Piano Contest/Eagle's Nest/Sledding

My head started hurting from trying to come up with a blog post title that captured the weekend, so I decided to give up because our activities were just too eclectic.

Yesterday, Laura had piano contest at Bethel College. This is the second year she's done it, and now that she's at the primary level, the stakes are highter. This was just the first round (unlike last year, when she played once and was done). She played a piece called "Snagglefritz" for a judge, and if she's a "winner," she'll go on to the next round, and if she "wins" that, she gets to play in an honors concert. I listened outside the door while she was playing, and I have to say, she certainly knows how to turn it on when she has to. Laura's feeling good about her performance too, but you never know how the other participants did (there can only be so many winners), so we'll just have to wait and see. Laura hopes she wins, because "the certificate you get makes for a very fine decoration on the piano."

Laura was her usual cool self before it was time to go in with the judge. She was actually quite excited!

After piano contest, we met Pam and Fred at the Eagle's Nest play area nearby. Aly and Emily stayed with them this weekend, so it was a big cousins' party. The kids played hard for a while and then had to take an ice cream break.

Today we visited Jennifer and Brian's new place in Chisago City, and went sledding at a great hilly park nearby. It was nice and icy so the sleds went super fast. Laura had a few dramatic moments in which she 1. headed right for a tree and didn't bail out quite quickly enough so she banged her foot 2. veered too far to the left and careened off a landscaping terrace and did a complete face plant into the snow and 3. veered off too far to the left farther down the hill and did a jump off another terrace, which caused her to tumble off her sled in a heap of tears. Some of these things also happened to Karl and Damon, but for some reason they thought those were fun accidents to have.

Laura, Matt, Karl, Damon

Karl heads down the hill.

Karl's methods got crazier the longer we were there.

This picture was taken while Laura was still in a good mood...

Fun/Sad Weekend

Sorry it's taken so long to post this, but my Vikings wounds were too fresh to do it any earlier...

On Saturday, it was Laura's turn to take a class at the Science Museum: "Secret Hiding Places." Now she knows some cool tricks to hide things from pesky little brothers. While Laura was in her class, Matt went to work again, and Karl and I hung out together.

First we went to the St. Paul public library. Karl wanted to know what all the fuss was about, after hearing Laura rhapsodize about it so much. He discovered they had his favorite football books there! (I chose this picture for his cute hat-hair.)

Then we went over the Science Museum to check out the dinosaurs, human body exhibits, and of course, the mummy. We also got to see an Omni movie about the Titanic.

On Sunday, we were all excited for the big game. Even Laura wore purple!

Pam and Fred came over and watched part of the game with us...the good part.

I probably don't have to tell you how we were feeling at the end of the night. Exhausted. Disappointed. Heartbroken. Poor Karl; he had the toughest time of all. But we decided at bedtime that we were done with that game, and wouldn't be sad anymore. Sure enough, Karl was his usual chipper self the next morning, and the rest of us have recovered too (but I don't think I'll be watching the Super Bowl).

Mummies and Vikings

Yesterday, Karl was full of angst. He was signed up for a class at the Science Museum called "Mummies and Mysteries" that he was really excited about (the mummy is one of his favorite exhibits there), but the class was right during the big Vikings game. I told him the Science Museum does offer the class again, but not until May. He was literally in tears at the breakfast table, trying to weigh his options. May, to a six-year-old, is really far away, but the game was super important. In the end, he decided to go to his class and watch the recorded game when we got home, and we would all be really careful not to find out the final score until we watched it ourselves.

While Karl was in his class, Laura and I went to the Children's Museum, and Matt went to his office to work (weirdo). We hadn't been to the Children's Museum in a couple years, and it was quite interesting to see Laura's reactions to the exhibits now that she's older. Suddenly her favorite spots didn't hold nearly the appeal they did before, and we went through the whole place in about a half hour.

But it sure was easier keeping track of her yesterday than it was when she was a toddler!

After the children's museum, we went to Laura's new favorite place in St. Paul: the public library.

We had a little time to kill before we went to pick up Karl, so we stopped at Breuggers, where Laura discovered they had French toast bagels! It's like they knew she was coming or something!

Karl did a very good job of not learning the outcome of the game until we watched the recording (the rest of us? eh, not so well, but what can you do when you're walking around St. Paul and the headlines are being scrolled along the MPR building and everyone's talking about it... and the library had free wi-fi...). It was a great game to watch and Karl went to bed very happy last night.

Bonus pictures: on Saturday, the kids were trying to play their "Hullaballoo" game when Penelope decided to sit down right in the middle of it. Laura and Karl just played around her while Penelope tried to figure out why they were acting so goofy. (And to all you people who say our house is always cold, just look at Laura wearing shorts and a t-shirt! If I turn up the heat everyone else in the house complains.)

Snowtubing!

Today we celebrated the warm above-zero weather by going snowtubing at the Elm Creek Park Reserve. The Elliotts, Connie, and Luke were there too. Needless to say, it was crazy fun, largely due to the eight-tube linkups that sent us flying down the hill!

After a couple hours of snowtubing, what do you think would really hit the spot? Dairy Queen, of course (our options were limited)! Laura, Colin, Karl, and Luke.

Glasses for the Lauras

Laura and her doll Laura just got glasses!

Meeting Kathryn

On Saturday, Laura and Karl got to meet their newest cousin, Kathryn, since Steve and Megan are visiting from South Dakota.

Now the set of Meissner grandkids is complete (at least that's what we're all thinking...)! Nathan, Emily, Laura, Aly, Karl, and Kathryn

Karl was very excited to play his guitar for everyone, especially Steve and Tanya, because he knows they had the same teacher for their guitar lessons.

Laura played her contest piece for everyone (piano contest is coming up at the end of January).

All the cousins were quite helpful when Nathan was opening his Christmas gifts.

That night, we went swimming at the hotel pool where Tanya, Jeff, and the girls were staying (they spent the night in North Branch since they would be coming right back the next day).

Laura knows how lovely it is to sit by the pool and read.

Jeff kept the kids entertained.

The next day, there was an open house at church so everyone else could meet Kathryn, too. Matt and Steve rigged up a TV so no one would miss the big Vikings game!

The kids had fun playing hide-and-seek, school, and running around the church. (Laura was the teacher for a while, and this was the worksheet she made: "Alphabetize these words: 'Laura Meissner is awesome.' Answer: awesome, is, Laura, Meissner"). Here, Karl and Nathan had fun just jumping up and down.

New Year's Eve 2010

We rang in the new year at Grand Rios Waterpark with Angie, Jason, Colin, Justin, Jennifer, Brian, and Damon. The kids had a blast, of course, as you can see in this picture of Karl and Colin tumbling down a water slide.

And everyone knows how much Laura loves waterparks!

Amazingly, the waterpark wasn't very busy, and we got to go down waterslides as quickly as we could walk up the stairs. Laura went down the tube slide a zillion times and never got tired of it!

Jason, Justin, and Karl on the lazy river

When we decided to take a break for dinner, the kids were more than ready for a rest. This is how they looked as they waited for the pizza:

group picture: Justin, Jason, Colin, Karl, Damon, Laura, Brian, Jennifer, Matt, me, Angie

Damon, Karl, Colin, Laura

After dinner it was back for more waterslides!

Karl also loved the hot tub.

Angie and Justin

Matt and Jennifer

We played in the water until 9:00, then we went back to the hotel rooms so the kids could get on their jammies. Justin was ready to party!

The noisemakers got old very quickly, so Karl, Damon, and Colin were quickly banned from honking them...

...but it didn't take them long to start using them as swords/lightsabers instead.

The kids had an early grape juice toast to the new year before going to bed. We had adjoining rooms with the Elliotts, so the kids went to bed in one room while the adults stayed in the other, which worked out pretty well.

Laura, though, managed to stay awake until midnight, and sneaked over to celebrate with the grownups!

The waterpark opened again at 9:00 am this morning, and the kids were up bright and early so they could eat breakfast and get ready for the waterpark right away. We had a fantastic, if exhausting New Year's Eve/Day, but this just might become a new tradition! Happy 2010 everyone!