Birthday Bash

Last weekend we had a birthday bash for the April birthdays. A grand time was had by all, especially people who received cool gifts, like a GPS (as previously discussed).



Eli got a monster truck track, with monster trucks, too. Eli likes monster trucks.



Look at those cute birthday people.



I know Eli is 7, and Koleman is 10, but I can't figure out the mathematical equation next to my mom's name. The numbers are just so big, it's too difficult to comprehend.

Ha, ha, very funny

Now put it back THE WAY IT WAS!!!!

Camera Tag

When the Deitz boys were here, we spent a nice afternoon at the Treemendous playground. The kids wanted to play a game, so I chose "Camera Tag". They run around, and I try to take their picture. I caught Jonny!



Koleman had no chance of escape.



Jorgen found a good spot to hide, but Josiah helped me find him.



The nice thing about this kind of tag is that I can get the little buggers from 30 feet away. None of that annoying running for me!

Klund Copies Scooter

Scooter bought a Wii to be like the Klund's, and we went geocaching, to be like the Scooter's. For Koleman's 10th birthday, he received a brand new GPS!



We had the birthday party (also for 7 year old Eli and ... um, 29 year old Grandma Karen) in Plymouth, so I had the GPS pre-loaded with a couple of caches within short walking distance from the house.

Cache number one was just off the Luce Line trail, found by Michelle once we realized where to look. The second cache we looked for was a nice little multi-cache. Koleman found the final resting spot of the cache, and left info in the log.



We started out our caching adventure with eleven people, and were down to five by the time we made our last find. Michelle has strategically hid herself from the camera's view. You can see a bit of her head.



Koleman replaces the final cache.



It should probably be noted that Michelle found the first three locations (the first cache, and parts one and two of the multi-cache) with virtually no effort. It got to the point that she would watch Koleman, my dad and myself struggle in the brush, and then casually walk out and say, "Here it is."

She has a gift.

Ben Folds!

So, I went to the Ben Folds concert at Gustavus last night (Ben Folds at Gustavus? Um, yeah.) Folds is fun to watch - he completely rocks out the piano, and nobody plays a better green plastic maraca. Of course I didn't have my camera, but my phone takes some extremely low quality photos, so here's what I have:



[Old people reading this blog - skip the next couple of paragraphs, because you're not going to "get it".]

He made pretty much everybody's day by performing one of his signature songs - a cover of a Snoop Dogg song that I can only print here using lots of asterisks: "B****** ain't S***". It was a beautiful thing as he had the whole crowd singing, "B****** can't hang with the streets."

Because, let's be honest, they can't. Many a tear was shed.

[OK, old people, you can start reading again.]

He played some songs from his as-yet-to-be-released album, which were all pretty good, especially the song about him falling off the stage in Japan and getting a concussion.

The opening act was a funky Minneapolis guy named Ari Herstand, who was one guy, multiple instruments and a loop machine.

OK, I've got to get ready for a birthday party now.

Bikes!

I'm ready for spring. All the bikes are tuned up and ready to go. Now, can we have a combination of warmth, lack of wind and lack of rain? Is that really so much to ask for?

Cousin Line-up

Here is the April, 2008 version of the Lund-Deitz cousin line-up. There are lots of interesting things to glean from this photo, but my favorite part is how poor Milena will be the bottom of the V from now on.



You can see that Jack has been added to the photo, and the line-up should stay this way for the next 7 months or so (but don't worry, Steph - I won't tell anybody your secret!).

For comparison, here is the line-up from June of 2006:

We actually got outside

It's apparently legal to be outside in Minnesota. I had forgotten that.

Anyway, here you can see Josiah practicing proper playground safety technique.



Jorgen is quite talented - he can smile for the camera while riding his bike. Mad skillz.



Jonny drives the big truck. Safely, of course.



Safely? He's going to run over my kid!

Jack's Got Problems

It's tough being a little guy. Especially in a house without too much little guy stuff. We went out to play, but Jack forgot to pack his gloves and hat, so he had to borrow from us.

It didn't quite fit perfectly.



"I can't see and I can't grab anything. Other than that, this is fun."

Sometimes you deserve to be mocked

While bringing five kids to the Treemendous Playground today, I was asked for help. Some kid got himself stuck in one of the baby swings. I said that I would gladly help him, but first I would take a picture, because any 11 year old silly enough to sit in a baby swing deserves to have that foolishness documented. I think his name was Runnar Barr. (maybe?) Anyway, here he is:



I'll have pictures of cute kids doing cute things soon.

Reading Break, Part II

Four kids down, four to go. Next in the age list is Jorgen, saving the day with Rescue Heroes. If his head seems a bit blurry, it's because Jorgy is always so fast!



Kelson plays with a barrel of monkeys. I think there's a metaphor or analogy in there somewhere.



Josiah got the prime spot - the Lego table. All those Legos, and no brothers or cousins to compete with? Pure bliss.



And Jack? In the closet, of course.

Reading Break, Part I

Have I mentioned that I love Reading Break? Yes, I think I have. Anyway, with eight kids here, Reading Break isn't just a good idea, It's a neccessity. Koleman was in his room, playing nicely with Transformers.



See? We actually got Jonny to do some homework. We rock.



Eli is absolutely not in his room playing with cars.



Milena gets crafty.

More Kennel Fun

It's pretty surprising how many boys can comfortably fit in a dog kennel.



Why not one more?



Just good, clean, cousin fun.

Jack is Under Control

Jon & Steph - don't worry about Jack. We've got him under control. See, he's fine:



He doesn't seem too upset with the situation.



Stevie isn't so sure about the role reversal going on.



Just in case any social workers are concerned about the quality of my daycare, I offer this video, which shows conclusively that his incarceration was completely voluntary: