Henry's Birthday party (pretty late :))

Henry's 2nd birthday party was Thomas the Train themed. Everyone came over and celebrated! Nana made her famous chocolate cake and we had Henry's favorite: pasta. He really loved having all the cousins over and it was his first experience with opening presents (he had some help :)).

No Santa!!!

We went to visit Santa this past week. Henry was ok in line, getting a little more suspicious with each passing minute:


And then dad brought him to sit on Santa's lap and the terror struck:



Now if you ask him if he visited Santa he will tell you with a serious voice that "Henry cried" Maybe next year.............

Toronto 2011

This past November we visited my cousin and family in Toronto. It was Henry and my first trip to Canada. We loved the city, their neighborhood, and having the kids play together. There was some tense moments as Henry learned about sharing (a bad omen for the soon to be big brohter?!). They left as good friends. Now Henry will talk about an airplane to go see cousin Lauren to anyone who will listen.

Halloween 2011

We carved pumpkins, went to a parade with some friends, and tried Trick or Treating for the first time. At the end of all of the festivities, we have a new fan of Halloween. Overall Henry did really well with the trick or treat concept, the only problem being when the neighbors doors opened he walked right in. In one case walked right in and threw their dog a tennis ball.

Here we are carving pumpkins:



We even bought a pumpkin for 'baby brother' as Henry calls him


At the parade:





Then Grandpa Barry came over dressed as a hippie (back to the days of his youth :))

A scene from Sunday night dinner

Henry's attempt at a joke:

Fall 2011

This fall has been beautiful in MN. We took advantage of the last bit of good weather and went to the Zoo and an Apple Orchard. The apple orchard is the 'apple farm' according to Henry (mainly due to his vocabulary skill set), and he was excited! We rode behind a tractor, got apples (one of his favorites), and chased chickens from their barn. Doesn't get much better than that in his eyes.
Henry and his buddy Sam enjoying the fruits of our orchard visit:


Apple donut and apple cider (there was a definite theme to this day)


Tractor ride:



Then the next day we went to the Zoo with some friends. During this visit goats=hilarious for Henry.


There was a simulator for a tractor ride. The goal was to harvest a field. I think this little exercise proved that like his father, Henry is a city kid. I think they took out a fence on the game.

MN State Fair

We went to the Minnesota State Fair this year. Henry loved the rows and rows of tractors on Machinery Hill, strawberries and cream, and all of the animal barns. A nice farmer even let Henry into a pig pen with a sleeping pig. Henry liked it, as long as the sleeping pig stayed sleeping and on the other side of the pen :)

Here he is riding a tractor more his size:

Henrylocks and the three dogs

Hero is too strong.
Hazel is too stubborn.
Duff (Eric's sister's dog) is just right:

Choo Choo!

We went on a train ride this past weekend. Henry is obsessed with all things "Choo Choo" as he calls it. He was excited the entire time (except for the braking) and asked for "more choo choo please" the whole way out of the parking lot.

Fresh Strawberries

We have a container that we are growing strawberries in, finally our first ones are ripe enough to eat. We introduced Henry to 'fresh from the garden' giving him his first home grown strawberries. He loved them so much we had to make sure he didn't eat the stems.

July 4th

I know, I know I am late with the holiday again. But I finally remembered!

July 4th we went to Amery to the cabins. Eric's sister from Vancouver came with her daughters Sami and Tori. All of the Olson kids were up with their families. We had a weekend of swimming, tubing, fireworks, and fun!

All of the Olson kids decided to get wet:



Then it was the kid's kids turn:

Henry settled for the slip and slide. Pretty much stayed wet the entire weekend: