When Mom's Away.....

Giving Dora a big hug at the Mall of America.  John took all three boys to the MOA for a few hours after dropping me off at the airport (they are only a few miles apart).  Neither John nor I are "Mall people" and neither of us do much shopping.  Just to provide an example of this, when John was telling the boys about what fun things they were going to do at the Mall after dropping me off, Liam asked "Dad, what's a Mall?"

Legoland!!

Liam on the rings at gymnastics

Luke doing a ride at the Mall of America

Luke on the rope swing at gymnastics. 

 

When Mom's away, the boys will play....that's what Luke, Liam, AJ, and John did over the weekend.  As a big surprise for our 10th anniversary, John gave me a ticket to fly to Arkansas for an extended weekend.  I have not been back to Arkansas since last Christmas and I have not been on a trip by myself in nearly 5 years!  This was also John's first time to keep all three boys for an extended period of time without me around to help at all.  We split up a few years ago and I took Aiden back to Arkansas while John stayed in MN with Luke and Liam; however, my most recent trip was completely ALONE!  Big bonus points for John on that one.  I had a very nice time visiting with family, eating out, relaxing, running, and sleeping.  On the home front, the boys played and had a great time with Daddy.  The highlights of their days together included a trip to the Mall of America, open gymnastics playtime, swimming, church, play dates with friends, and lots of pizza!  I am pretty sure they had a great time and didn't miss me too much so I am already thinking about my next getaway. 

 

In addition, I have a few random pictures from this week (see below).  Aiden loves to put on his cape and his backpack.  He usually likes to say he is "going to work" or "going to school."  On this particular morning, he added the spiderman mask.  He often uses the Captain America as well.

 

Spiderman with his backpack

 

 We frequently say that we wish Aiden had a little more personality because it is so far from the truth! 

 

Luke was so excited about finishing his "continent project" at school.  If you read the blog regularly then you might remember Liam's continent project a few months ago.  Great job, Luke!