It's Raining Worms

This past week flew by as our days were packed with commitments. I had rehearsal Tuesday night, Thursday night, a concert on Friday night in New Brighton, a rehearsal Saturday in Prior Lake and a concert Saturday night in Prior Lake not to mention having to sing in RS on Sunday. In between those events, Max had his 2nd grade music program on Thursday night and Grandparents Day on Friday.

Since we had such a tiring week, the weather decided to make it just a bit worse by raining for several days straight and then turning to snow again! The rain brought the worms out by the dozen! As we were leaving the house in the pouring rain one morning, Max commented that "he hated the smell of rain because it smells like wet worms!"

Here are some photos of the kids Thursday night after Max's music program. Evidently, they had to stop and play with all of the worms before retiring for the evening.

Can you see all of them on the driveway?

Sophie is by far our biggest worm lover. She thinks they're "cute" and "wiggly!"
Calvin is much more cautious. He may poke a worm or two, but he'll freak out if you try and hand him one!

BIG news in the Erickson home!

After dangling in her mouth for over a week, Sophie finally let me pull out her first tooth this morning!!! She is so excited and she told Bryan that "today is going to be the best day ever" as he drove her to school! She refuses to put the tooth under her pillow because she wants to save it to show to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson when they come to visit next month.

Bryan's Running again!

Here is a photo of Bryan crossing the finish line at the 25K Trail Mix that he ran this past Saturday at Hyland Lakes Park Reserve. Bryan has also started a personal blog detailing his new running obsession. Here is the link!

Unearthing Spring

Yesterday was gloriously warm - high 60's and Koo came over to force us all to go outside. WE managed to dig most of the grass and dead leaves and winter gunk out of the garden beds and underneath it all we discovered GREEN!!!

These are the aliums
The rabbits have been eating the tulips already - stinkin' rabbits.

What is this stuff? A weed? A grown cover I inadvertently planted that has grown out of control?
Koo - weeder extraordinare

Creme Brulee

Last Sunday Koo and her friend Adam came over for dinner - we had the missionaries as well. Koo was in charge of dessert so she made creme brulee. The recipe she used was from a Martha Stewart cookbook, but I could not find it on line. Adam had a lot of fun with the little kitchen torch which really impressed all of the kids.

Ice Breaker

Last Thursday the weather was in the high 50's and it is starting look look like winter might leave us after all! I know I have been talking about the weather all of the time on this blog, but for the last several months, the weather has controlled my moods!

We could not pass up a nice day so we stopped by the park . . .

. . .where I photographed all of the nearby lakes. Do you see the ice breaking up and melting?!

It was a good day. So long ice.

Bryan's gone crazy - The Chippewa Moraine 50k

Saturday was Bryan's first ultra-marathon race. The Chippewa Moraine 50k Trail Run. The weather has been terrible and there was plenty of snow, slush and mud on the trails. The conditions made for a very slow race. The winner was Joe Ziegenfuss at 5:00:37. Last year he ran the Afton 50k in 4:21:49 and the Superior Trail 50k in 4:23:53, and those courses are very hilly and typically run the same person at least 45 minutes longer than a flatter 50k like the Trail Mix 50k -- so that gives you an idea of the difference in the conditions on this one.

Here are the racers at the start.

Trail conditionsBryan's finishing time: 7:51:02
rank: 97th out of 134 starters and 119 finishers (i.e. there were 15 starters who DNF'd, did not finish)

His toes were pretty scary when he got home - he lost a couple of toenails and had some serious blood blisters, but overall, he said that he felt better than after the Twin Cities Marathon. We are very proud of his accomplishment and his crazy new hobby!

The website for the Chippewa Moraine 50k race has maps, a course description, and the full results:
http://www.chippewa50.com/

Finish Line

Jersey Boys Rocks!!!

Last week I got a call from a friend in our ward wanting to know if I would like to go to see Jersey boys with her on Friday night. Well, YES!!!! Bryan graciously came home to watch the kids while Tiffany and I had a night out with a quick dinner at Jasmine Deli (I made a new convert) and then the show downtown.

Jersey Boys rocks!! The musical "is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. This is the story of how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty." The music is amazing, the National Cast is phenomenal but if you go be forewarned, there is a lot of cursing!!!

Thank you for inviting me Tiffany!





Jersey Boys National Tour

Saturday Day of Spring and Bliss!

Last Saturday the temperature in this arctic wasteland we call home actually reached the 60's!!!!!! This was a one-day deal, in fact the forecast for the next three days is snow. Currently, it is sleeting. But, LAST Saturday was a different story - warm, beautiful, spring-like. We went to the park. It was kind of hysterical because everyone was in capris or shorts and sandles (including me), and yet there was still snow on the ground and the lake behind the park is still frozen. The kids spent every possible moment outside and who can blame them?!

Calvin and Hobbes

Here is a cute shot Bryan took the other night of Calvin after he fell asleep. The little tiger he is holding is called Hobbes. So, when we had Calvin, not one person gave him a stuffed tiger. I was kind of surprised actually. We did not really name him after the cartoon character, but I expected at least one tiger.

We have several Calvin and Hobbes books around the house which both Max and Sophie enjoy reading. Somehow in the last couple of months, Calvin figured out that the little boy in the books is called Calvin and he decided that he is the Calvin in the books. Bryan gave him a stuffed tiger from Walgreen's and Calvin started calling it Hobbes.

Calvin will sit there with one of the comic books in his hands and point to Calvin and say - "look at me, I'm smiling or I'm eating" and then he'll point at Hobbes and say "look at Hobbes, he is jumping!" He even points to Calvin's mom and says "look at you mom! You are mad!" It's actually quite hysterical and yes, Hobbes is Calvin's favorite little companion these days.

Still kinda chilly around here

My friend Kelly stopped by last week after a 5 day trip to Paris. Am I jealous? Why yes, of course! Kelly did bring back lots of little samples of Parisian chocolates which made me feel much better. So much better, that I ate them all while we talked. I do not have much control when I am around good chocolate.
With our spirits high from the yummy sweets, we decided to take the kids for a walk to a local park. About 5 minutes into the walk we already had kids whining to go home with their runny noses and red cheeks. It's still pretty cold around here. The kids made a valiant attempt at playing on the snow covered playground and then we quickly returned home for hot cocoa!

Sunday Stroll

This past Sunday the temperature actually rose to above 50 degrees!!! We decided this alone was reason enough to celebrate and headed out for a Sunday stroll. Stacey (the voice of reason) suggested we walk around the neighborhood, while Bryan wanted to go to the park. "The last several days have been warm and dry" he reasoned when Stacey mentioned the possibility of the trails at the park being wet. Stacey further commented that warm weather meant melting snow which usually translates to MUD. Off to the park we went.

Here is the start of the trail. Looks promising huh?

Stacey was not amused. What is he smirking about?! He obviously does not do the laundry around here.

I hate washing shoes.

The trail was a big mud pit and very slippery! Calvin, of course bit it.

Did I mention the laundry?
For all my complaining, it was actually a very pretty walk (aside from the mud). The kids had a blast running down the trails and searching for sticks, rocks and acorns in the woods.

Calvin found himself a walking stick.

We did find some signs of spring . . .

. . . and lot of animal tracks. Sophie decided these were from a small bear and a wolf.

And yes, there was a LOT of laundry. Sigh.