Friday, July 13, 2007

Oh Yaaaah, You Betcha'

So, with the summer in full swing, and time getting shorter between activities and work, we seem to be experiencing a bit of a Blog Backlog, or a Blogjam as I like to call it. I still need to tell you about last weekend, and Emily turned 7 months old today. I am in a bit of a quandary as to what to do here. Do I skip last weekend and do it later so I can talk about Emily's seventh month, or push that off till later and talk about last weekend? I think it would be best to discuss last weekend and write a separate blog later on about Emily's seventh month and the good times from this weekend. With that decision being made, let's get started.



We left you on the 4th of July with us turning in early before the fireworks, here is what happened next . . . On Friday evening, Chista, Auntie Mandy, Emily and I all piled into the car and headed off to Minnesota. Our primary goal was to visit Emily's Great Grandpa Wodtke, as Saturday was his 81st birthday and he had not yet met his Great Granddaughter. We also wanted to visit again with Great Grandma Wyland and see Aunt Barbie, who had missed meeting Emily during girls weekend. We also wanted to see Aunt Kate & Uncle Ron, who have become some of Emily's biggest fans. So, off we went. We left Schaumburg at around 5:00 p.m. and kept on cruisin' for a couple hours before Emily needed a pit stop. After we all stretched our legs, Emily was ready to get moving again. We continued on until we got to Black River Falls Wisconson, which is our favorite place to stop on the way. While we were there, we said hello to the Moose and introduced him to Emily, checked on a letterbox we have there, and ate dinner at the Perkins. When we arrived at the stop, the parking lot was jammed full, which we didn't think was out of the ordinary, but the Perkins was out of a few food items, which was out of the ordinary. It wasn't until we were paying our check that we found out why the stop was so busy and the reason behind the missing soup & cookies. It seems that there had been an accident just north of the exit that had closed the expressway down for a while, we completely missed all of the traffic by stopping here for two hours. We did a little dance of joy for missing the traffic backup and got back on the road. We had smooth sailing all the way to Coon Rapids, which was our destination. We checked into the hotel at 1:15, got everything set up and turned in for the night.



Saturday dawned in Minnesota very early and very HOT. Emily was nice enough to let us all sleep until almost 7:00 a.m., what a great kid. We all got ready and met Emily downstairs for the continental breakfast. She had been trying to get somebody to make her a waffle before we got down there and put a stop to it. Once we all had some breakfast and Emily had her bottle, no waffles today, we headed off for a visit with Great Grandma Wyland. Grandma was very happy to see Emily again, and Emily was very happy to see Grandma. Grandma was so happy to see her, she didn't even notice the rest of us until we had been there for close to an hour. I am not sure how she thought Emily had gotten there, but she sure seemed surprised to see us sitting in her living room. After having some snacks and lemonade, it was time to say goodbye and head over to Great Grandpa Wodtke. Emily was very excited to meet him, as he completes her collection of grandparents, he is the only one she had not yet met (hey, that rhymes! I'm a poet and didn't know it! Hey! that rhymes too!)(SPLEEN SPLEEN SPLEEN!!!). Grandpa Wodtke was also very happy to see Emily and he seemed to notice us right away, but didn't seem to care that we were there (another rhyme!), he was all about Emily, something we are getting used to. We all shared a birthday cupcake with Grandpa (well not Emily, who tried mightily...HA! more rhyming!), took some pictures, told some stories, took some pictures, laughed at stuff Emily was doing, took some pictures (are you noticing a trend, this has got to end...AAAAHHHGGGHH, no more rhyming now, I mean it!!). After taking a few pictures, we said our goodbyes to Grandpa and went with Ron & Kate to meet their daughter, Laura, for a quick visit over lunch at Subway. With all the picture taking and great grandparent visiting and her long drive and short night catching up to her, Emily slept through her entire visit with Laura. It was so bad we had to show Laura a picture of Emily to prove that she had been awake. I am afraid that this visit was not very memorable for Emily, but Laura was happy to meet her, and coincidentally, see us. In fact, with Emily sleeping we actually got to be a major part of this visit. We said goodbye to Laura, Kate, and Ron and went off to the hotel pool to catch up on Emily's missed swimming lesson. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing at the hotel, watching movies and playing with Emily. (WOW! That is one long paragraph! It is like the neck on a Giraffe!!)



With Saturday behind us, we had two tasks left to complete, but first we needed something to eat (make it stop, make it STOP!!!!!) Auntie Mandy & I packed up the car, while Christa played with Emily. When the car was packed, we left to find a place to hide the letterbox we created for Coon Rapids (clues for "The Wet Bandit" are available on AQ & LBNA). We checked a couple of parks before finding a suitable spot, and then headed off to visit Aunt Barbie. It should be mentioned here that driving in Minnesota is at best confusing, and when you add construction to the mix, it is absolutely crazy!! We drove around FOREVER trying to get to Aunt Barbie's and after approximately twelve hours, we finally completed what should have been about a 30-45 minute drive. As a result of the Minnesota roads being kerfluey, we had a very short visit with Aunt Barbie before finally heading home. The drive home was mostly uneventful, but very long, as the drive home tends to be. Emily had a great time over the weekend and was very happy to have finally filled in the last spot on her Great Grandparent Card, something that was not very hard (now really, what has gotten into me?).



I will leave you here, hopefully in good cheer. Tune in again soon, unless you think me a buffoon. Maybe we will play the bassoon, perhaps under the full moon. We try to eat our lunch at noon, and always eat soup with a spoon. (Mental note, don't blog late at night, it could end up a fright.)


"Oh, Moooooose!"

On our way up to Minnesota, we stopped by to see an old friend, check on our letterbox, and have some dinner. The Moose seemed happy to see us.


"My Daddy is a little groggy from driving, could someone please bring me a sundae before he realizes what he just agreed to?"


While at Perkins, Emily finally figured out how to get her front end and back ends both up at the same time. We thought we were going to witness her first crawl. Steve is holding her here, because she was very reminiscent of Bambi on the ice with her new found altitude.




Our first stop in Minnesota was to see Emily's Great Grandma Wyland. She was very happy to see Emily again; oh yeah, she was happy to see us too.


Emily & Great Grandma Wyland

Emily & Great Grandpa Wodtke


This was a very prolonged gaze, as this was the first time either of them had seen each other.



Emily just stared at Great Grandpa Wodtke for a little bit, then she started to smile at him. She just needed a few moments to size him up; plus, she was really tired from the drive the previous day, so it took her a few minutes to warm up.




The whole gang!



Aunt Kate & Uncle Ron were very happy to get their hands on Emily again. They were sooooo excited to see her!




Uncle Ron was playing with Emily. She really liked Great Grandpa's puppy.




After our visit with Grandpa, it was off to get some lunch. Mommy & Auntie Mandy's cousin, Laura, works just down the street from where Grandpa is, so we met her at the local Subway for some Emily hugs and subs. Unfortunately for Laura, Emily had passed out from exhaustion on the quick drive between locations, so Laura only got to hug a sleeping baby.

After a busy day of family visits, Emily was very happy to go back to the hotel for a quick dip in the pool. She then wanted to have some rolling around time on the bed with her toys.



A very pensive gaze from such a little girl. She was probably wondering what Auntie Mandy was doing. Auntie Mandy is such a troublemaker.



The next morning, Emily was ready for her ride home to Illinois. She just wanted a few more minutes to play with "Bunny".

After getting dressed, Emily played with "Polar Bear" while Daddy & Auntie Mandy packed the car. This time they were both trying to figure out what Auntie Mandy could possibly be up to.


"Mommy, Auntie Mandy is soooo crazy. I wish I knew how to roll my eyes at her. Do you think that this face will work instead?"



On our way out of Minnesota, we stopped by White Bear Lake to visit with Aunt Barbie.

"Mommy, that trip was really fun, but I'm really tired. I'm going to take a little nap now."



We call this "The Polar Bear Fling."

Our latest film is a mere 15 seconds long, but it carries quite the punch.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sing, Sing, Sing, about the Polar Bear Fling.

Dah-Dee, Dah-Dee, Ding Ding

If he were a king
And you gave him a ring

Dah-Dee, Dah-Dee, Ding Ding
Dah-Dee, Dah-Dee, Ding

He could then grow a wing
And he could do his own thing

Dah-Dee, Dah-Dee, Ding Ping
Ling a Ling Ling


Aunt Susie & Crewsie

Anonymous said...

Anybody want a peanut?

Anonymous said...

Why is the moose orange?

And to borrow Aunt Kristi's joke, you may be a poet, and not know it, but your feet sure show it - they're Longfellows.

Steve, Christa, Emily, Meghan, Charles & Elizabeth said...

We don't know why the moose is orange, but we think that it may be because people have fed him too many carrots over the years.

I think you may be confused about the feet being Longfellows . . . Auntie Mandy did not write this blogentry, she was only with us.

Anonymous said...

There once was a Princess named Emily, growing up with an abundance of family.

With each blog update her Cousins, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Greats

Together concur that
this child is QUITE Extraordinay!!