats, which were amazing. Thank you Fredrikson & Bryon marketing department! Cooper instantly became obsessed with TC Bear and wouldn't stop talking about him. Since they were tickets from work my co-worker and her husband were seated next to us. Thankfully they have kids as well because Cooper wouldn't stop asking where TC Bear was and when he was coming back out. No matter what I did to try distract him he kept coming back to TC. Finally at the bottom of the 6th inning I decided it was time to leave, I could tell he was starting to annoy the people around us and it was nap time. Though it was a little tricky at times it was a great way to send the day with Cooper.

My birthday

I was very lucky this year and had an amazing birthday. I told Rob there were two things I wanted to do for my birthday, take Cooper to the Minnesota Zoo (for the first time) and have sushi for dinner. So that was the plan. We ended up getting a later start in the morning than planned so we didn't end up getting to the zoo until around 1:00 which is right during nap time, so both of us were a little nervous. Cooper was so excited to see the animals but after he saw the monorail that took priority - we absolutely had to go there first. It was so great to watch him get excited about the animals and enjoy the zoo as much as I do. I had heard advertisements for the Wells Fargo family farm and while we were on the monorail Cooper saw the tractor rides and absolutely HAD to go on them. Since it was getting late we quickly went through the zoo and headed out for a tractor ride. While I was slightly annoyed at our delayed start it actually worked in our favor. By the time we headed to the farm the majority of the people had left and there were only three other families on the tractor ride and at the farm with us! We got to feed the baby farm animals and walk around at our leisure.

After a long day at the zoo and no nap we decided there was no way Cooper could sit through dinner at a sushi restaurant so we ended up stopping at a buffet and settling for Chinese food. I am so lucky to have my two wonderful boys!

Cooper's Wheels

Recently we have been spending a lot of time outside partially because of the incredible weather we have been having and partially because of Cooper's wheels.

Santa brought him a big boy bike last Christmas. We spent many months in the basement practicing and going in circles. Above is a picture of his first time riding his bike outside! He was so excited and did really well. We met up with his two neighbor friends and the kids had a blast going around the tree in the cul de sac. Shortly after this picture was taken I realized I forgot to grab his helmet or "hat" as we call it. Now he knows he can't ride is bike until he has his "hat" on and will remind me if I forget.

In the week prior to Easter Uncle Tim asked us if Cooper would like a Power Wheel jeep. Of course we said yes, then he asked if we would mind if it was pink. That wasn't a deal breaker either since 90% of the time I pictured him using it he would have one of his "girl friends" in there. So we again said yes. He brought it to Easter Dinner and Cooper was so excited! He loves it! He didn't stop talking about it for 2 days straight and now when people come over he has to show them his car. The down side of this set of wheels? He needs to be pushed since the motor doesn't work. I have to admit I have only had it outside of the garage once for this reason. It's really heavy and hard to push. Though Uncle Tim has come over and taken Cooper off roading in the forest by our house, which of course he loved! There has been talk at our house about getting him jeep that isn't pink and that doesn't need to be pushed, maybe in September.

First trip to the Circus

Earlier this week we decided to take Cooper to the circus for the first time. Last night we told him that we were going to the circus and he didn't know what we were talking about so we googled the circus and showed him pictures. One of the pictures was of elephant rides, guess what stuck in his head? You guessed it elephant rides, that was all we heard this morning when he woke up and all the way to the state fair grounds. As soon as we got there we got in line for the elephant rides. We knew Cooper wouldn't go by himself so I got nominated to go, I had mixed feelings about it but Cooper was really excited. Finally it was our turn so we climbed up on the elephant along with 4 other people and headed around the small ring. Cooper was excited and loved every minute of it, where I was wishing it would get over as quick as possible. I felt bad for the elephant and because I was seated in the back I felt his bones almost grinding with each step, or at least that is what I pictured in my head. Once we were in our seats Cooper loved watching the animals perform especially the bears who rode bikes, motorcycles and walked on their hands. Over all we enjoyed the circus but it was really long. We left shortly after the hour long intermission because it was nap time for all three of us.

Easter

The Sunday before Easter we colored eggs and I was surprised on how well it went. I had pictured egg dye covering most of the surfaces in the kitchen and all of us but after a couple eggs Cooper was a pro. He did a great job and over the next week became obsessed with his eggs. He checked on them at least twice a day and talked about them a lot. Once night while Rob was at school Cooper went to check on his eggs and grabbed one from the fridge and dropped it. He cried for at least 15 minutes before I could calm him down, it was so cute!

Then this past Saturday our neighborhood had it's first annual Easter Egg hunt, it was so cute watching all the kids run around looking for eggs. Cooper loved finding them but if they were in a plant, bush or long grass he would ask me to grab them for him. After the egg hunt we went over to a friends house who surprised us with another egg hunt for Cooper, It was so nice of them! Needless to say by the end of the day he had more than enough candy.

Mom had to go back into the hospital on Saturday to get a blood clot removed from one of her incision sites. She is doing fine but because of this we weren't able to go to church on Sunday like we planned. So we came up with a great plan B, Christy and I brought the kids over to mom and dad's for breakfast and to color eggs.

There was even an "Easter Bunny" sighting..

Then later in the afternoon we went to Cindy and Doug's house for dinner. Grandma Donna did an Easter egg hunt for all of us, even the adult "kids". It had been a long time since I had participated in an egg hunt, it was fun to do again. This time Cooper was a little more adventurous and was grabbing eggs from the bushes and even helped Rob and I find our eggs.

After the egg hunt we had a great dinner and spent the rest of the evening visiting and playing games.

Last night I wanted to make egg salad sandwiches for dinner to try and use some of the eggs and Cooper was pretty upset. I finally talked him into letting me have them for dinner but he needed to break them. But he wouldn't eat any them.

Mexico 2010

Mid March we went to Puerto Vallarta and had a blast. Cooper was really good on the flights and overall good. He loved the orange juice there and was especially happy when he could have a virgin pina coloda so he could be like daddy.

He loved swimming and by the time we left he was plugging his nose and putting his face underwater! He is fearless.


He liked standing in the ocean and letting the waves hit his feet, he would giggle every time a wave would hit him.


We took a day trip to the zoo and it was the highlight of our trip. It was an interesting trip to get there. We had to take two city buses and then walk through a village to get there, but it was worth it! We paid $5 for a bag of food and got to feed the animals including zebras, papion monkeys, camels and giraffes. Cooper was pretty scared to feed most of the animals but he did like feeding the goats. Then we paid $20 so Cooper and I could "hold" a month old baby panther! It was so worth it. Cooper kept saying “it’s going to bite me” which it did but it was more like playing with a lively puppy. Then I got to pet a 3 month old Siberian Tiger! He was growling the whole time but it was AWESOME!

On our way out of the zoo we stopped to see two black bears that were in a cage. The first time we were there they were sleeping so I put my face right up to the cage to see if they were still sleeping. Not this time, the bear lunged at the cage. Needless to say I screamed and jumped back. Cooper thought it was hilarious, he is still talking about how it growled and scared mommy. Whenever anyone asks him what his favorite part of the trip was he will say “ the hippo moved”. Let me clarify this statement, we saw the hippo for at most 5 minutes. As we were looking at the hippo Rob asked me if it was alive. I said of course it was, why would they have a dead hippo at a zoo. Then the hippo raised it’s face out of the water, that was the highlight. Since then he has been obsessed with Hippos. We started watching this new nature TV series called Life and the trailer has hippos on it, he screams every time he sees them.

The one down side of the zoo is all of us got sand flea bites, I got them the worst. They are similar to mosquito bites but itch twice as bad.

No more diapers!!

We had the first weekend of February open with no plans so we decided it was time to dive into the final stages of potty training. He has been doing great the last couple weeks with only a few accidents. Because of this we decided he wasn’t going to wear a pull up at night anymore. He did amazing! Since then he has only had a handful of accidents and one of them was my fault. We had just gotten home from daycare and I had asked him at least 4 times if he needed to go to the bathroom. He kept saying no, but when I asked him again if he needed to go he said yes. By this time Jasper was barking to get in so I told Cooper I will be right back. When I got back from letting the dogs in I said “Okay Cooper, do you need to go to the bathroom?” He responded by saying “I did!” I went over to the chair on the island where he was sitting and he sure did. Lesson learned - when it's time, it's really time.

Now the majority of the time he will either let us know when he needs to go to the bathroom or just go and do it himself and announce that he did it.

We are so proud of our little man!

Sick kid

Last night we went to went to the lake for the first time since we put our boat in storage last fall. It was so great to get up there and hang out with my parents. Around 1:00 we were woken up by Cooper coughing and he was burning up with a fever. We didn't have any Motrin with for him or even had a thermometer so we could check how hot he really was. I can't believe I am saying this, but thank god for Wal-Mart and it being open 24 hours. When Rob got back we took his temp and it was 102.2, but at least he was still in good spirits, he wanted to tickle me so that was a good sign. Once we all woke up this morning we packed up and headed back home so hopefully mom wouldn't get what ever Cooper has. Thankfully his cough had gotten better this morning but his fever wouldn't go down even with Motrin. We ended up taking him to the Urgent Care clinic by our house since his normal doctor's office was closed. At first the doctor kind of dismissed us like we were nervous Nelly parents but after listening to his chest he said thought Cooper might have pneumonia because of the rattling in his chest. Then when he checked his left ear he said he had a bad ear infection. Because of the pneumonia he ordered chest x-rays, what an interesting experience with trying to get a sick/shy two year old to stand still. The other option was this clear restraint seat. Thankfully they were able to get what they needed and he didn't have to be put in there, personally it looked a little scary. The doctor sent us home with antibiotics and something for his chest, when Rob came home from the pharmacy they didn't have the liquid form of the chest medication. I had to crush up 10 pills and hide them into a bowl of ice cream. Little did I know that would be the easiest of the two medicines to give him. You can tell he is already feeling much better but I think the rest of this weekend will be spent relaxing watching movies and the Olympics.