Our travels/ playing catch-up

Well I have never been much good at coming BACK from a trip I must confess... and you can probably tell from the length between this and my last post, haha!

The MN trip was wonderful! Tuesday morning we left for Orlando. We flew with Delta, and had a great experience! The kiddo had a bottle during take-off and slept through the landing (otherwise he was up and playing or napping for short periods).

We went straight to ACE for our car rental. We had reserved an economy car but the lady, upon seeing the amount of luggage we had, said there is no way it would all fit. Now, it wasn't a huge worry for us because other than two long drives we wouldn't be in the car with them for long... but anyhoo, we said we'd make it work because that's all we could afford. We took the shuttle to the car and found ourselves standing in front of an SUV. I looked left and right, slowly edged closer to it and then said "I don't think this is right." Haha, turns out they upgraded us free of charge! What a wonderful surprise-- it made the whole trip more enjoyable and otherwise they were so great to deal with. I highly recommend using ACE next time you need a vehicle! :)

That day we saw a college friend, her boyfriend and mother, as well as Andrew's godparents/ aunt and uncle. After the three hour drive north, we ended up at my aunt's place in the country- a 280 acre expanse that everyone calls "the farm". We had a great time catching up!

The next three days involved running to and from Duluth. 

We went on the scenic railroad,

had a picnic by the liftbridge,

visited my old job (an awesome toyshop called J. Skylark),

visited Betty's Pies (where the hubby and I had our first date),

did some dance rehearsals

and spent a lot of time with our besties, Nicole and John :)

Saturday was a day to relax at Jan's with my side of the family. My cousins have a kid about a year older than Andrew so it was a lot of fun seeing them interact, and great seeing everyone/ feeling at home with everyone. Growing up, the place was my grandmother's. She had all the get-togethers, planned the holidays, and really made everything feel right and normal. She passed away a few years ago and the effect was almost immediate. The family get-togethers became more and more rare, but everyone lives far away and now with us kids getting married and tarting families/ the aunts and uncles getting older, it's getting harder in general. So long story short, it was great to feel back-to-normal with the family even if just for a day <3

Sunday we traveled down to see Jesse's family. We had Andrew baptised at the church Jesse grew up in and it was a beautiful day/ experience.

The 112 year-old baptismal gown that my great-grandmother and I both wore

His parents had a pot-luck after so everyone could meet Andrew, and that was a lot of fun as well, it had been too long!

Monday and Tuesday we spent time with Jesse's parents, visited Andrew's great grandfather (his only great-grandparent),

saw some friends, and had a dinner with his parents/my mother/my aunt/ my godparents, so that was a lot of fun as well!

Wednesday morning we left for the cities and took off for home. Again the munchkin ate through take-off and slept through landing (he slept about 1.5 of the 3 hour flight).

The drive home felt so long but it was great to get back to our beds!

It has been over a week since getting home and I am the tiniest bit ashamed not everything is unpacked. Our bedroom is somewhat of a disaster and I have not been motivated at all to keep up with my cleaning schedule. I am not good at this ending travel thing.

In other news, Andrew amazes us every day. He handled spinach like a champ, is finally liking to drink water throughout the day, has started imitating our "kissy" faces, and actions (today I lifted up a flap in a book with my pointer finger and then dropped it and he copied me exactly), or bending down with such a serious look on his face, extending a finger and making his new train wheels go round and round. That kid is gonna be way too clever for his own good (and probably a lot of trouble for us haha!)

The 25th was my GOLDEN birthday! We had a nice day relaxing, going to church,

watching movies, eating some yummy food and my favorite ice-cream cake. Also "Andrew" (AKA daddy) got me this adorable card...

doesn't it just melt your heart?? <3

The 28th was our two year anniversary! We swam, picnicked, relaxed, tried a new recipe, went dancing, watched the video of our wedding for the first time ever(!!!!), slow danced while we watched our first dance as husband and wife, and drank a lot of moscato wine.

It has been quite a full month for us!!!!

Next month *should* slow down a bit. We have plans for some dinner dates, some dance classes, a day at the zoo, a playdate event for Andrew and hopefully some beach time!

Well that's all for now, eight-month blog to come soon! OH! And P.S.:

Andrew starting to learn to crawl!!!

And P.P.S.:

And was happy about it!!!

Andrew experienced Lake Superior!!!

<3

TTFN!! <3