Minnesota

I was driving to work and noticed my neighbor was mowing his lawn......It is December 18th people!!!!.....in MINNESOTA!!!!

It is also 44 degrees and we still have NO SNOW.

Peter Pan and Captain Hook

HAPPY BELATED HALLOWEEN NOW THAT THANKSGIVING HAS PASSED AND IT IS ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!

We had a great Halloween this year! The weather was warm the costumes were spectacular! So without further adieu......

Casting:

Peter Pan- Peter Vnak
Captain Hook - Joseph Vnak
Mr. Smee - Thomas Vnak
Tinker Bell - Mom Vnak
The "Tic Tock Croc" Dad Vnak

Here are 6 out of the 7 kiddos prior to letting them loose for trick-or-treating.

Mr. Smee, Captian Hood and Peter Pan


The Crocodile properly equipped for taking 7 kids trick-or-treating.
Our 2 nephews and niece.



Peter Pan and Tinker Bell.

Mr. Smee and Captain Hook....ARRRRRRR

At Auntie Dee's and Uncle Tom's house before going to the Halloween Party.



Dancing it up!

At stop at G & G Vnak's on the way back home.

Fall

The other day, I was alone with myself in the van and actually had some time to reflect on fall. I came to the conclusion that I love fall. I love it because after the first freeze most the bugs are dead and the allergens have lifted.....which means no more bug bites and no more sneezing!! I also love fall because of PUMPKIN FRAPP'S, PUMPKIN LATTE'S, PUMPKIN BREAD, AND OF COURSE PUMPKIN PIE!!

Fall also means taking a trip the the apple orchard and going on hayrides. It means drinking yummy hot apple cider and honeycrisp apples to eat:)

It also means Halloween is fastly approaching and the Vnak's are gearing up for another spooky and scary year.

Shiver MEEE Timbers!

Captain's Tom and Joe are turning 5!

Ye be invited to join the crew for

Some Swash-Buckling fun!

Hunt for ye Golden Treasures on

Friday May 27th, 2011 at 5:30pm!

Vnak Island

Address

Arrrrrrrr ye Coming?

or arrrrrrrr ye walkin the plank?

Tom and Joe are 5 YEARS OLD! Okay it is September now, and they are now almost 5 1/2! What?? I know, what is more scary is that Brian and I have been parents for the last 5 years! Time flies when you are having fun!! (I'm going to sound like "our parents" for a second.) but seems like yesterday that these guys were waking us up every 2 hours to eat at night. I wish I could bring back all the special moments that have occurred since their birth's, but life keeps moving and it seems faster and faster everyday.

So as you can see by the invites, we celebrated with the pirate theme. The boys are really into being pirates and watching "Jake and the Neverland Pirates." The boys decided they were going to wear their pirate pajama's and then I bought bandana's for all the kids, along with eye patches, and face paint to draw on mustaches'. After they all became pirates, Brian created a treasure map and gave the kids clues to finding the golden treasure. Once the treasure was found, they took turns trying to break it open to claim their gold de blums.

The games were then followed up by dinner, cake and then presents.

Their personalities are really starting to blossom more and more each day.

Tom is the oldest by 20 minutes, and claims the title of being the eldest. He is responsible, reliable in helping us out, naturally watches over others, and willing to give something up for the sake of others. He is sweet, funny, has an extraordinary laugh when he thinks something is really funny, and is a joy to be with. He is my cuddle bug during shoo shoo byes prior to nap and bedtime. Tom is a thinker and loves to take things a part and put them back together again. We knew this when we found Brian's business card, a knife, and a nightlight taken apart next to an outlet in our bedroom....I think he was around 2 at the time. He loves playing with legos and playing with his trucks. He still enjoys Tuesday's....Garbage Day!

Joe is the middle child. He is an instigator at times and can negotiate any type of situation. When he was younger, I would ask him to do something and the his response would be "Tom can do it." He loves to finish 1st and be first for everything, except for when going to the doctor, dentist or to get his haircut. He loves to arrange and sort the recycling over and over as well as taking the trash and rubbish out on Monday's. He loves to be a fashion starter....getting his hair spray painted with purple and green dots at Mardi Gras in February and his latest wearing his construction rain boots in the middle of summer on a warm sunny day. (He did get a lot of compliments that day). He is gifted with his ability to solve math problems. This past summer, we were on vacation and the he had asked how many tickets were left from the rides they had been on??

Dad: Joe there were 40 tickets total

Joe: and there are 4 tickets left

Mom: Joe, how many tickets did we use?

Joe: Mumbling to himself for about a minute......then shouts out 36 tickets!

Mom and Dad: Wow! That's right!

We love you guys so much and can't to see how you will grow and learn this year:)

Pirates Joe and Tom after finding the golden treasure.
Here are some more rowdy pirates

Cousin Braden making an attempt at breaking free the treasures


cousin Hailey even getting in on the pirate action.

Quick, Captain Hook is coming to get us!


Birthday Boys blowing out their candles.

Days 9 & 10!! YEA! End of our California Trip

Peter checking out the trains at "The Living Desert Zoo" in Palm Springs.


The boys were captivated by these trains and all the stations and little towns.
Here you go, you hummingbird lovers out there. Brian must have taken over 200 pic of these birds and ended up capturing this one.......wings are NOT moving.....I have never seen a humming bird sitting still, they are always fluttering about:)
A humming bird hanging out in her nest. We learned that humming bird eggs are the size of jelly belly beans.
cool pic of a zebra butterfly
Tom imagining with puppets.
Peter imagining his bird is flying.
Another pic of our friend Mr. Hummingbird.
Auntie Dee and Uncle Tom poolside.
Peter relaxing before our big trip home.
"You looking at us girls?"
Joe enjoying the warm California sun.
Tom super relaxed after a dip in the hot tub.
Time to pick lemons for some yummy lemonade.
"Come on....Joe, pull harder!"
Don't forget about the grapefruit
group shot before we left
The 2 Tom's hanging out! It was so cute, little Tom wanted to make sure he could sit by Uncle Tom for his snack before leaving for the airport.

Saturday January 29^th 2011

Living Desert Zoo

Huge Train display-boys sat their for 30 minutes looking at all the different trains going by and explaining each scene.

Saw a bird show

Swam in the afternoon-1^st pool closed for repair 2^nd pool was a go.

Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen

Boys to bed

Brian and I went on a quick date to Water Hot “Aqua Caliente” a Casino where we proceeded to win nothing!

Sunday January 30^th 2011

Went to church with Auntie Dee

Picked up Uncle Tom for breakfast

Went back to house to pack/laundry

Flew home and got in around 1am

Boys slept the whole way!!

WE had a BLAST!!!

Day 8....getting closer

Tom (left) Joe (right) hanging out with Lighting McQueen!
Here we are saying "hi" to Mader!
Joe and Tom
Brian really likes this pic of Joe
Gotta have a pic with Minnie Mouse too!
More Churros!
A rarity with Peter, sharing his churro with Tom:)
If you look close there is a famous man to the left of the photo and then if you look even closer you can see Brian way in the back of the pic under the "We" letters. Our kids were on the same ride together....OMG!
Here's WOODY!
Jesse the "co-worker" as Peter calls her.
Here is the TV star from the TBS show "Glory Daze." Nice guy.
Peter loving his carousel ride!! He keeps telling me he wants to go back to CA and when I ask him why, he says "I want to go on more carousel rides!"
Joe on the ride too!

Mickey mouse again

Pic of Joe in the van as we left our hotel in Disneyland. We had so much fun there! The boys are looking forward to got the Disney World when they get a little bigger!

Friday January 28^th 2011

California Adventure Park

It was another beautiful and warm sunny day. This morning we woke up and ordered some pancakes for breakfast to get us going! They were very filling and a good choice to start the day. When we arrived, we rented a stroller right away…good choice. The first ride the boys went on, Peter was a hair to short to ride, so I waited with him. While we were waiting you will never guess who walked by us again…..Yes, that’s right….SEAL and who had the camera? BRIAN! I called him right away and told him that he was going on the same ride as them and he should wait at the exit for him. So Brian sat there and waited….until Seal came off the ride. Brian then attempted to take some pics with little success…most came out too blurry.

We wandered around the park seeing and exploring another giant tree house followed by some more yummy churros as a snack.

The boys were able to get their pictures taken with Mickey, Minnie, Woody, Jesse, and, of course, Pluto.

After lunch, Brian and I took turns on the super fast roller coaster. I can’t even tell you the last time I was on a roller coaster, let alone all by myself. I will tell you that there was a lot of screaming and wetting of the pants!

The boys enjoyed a carousel ride while Brian was talking it up with another star from the “Glory Daze” TBS show.

It was then off to see the Aladdin musical which was cute and funny and just a chance to sit and regroup.

More rides/pic with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Woody/Jesse, & Pluto/Aladdin musical/Bugs life ride-bumper car ride/worm ride-squirted with watermelon juice. Ice cream for treat before leaving for Palm Springs. As we were leaving the Hotel, I told the boys to say good-bye to Disneyland….Peter yells out “Bye-bye Disneyland….I’ll see you in a couple of weeks!!!”

Arrived in Rancho Mirage around 8pm. Ate dinner, the boys told Auntie Dee and Uncle Tom about their adventures.