Hayward

We took a trip over to Hayward again today, looking to get the kids out of the house on a day with not such fantastic weather. Stian had a fabulous day. What's not to like though? It started with ice cream for lunch at West Dairy.



Then we did a little shopping downtown. He got a new toy lizard, some candy and a sweat shirt.



Then we headed over to the fishing museum. Both my mom and I were surprised how much he loved the fishing museum. Who knew?! There was a bunch of stuff inside too that I didn't get pictures of - but lots of lures and poles and old boats and old boat engines, and lots of fish replicas and taxidermied fish. Apparently it was all very cool to a little boy who caught his first fish just yesterday!

Stian's First Fish!

Stian caught his first fish this morning! He and Grandpa have been working on it, but hadn't had any luck until this morning. It was about 6" long, and apparently a bass. Grandpa took it off the hook and Stian held it in his hands and threw it back in the lake. We didn't get a picture of that, unfortunately.













Stian said it looked like the clouds were falling into the water:

Daddy Came!

Kris came up for the weekend. He was missing his family and his family was missing him. The kids were so cute, they were so happy to see him. I was worried that Silje wouldn't want much to do with him, but it was the opposite, she just wanted him to hold her, no one else. Not even Mommy (she's very much a Mommy's girl - she won't let Grandma or Grandpa hold her). And Stian had to tell him everything and show him everything.

He got here in Friday evening right after dinner. On Saturday we started the day with a bear sighting! In all the years I've been coming here I've never actually seen a bear here, though I know they are here and my parents have seen them. This one we saw on our way into town, right by my parents' mailbox. Unfortunately the good camera was in the back of the car, but Kris had his iphone handy. We were quite close to him/her and stopped the car and watched him/her for awhile. Kris got a long video, but by the time he decided to get a still shot the bear was done with us.

Next we went into town to show Daddy Stian's t-ball field and they pretended to play some baseball.

Next we went into town for the Family Fun Festival. Stian liked the street hockey area the best. He was really into it.

And then in the afternoon we had a nice boat ride.

Kris had to leave after lunch today. We were all sorry to see him go. Perhaps me most of all. It has been challenging taking care of these two kids by myself. My parents are doing what they can to help, but the kids aren't letting them help all that much. Stian has always had a challenging personality, but typically he isn't this difficult. For some reason he seems to be on his worst behavior right now, which is wearing me out. But Kris will be back on Saturday, and this time he's staying for the week! Yay! We'll be here for a day and then head over to the Cities for the rest of the time.

T-ball

Stian started t-ball here in Spooner last week. I only have the one the picture, and none of him actually playing, because he didn't play. He just wanted to watch. When we first got there he threw a ball around with me for a little, but once the coach started talking and getting organized he was done. He just wanted to watch. I'm not sure why, but he did the same thing with gymnastics. I think he's just nervous around kids he doesn't know, and he doesn't want to look dumb not knowing what he's doing. Although he's just as good as the other kids in the team, and better than some of them. But he's also the youngest. He's the only 4 year old, the rest are 5 and 6. I think that makes them even more intimidating to him. But we have told him he doesn't have to participate, but he needs to go and watch and listen so he at least learns something. He's still super excited about it though. He loves his shirt and his hat (I caught him napping with his hat on the other day) and he knows his team's cheer. He looks awfully cute in his t-ball stuff.

Wilderness Walk

Last week we took the kids over to the Wilderness Walk in Hayward for something to do. It's a small zoo like place. It's one of those places that has tiny cages for the animals, so it's kind of depressing, but Stian seemed to really enjoy it.