What a Weekend!

This past weekend Ezra and I ventured to Bemidji, a special place for a number of reasons. Most notable, it is the birthplace of Paul Bunyan. Now I don't want to hear any arguments about this, in the museum near these statues there are a number of Paul's personal belongings, including his finger nail clippings, sealing the deal that this is his rightful birth place (take that Brainerd!). Also, Babe the blue ox is so blue it's almost too blue, it's breathtaking blue, it's authentic blue.

Another great thing in Bemidji is this old train ride that yours truly remembers riding when she was as wee as little Ez. The other rides that used to delight are all gone (insurance reasons I hear) but this little choo choo will still take you on a lovely trip along Lake Bemidji for $1.50. You know who was ecstatic, although as usual I didn't capture his enthusiasm on film.

The awesomest part of Bemidji for this visit was seeing our old pal Max and his gal Tracy. They let us camp out in their back yard under a big, shady tree. Max took Ezra out on his skateboard, which was even more overwhelmingly exciting than the train. I captured a little bit of this fun in the following video, although it does not show his beaming face sadly, but you get the idea:

Another fun thing about Max is that he has cool stuff! Bongos, devil sticks, skateboards, but guess what they ended up playing with?

An empty beer box. Ezra started this by putting it on his head and pronouncing that he was a robot. I found this pretty hilarious and took the following short video:

The night that we spent in the tent in the backyard was magical. There was some thunder and lightning, along with a light rain. Ezra was a little scared at first, but with me going on and on about how cool it was he caught on pretty quick. We stayed dry and woke up the next morning feeling fine.

Then it was off to Grandpa's house! We had received word that there was going to be some music at Itasca State Park (very close to Gramp's) later that afternoon, so after a nice nap we headed over to enjoy hot dogs and a symphony under the pines. Here's a little glimpse of the pleasentness:

Last night I didn't sleep well at all because there was a stupid mosquito in our room that kept biting Ezra that I couldn't manage to get rid of until like 3 am, so we spent today napping for the most part. I finished my last final last night so I can do that now! For the next two weeks actually- yip yip yippee! Anyhow, we did get out a little in the afternoon, and here's Ezra playing with Nate who was in sore shape too because he had his first football training last night. Sorry Nate, but now the whole world knows your butt hurts! (Listen close, you'll hear.) Hardy har har. I really like how Ezra throws the baseball, notice his full body wind up. I think the leg motions he must be getting from the occassional Twins game we watch.

To continue attempts to embarrass Uncle Nate, here's a short clip from a few weeks ago showcasing his saxophone skillz:

What a guy! More from the relaxing weeks of break soon..