Delivering Flowers on Memorial Day Weekend

Today Alex and I went with my parents and my grandma to visit a few cemeteries for Memorial Day weekend. The first cemetery we went to was Fort Snelling where Keith's dad and my grandpa is buried. Here is Alex pictured above putting flowers by Keith's dad's gravestone. My grandpa was in the navy during WWII and was on the USS St Lo during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. I'm so glad I got to hear all of my grandpa's stories so I can pass them on to Alex when she gets older. Luckily I was able to videotape an interview I did with him a few years ago. I have it on my youtube page if anyone is interested in checking it out. Keith's dad was in the Marines during the Korean War. Unfortunatly, I don't know much about what he did there because he didn't talk about it much. I really wish I knew more.

After Fort Snelling, we went to Sunset Memorial Park where many of my grandma's family is buried. We visited her parents (Alex's great great grandparents) and her sister who died at a young age in the 40's from Rheumatic Fever. I have more pictures I will have to post at a later date.

We also had a great lunch at a new place in Apple Valley. Alex had fish sticks and I had some crab cakes (it's a fish restaurant). At the end of the day we stopped by Fuddruckers for some ice cream. Now I'm ready for bed and too tired to do anything else! Only if Alex was tired too!

Aidan's 3rd Birthday Party

Alex was invited to her friend Aidan's 3rd Birthday Party (not to be confused with Aidan from Dominica) yesterday (Saturday). I knew Alex wouldn't remember Aidan because he was a baby last time she saw him. He also has an older sister named Ashley whom I knew she wouldn't remember either because the last time we got together with them was before we left for Dominica. Alex was a little shy at first, being around a bunch of kids she didn't know. But it didn't take long for her to have fun and make friends. Pictured above is a little boy named Andrew that she met. I didn't realize it but it was his birthday too!

I posted more pics to my facebook page if you want to take a look at them. Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055702&id=1059849681&saved#!/album.php?aid=2055702&id=1059849681

Visiting Keith in Chicago

Keith has been in Chicago for the past few weeks taking a Kaplan Step 1 Retreat course. He will be there until June 9th, so Alex and I decided to drive to Chicago and spend a few days with him. I think Keith was ready to get out of the hotel (because he doesn't have a car) and see the sights!

He didn't have class on Monday so we spent Monday doing some touristy stuff, like going to the skydeck at the Willis Tower (used to be the Sears Tower), visiting the Buckingham Fountain, and going to the Millennium Park. I hadn't been to the Willis/Sears tower since High School and I didn't remember them having a clear platform to walk on. Keith nor I could do, but Alex didn't have any problem with it! It was pretty neat seeing the beautiful city from 103 floors up! We had lunch near the Willis Tower at a restaurant called Giordano's. I had heard it had the best deep dish pizza in Chicago, so we had to try it out! It was pretty good! After that we went back to our car and found that our parking cost was 30.00! Wow! was that expensive! So we decided to drive to the Buckingham Fountain and then to the Millenium Park, two places that are free to see and had cheap parking! :)

Then we decided to go back to the hotel and get some laundry done for Keith, then had dinner at Woo Lae Oak, a Korean BBQ Restaurant. It was a nicer restaurant than we expected! Our meal was awesome! and if it wasn't four our friends, Lily and Min, we probably wouldn't of even gone in there! But because of them we have a new love for Korean food!!!

The next day Keith had class so Alex and I went to a nice park in Skokie, IL, called the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park. It was free and had free parking!!! So that was the main reason why we decided to check it out! The park was really nice and we saw some pretty neat sculptures. Alex on the other hand was a little scared of some of the sculptures! But that's OK it was still fun! Later that day we played at the park then had dinner at another Chicago pizza place called Gino's East. This place had pretty good mozzarella sticks and deep dish pizza! Plus Alex got to write all over the walls! What more could we ask for! I would definitely check this place out if you go to Chicago!!

In other news, Keith passed the COMP exam! We are sooo sooo happy! This exam covers the first two years of medical school! Keith tells me he is thinking he will take the Step 1 exam in July. The Step 1 exam is the first of the medical board exams!

Chicago-2010

Pinkalicious

Alex's new favorite book is Pinkalicious! Pinkalicious is a story of a girl who loves the color pink! Pinkalicious and her mom make pink cupcakes and because Pinkalicious eats too many cupcakes she turns pink! And the only way to get back to normal is to eat things that are green.

So today we decided to have a "Pinkalicious day" and made cupcakes. We used white cake mix and put food coloring in it and then put some pink frosting on it with little red sprinkles to finish them off. Then we decided to eat a pink cupcake before eating lunch! Luckily Alex still ate her lunch.

I just found out that there will be a showing of Pinkalicious at the Stages theatre in Hopkins starting April 29th, 2011. I doubt we will be living in Minnesota at that time. Maybe we'll have to make a trip back just to see the play!

In other news, Alex and I will be going to visit Keith in Chicago next week. I will leave later in the day on Sunday and drive there. Keith doesn't have his Kaplan course on Monday so we want to make it there on Sunday. I know Alex is so excited to see daddy and daddy is excited to see us. He doesn't have a car while he is there so he has basically been stuck in the hotel the whole time. So I think he's ready to get out and about and see the city. We plan to go to the observation deck of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and I hear the Millennium Park is a cool place so we might have to check that out too.

The Biggest Little House in the Forest

On Friday morning Alex and I met up with some friends to go see a showing of "The Biggest Little House in the Forest" at the Children's Threatre Company in Minneapolis. This was the third play that Alex has been to but the first at this theatre. The play was held at the Cargill theatre and it was specifically for preschoolers. I wish I would of checked out one of their plays earlier because the kids just loved it! It was perfect for their age group! I loved to sit there and watch the kids faces, they we're so engrossed in the production! I can't wait to go back to check out another one of their showings.

Alex going to see Plays and Shows

Gymnastics with Alex

As soon as we came back from Miami I signed Alex up for Gymnastics at the same place she went a year ago. It's called Elite Gymnastics Academy in Burnsville, MN. This time she signed up with her friend, Haylie, who just turned three years old. Alex has had two sessions so far and she is loving it! Although the first day she had a little separation anxiety problem, even though I was going to stay there and watch her. Her teacher basically had to pry her off of me. She ended up doing fine that day and had a lot of fun. The second time she went she had no problems going into the class by herself. Below are a few pics and a video from her second session:

Gymnastics at Elite Gymnastics in Burnsville, MN

Alex's First Dental Appointment

This past week Alex went in to see the Dentist. This wasn't technically her first appointment though! I took her last year and she would have nothing to do with the dentist. They didn't want to push her so they said to just reschedule and they would keep trying. So this time is kind of like her first time because Alex actually let them touch her teeth and polish them.

The Dental Hygienist did an awesome job in making Alex feel comfortable. She showed Alex all the utensils she was going to use and how they worked. After Alex was comfortable with everything the Hygienist polished her teeth and flossed them. Then the Dentist came in to check
them over and he said everything looked good. Before leaving the Hygienist put some fluoride on her teeth. She didn't need to have any x-rays done thankfully because I know she wouldn't enjoy that! They said she probably wouldn't need x-rays for another year and that her teeth are spaced really well so they can see everything! She has 20 teeth and no cavities! She left with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and a little toy dinosaur. She was so Happy to leave with so much new stuff!

In other Alex news, she is loving gymnastics! She is in the same class as her little friend named, Haylie, and they are both doing a wonderful job! Tomorrow morning she is heading to the Minnesota Children's Theatre with Haylie and Megan to watch a preschool play called, "The Biggest Little House in the Forest".

Geocaching

On Saturday, I tried my first attempt at Geocaching. I went to the Geocaching website punched in my address and looked for some locations of geocaches. I printed off the coordinates and got my TomTom and took Alex and her cousin, Zoe along. I chose to look in some nearby parks. I figured that it would be fun for them to play at the parks just in case we didn't find anything. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. So if anyone has any tips on geocaching I'm all ears.

I found a nice walking trail at Nordic Park, which is across McAndrews Road from the Minnesota Zoo. It was fun getting outside and taking the kids on walks and they had fun playing at the different parks. Nordic Park had a nice trail so I took a few pics of the girls. You can click below to find the pictures.

If your unfamiliar with geocaching you can go to this website: http://www.geocaching.com/

Nordic Trail and Park, Apple Valley, MN

Grizzly Bears

A few days ago I decided to take Alex to the Minnesota Zoo. We hadn't been there in a while and as we walked to the entrance of the zoo Alex tells me, "Hey, I remember this place". Luckily it was a nice day so after looking at the Shark exhibit we walked along the Northern Trail and through Russia's Grizzly Coast. The Grizzly Bears we're so fun to watch so I took a short video that you can see below.

Haylie's 3rd Birthday

Yesterday Alex and I went to her little friend, Haylie's, 3rd Birthday party. Alex and Haylie had so much fun together. It was the first time I have seen them play together, usually they play but separately. I think it's because Haylie is getting to be such a big girl. She is talking a lot more than when I saw her last time. Alex was so excited to get a little goodie bag with some Backyardigan stuff.

They also are taking Gymnastics classes together on Thursday so they will get to see plenty of each other before we leave again.

Click below to see the pics:

Haylie's 3rd Birthday