Halloween

(We dressed up for Halloween for weeks leading up to the big day...Here is the dragon costume for outdoor cold weather.)

( Here is the pirate costume he wore basically every day!)

(Here is actually not a Halloween costume, but it's too cute to not include. My friend, Tricia, from Kai's new school (Sunny Hollow Montesorri) took this photo of Kai while at his school's Fall Festival this year.)

It seems that Kai loves Halloween just as much as we do!! He had several costumes, talked about the big day for weeks, and toured the "scary houses" (our neighborhood goes a bit nuts with the decorations) with Joe in the bike trailer the week leading up to Halloween. Then, for the third year in a row, we went trick or treating with our neighbors (along with Molly Cooney, Anne, and my mom). I loved that Kai was more interested in saying hello to the neighbors and checking out the pumpkins and decorations then he was about the candy.

I was surprised that he was never scared by the actual scary decorations (One house had a cemetery, mummies, witches, ladies who are groaning and crawling through the grass (Kai: "Look at the swimming lady!") etc. But, he did tell Joe after seeing some blow-up, cartoon (and very mild and pleasant) decorations that he was scared by them. Go figure!!

Big News, Big Brother

Ok, we don't have any shots yet for this post, but we could not wait to share this any longer! We found out the other day that Kai is going to be an amazing big brother - to a little sister! Honestly, it's always a surprise in this family. Kai came along to the ultrasound appointment, and got to see the first images of his little sister on the screen right with his Mom and Dad. We could not be more excited. Daddy has a little girl to spoil, Momma has a daughter to share girl-talk with, and Kai will have a sister to brag about for the rest of our lives.
Now, we just need to gather girl clothes!
Photos to follow...

First, our camera died, then our laptop did and now it's our printer....so, either the universe is pushing us to return to the days before technology or we are getting a good reminder of why technology is indeed a pretty good thing.

Unfortunately, we lost a lot of photos from our laptop (remember to back up those photos gang!) but I'm going to try to find some and keep on posting.

For now, here is a cute story:

"Kai had a bathroom accident yesterday. While helping him clean up, I said, "It looks like you didn't make it to the bathroom." (Ok, stating the obvious). He said, "You know how it goes, mama, sometimes peanuts, sometimes shells."

Not even 3 yet!

4th of July

Our favorite place to be on the 4th of July is at the cabin! We headed up this year with my mom and my brother, Joey. Joey and I hadn't been up to the cabin during the summer together in years, so it was truly quite the vacation! We ate cupcakes at the bakery, lounged on the deck, went fishing, took a few hikes, and watched the fireworks.

Ahh....the cabin. What would be the cabin, without the S'mores!

Abby and Tommy come to MN!

We are so lucky that our nephew and niece, Tommy and Abby (two of Rosie's kids), came and spent over a week with us this summer. We went to the cabin in Ely for most of the time and had an absolute blast! Kai loved spending time with his cousins and we did too! They are such smart and sweet kids. It was gorgeous weather so we were hardly ever not in the water or in the boats!

Abby and Tommy come to MN!

Here we are in Virginia, MN at a park that features BIG mining TRUCKS!!

Kai can't get enough speed boat!!!

Oh...SOREN!!!

When are you coming home???? Kai's best buddy here in Minneapolis (not to be confused with Kai's best buddy, Soren, in Duluth) has been in Ireland for 2 months. Today, while walking past his house, Kai just looked at me in utter exasperation and said, "Mama, Soren, home, NOW!!!"

We agree-- get yourselves back here quickly! We've missed you!!!

MN Zoo

We love Kai's Montessori School. He has grown and learned so much since attending the school since the Fall. It's an amazing group of kids and families and the staff is just unbelievable. Joe and I couldn't be more happy to have Kai go there 3 times a week.

We went on a community outing to the MN Zoo to see the baby farm animals. I actually think Kai was more excited about the tractors but this goat got him pretty excited too. Actually, he was more in awe of watching the babies nurse on their mothers.

Our boy likes to boogie...

Kai loves to be naked and Kai loves to have tatoos. I'm still laughing about this tatoo. He asked Joe if he could put it on his "pee pee" and when Joe said he had to wait until he was 18 years old to do that all Kai said over and over again was "Why?" It's actually a good question, Joe......why?

Duluth with Ella and Soren

Kai and I joined Joe in Duluth (where Joe goes weekly for work) for a few days of relaxation and fun. Kai loved the hotel. It turns out that for a social guy like Kai, a hotel is a dream come true!
He met tons of kids and figured out which room they were staying and he would go and knock on the door and ask them to come out and play. The pool was another highlight and it confirmed to us, once again, that Kai has no fear of water and he loves to jump in (with or without an adult waiting for him-- yes, I know, scary!). Sarah (Paar) and Tolga Hanhan live in Duluth and we hosted a pool party for the Hanhan kids. Kai loves Soren and Ella and here are a few photos of Kai working his magic on Ella!

Easter 2009

Finally, I'm getting back around to posting a few photos-- we lost the cord to our camera to download photos, so we are way behind.

Here are photos from Easter today. We visited my Dad's church and Kai had fun, but I think he was a bit confused as to why "Pops" was so dressed up and why he was talking to so many people. But, he did like the praying. For those of you who haven't dined with Kai recently, he loves to pray! Ever since we spent a week with Joe's family in January, our little guy keeps us on track and prays at almost every meal. If we forget, he announces it's time to pray and interrupts meal time to do so. Often, he prays about "Maxie" (our cat) or "swimming" or a new friend or truck he met at the playground. It cracks us up so much!

My Butterfly!

All of Kai's Grandparents on One Couch

MoMo and Anne

It's been with such excitement that Momo and Anne came back to town. Molly and Anne had been living in Tucson, AZ, but they packed up their lives and moved only a few miles from our home. Aren't we lucky?

A day doesn't go by that Kai doesn't ask for both of them. They both know how to really play and treat Kai like a King.

Welcome Home!

Kai's 2nd Birthday Party

Soren and Kai-- best buddies and both 2!


Grandma and Grandpa Zimsen were in town for Kai's 2nd birthday party! We had a blast celebrating two different times with friends and family. Kai spent the day telling everyone he was two and then dug into the presents with enthusiasm. We had a "green" theme to the party, so we received many recycled presents. I feel it's better to have friends test drive the toys first!

Polar Bear Swim

Reba, Bailey, Joe, and Tommy

Christy, Joe, and Kai


We dove into the New Year by doing the Polar Bear Swim (well...some of us did!)-- it was fun to start off the year with such an invigorating event.

It made it especially exciting since swimming is obviously so important to the Zimsen family. Let's see...we have Grandma Zimsen who was a Hungarian Olympian, we have all of the Zimsen kids who were incredible swimmers (including a Division 1 swimmer and an All-National title too), plus the grandkids who are in swimming teams, and the little ones who love to swim and have no fear (included in this is Kai who jumps off the side of the pool into the water without hesitation or worry if someone is there to catch him!)