Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party.

We just survived the 6th birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese!

Quinn and his friends had an amazing time.

The girls played skee-ball which was pretty terrifying. We're lucky no one got hurt!

Quinn and his buddies played lots of fun games, too.

Pizza time! (hot dog for Quinn)

And then, the mouse himself showed up.

He played some air guitar with Quinn and another birthday boy who was celebrating there.

Zahra was pretty sure the party was for her.

THEN, Quinn got to go in the ticket blaster to grab as many tickets as he could. That was pretty darn comical.

It was actually a really great party, and all the kids had such a fun time. Perfect for an almost 6-year-old!

Trip to Wisconsin

The kids have been feeling rather left out recently about all the trips Moin and I have been taking. So we decided to take them on their very own day trip to Eau Claire, Wisconsin (90 minutes away). We decided we would go to the Eau Claire county fair while there.

Let's go!

Sadly, it ended up being a chilly day so we didn't say long.
Zahra, of course, wasn't bothered one bit by the cold, even in shorts and crocs. This girl loves the outdoors!

We only stayed a bit, but Quinn managed to score a funnel cake before we left, which he was of course thrilled about.

Cute, but unrelated story - the last few days Penelope has started calling Zahra, "my best friend Zahra."
Some example sentences are:
"Where's my best friend Zahra?"
"I'm playing with my best friend Zahra right now"
"My best friend Zahra is sad"

Pretty cute, right?

Summer time park fun

The kids just can't get enough of playing outdoors and in the water. They all love summer! They have several "seasons" books, and when asked about their favorite season they all say summer. Quinn says winter is his second season because "at least you can play outside. In spring and fall it rains too much to play." He may have been born in California, but that kid is all Minnesota now!

 Here are some fun photos of them playing in the misters and on the swings at Chutes and Ladders Park. I feel like these photos just capture summertime fun.

Zahra had to show off her pedicure, obviously.

How is it that our kids are always the only ones running around in their underwear?

Happy 4th of July!

Happy belated 4th of July! We spent lots of time outdoors this past weekend, and discovered a new beach about 20 minutes away (located on Lake Minnetonka) that we all loved. 

I tried to paste two photos together above to get one of everyone smiling. you can't tell, right? :)

The girls were wiped out after all the fun!

On Friday, I needed to work so Quinn came along with me. Construction on our new lab space was just completed, so he got to be the first visitor!

Moin, Quinn, my dad and I also went to a Minnesota Lynx game. This was Quinn's first professional basketball game and probably his last for a while. He's enjoyed the baseball games he's attended so far, but didn't really loved watching basketball. He likes to play it, though.

It was a nice, lazy, long weekend.

In other summer news, the girls have been playing outside a lot lately and getting lots of knee scrapes. In a weird identical twin moment, they scraped the same knee at almost the same time the other day.

We also took away the girls' diapers for good a week ago, after a false start a couple months ago. penelope was trained instantly - she has yet to have a single accident. Zahra still has accidents from time to time but has also done a fantastic job. We're so proud of them!

Quinn's been doing the library summer reading program. When he completed his first ten hours he got a free book from the library and he and I went out for ice cream.

Then, when he completed his next ten hours the library gave him: a free book, a state fair ticket, a water park ticket, and a coupon for a free Culver's custard. Score! I think summer reading might count as his first summer job.