Sculpture Garden Reopening

Last Saturday was the grand reopening of the sculpture garden. We've been to the garden before, but they recently added several new sculptures and totally redid the landscaping. The reopening was supposed to be the week before, but they had to push it back a week because we had a lot of rain last month.
The grand opening was a big event with tons of fun activities for the kids, community sponsor booths, and the Walker Art Museum across the street was free too.

The famous spoon and cherry statue.

 One of the sponsors of the event was Blue Bunny, so they handed out free ice cream cones to everyone! The kids loved it. I don't think Dorian has ever had so much ice cream before. When he got to the bottom half of his cone, he was done and handed it to me. It was just too much.

You can't tell, but Isaac is standing next to the Blue Rooster with the kids in the stroller, and Joslyn is wearing a blue rooster mask that they were handing out. And Dorian is passed out because it was way past his nap time. 

At the Walker Art Museum they had a cool color by number art project that everyone could work on. The markers were huge, and Joslyn just thought that it was so fun!

Dorian tried it out too, but he kept grabbing the tip of the marker and got the ink all over his hands.

We got to go out onto the roof of the museum and it was a lot of fun. They had giant bean bags for sitting in, and the view of the Sculpture Garden was awesome! While walking down the steps, Dorian tripped, and hit his head. Now he has a big bruise there, so he didn't have quite as much fun on the roof as Joslyn did.

It was a lot of fun going to the reopening.

Also, a few weeks ago, they started doing construction on the parking lot right outside our apartment. They tore up all the asphalt and the sidewalks. They estimate that it will take 6-8 weeks to finish it. The sidewalks that they tore out went right up to the front of our building, so we have to use the back door every time we leave. They're also replacing windows in the building next to ours, so we have construction on all sides right now.

This is the excavator just pulling up squares of the sidewalk like it's nothing! 

The one good thing about having all the construction is having all the trucks around. Dorian loves to watch the trucks. He makes sure to point at every single one when we walk by, and he wants to know the different names. I've had to look up some of them, because I really had no idea what they were!

Dorian watching the trucks.

Grandma and Grandpa Swift

For a week and a half around Memorial Day, Grandma and Grandpa Swift came to visit! We had a lot of fun exploring the twin cities together. And it was fun to watch the kids get to know their grandparents. Joslyn hadn't seen them since before their mission and they hadn't met Dorian yet. Dorian is very shy around other people, and he has a tendency to cry when strangers talk to him, or even look at him. I was so worried that he would just be fussy the whole time, but he wasn't! He was a little unsure of them for the first day or two but he warned up to them, and by the time they left he was letting them​ hold him and giving them kisses! It was the sweetest thing!

Joslyn loved having them here from the first day. Actually from before they even got here! She was so excited when we told here they were coming that we made a paper chain to help her count down the days so she wouldn't keep asking us when they were coming.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take very many pictures while they were here. But I think Doug took some more, so maybe check out their blog too! 

We went to a lot of fun places while they were here. We went to Como Zoo, the free zoo down the road from where we live. Jacquelyn went there as a kid, and it was fun to talk about how it changed (a lot!). 

Isaac showed them around the U of M and his office. They even took a picture with Goldy the Gopher!

We got to go to a Twins game too! The Twins is the Minnesota baseball team. They didn't win, but they did hit a lot of home runs. Joslyn especially loved the home runs because they lit fireworks every time, and the crowd got really loud. She thought that was really fun.

We were out a lot while they were here, so Dorian took a lot of naps on the go.

One of the best parts of the visit was our trip to Nelson's Ice cream! It's this great little ice cream shop that gives out giant, and I mean GIANT, scoops of ice cream. Joslyn really really wanted to get superman ice cream, so we decided to get it. It was a bright blue yellow and pink ice cream that got every where, but Joslyn and Dorian liked it.

Joslyn at Nelson's before getting too messy.

But the very best part of the trip was getting to spend time reading, playing games with, and hearing all about Jacquelyn and Doug's mission in the Philippines. 

Being so far from everyone, we really miss seeing and spending time with family. It was really great to have them come visit, and ease some of the homesickness we've been feeling. And we're really excited for the reunion this summer.