5/9/06...Nathaniel on his first field trip!  The class traveled to a local library for storytime.

Nathaniel on the bus.

5/10/06...Nathaniel helping me in the garden.

We planted our Kennebec potatoes this day.  This garden is in our lower yard - and is "Nathaniel's" garden.

Pay out time!  Nathaniel earned all his stickers on his reward chart and earned this Lego Street Sweeper.  It came in 63 little pieces - but Nathaniel and I worked together and got it put together!

5/12/06...Making homemade pasta on a rainy Friday afternoon.  It rained every day that week!

5/14/06...a rainy and cold Mother's Day.  A break in the rain let us install Nathaniel's garden sign and plant a few rows of green beans.

Me and Annabelle...with all my wonderful Mother's Day gifts!

5/16/06...Yet another field trip.  Annabelle's class walked to nearby Round Lake and planted a huge bed with petunias as a community service project.  

They picnicked by the lake afterwards...

Annabelle by her garden.  Not much growing yet - but her Annabelle hydrangea is doing great!  We planted 4 packets of flower seeds - so it should be colorful soon!

Nathaniel with a bouquet of lilacs for our story time librarian.  This was the last one for the summer.

5/21/06...A huge triumph for Nathaniel...using the ride along. He has been too scared to try it spring.  But we bribed him with a Krispy Kreme and he did it.  Hooray!

5/23/06...Annabelle's Time Capsule party at school.  They filled oatmeal containers with memoirs that will remain unopened until graduation day!

Annabelle's messy desk!

All that is left of the "mosquito park".  This is the park just up the street from our house.  They tore out the old equipment this week to make way for the new playset that is up to modern code.  It won't be done until July.

5/25/06...Nathaniel with his teacher, Mrs. Summers on the last day of school.  She was a peach...thanks for everything Mrs. Summers!

Annabelle lost another tooth this week on 5/24/06.  She has no front teeth on the top!

5/26/06...All of us at the Prairie View Picnic!

Nathaniel with his Lego trash truck - his prize for getting all his stickers on his reward chart for preschool.

5/27/06...At Sibley Park in Mankato.  We stopped by on our way to Minneopa State Park.  Here we are watching the prairie dogs...which were Nathaniel's favorite!

What else -  a prairie dog!

Annabelle and Nathaniel looking at an albino exotic bird.   The zoo had many to see!  We didn't get a good picture of him - but the peacock with his feathers on display was my favorite!

Annabelle loved the billy goats.

At the historic Mankato train station.  It is an office building now - but it was neat to see the outside.

An old railcar that serves as the visitor center in Mankato.

Annabelle smelling some lilacs on our bike ride through Mankato.

A bison statue in Mankato.

Taking a break as we biked along the Minnesota River.

Our first camping weekend of the season!  Here is Nathaniel putting our tag on the post.  It was one of the worst camping experiences we've had - due to the excessive heat (temps around 95) and very rude camping neighbors (a group of young men partying and clinking beer bottles until 5:30 a.m. - when I finally walked over and told them to shut up!)  We still had fun though!

Our camping site at Minneopa State Park.  The site was very nice with these gorgeous trees.

The Steppman Mill - an old windmill that was built in the 1870s.  The blades of the windmill are gone and it has been restored.  The mill is located inside Minneopa State Park.  

Another view of the mill...next to the reproduction of the grainery building, which was destroyed.

Annabelle on a bench at an overlook near the mill, which is on a bluff.

Nathaniel with these cute caterpillars that were everywhere at Minneopa.  The kids loved playing with them at our campsite.

A hot sweaty dinner...it was still in the 90s so we weren't hungry - just thirsty!

We still made a campfire before bed - so we could toast our marshmallows for s'mores!

Sparklers for Memorial Day.

5/28/06...Minneopa Falls.  These are the smaller upper falls.

The lower falls at Minneopa State Park.

Hiking at Minneopa.

Annabelle by the upper falls.

Back home late Sunday afternoon - we sought some relief from the heat!

Nathaniel helped wash our van - which was filthy from the dry, dusty campground.

QUACK!  Annabelle making a pringles "duck".  Pringles are a treat I only buy for camping trips!

5/29/06...Memorial Day.  Another scorcher.  We took a ride around Round Lake and out for donuts from Kowalski's in the morning.  After lunch we beat the heat with lots of water!