Ohio Day 1

Wednesday late afternoon on June 2nd, 2010 we headed out on our second road trip journey with Linnea. We were driving to Cincinnati, OH for my friends wedding. Let me just say it was easier when we went to CO when she was 6 months old.

I'm not saying she isn't still a great traveler...she just now needs a portable dvd player with her. And she prefers to just sleep in her pack and play for a nap and most of the night.

The carseat sleeping...apparently she wasn't interested in that this trip.

Even after her bedtime books were read, her lullabies were in, it was dark, her pjs were on and she had a blanket and a bedtime snack of a cookie she wouldn't go to sleep. So we turned on the dvd player in hopes to get farther that first night. But no such luck...

We stayed in an Econo Lodge in Beloit, IA. As you can see above we had many miles to go! There are many different routes you can take but we chose one, thanks to many tips from friends, that avoided Chicago. So we had about a 13 hour trip. I think it took about 18 hours.

We found many rest stops for the squirt to run around at and we found some playgrounds too.

Langton Lake Letterbox before our trip!

Linnea and I got to do another letterbox lunchbreak with my dad!

We tried out a new baby storytime before it which was great and afterwards I worked on getting ready for Ohio! I am still not ready so I better get off the computer!

See you next Monday or Tuesday blog and blog readers! Be prepared for lots of pictures and stories from our trip to Ohio to attend my dear friend Julie's wedding. Julie and I volunteered in New Orleans together and have been in contact ever since! We have done three marathons together. One in New Orleans, one in my town and one in hers. We will miss our third musketeer (Meghann) who was in New Orleans with us, but she is a month away from having a baby so has to stay home in PA. Julie and I have also visited her in LA and Erie, PA. Julie and Meghann came to Chris and I's wedding ad now I get to go to Julie's and she gets to meet Linnea. Hooray!

We have also traveled back to New Orleans together too.

Can't wait to be together again!

So many visitors!

This weekend was full of fun and visitors! My aunt and uncle Brad and Sophie came to visit from Utah and brought their dog Lafh (Sp?, it's pronounced laugh but I know its not spelled like laugh)

We got to see them Sunday afternoon at my parents house (where they stayed, its also known as the Henjum Guesthouse) and Monday for dinner at the Woodbury Estates where my grandma lives.

Linnea loved the dog and of course Brad and Sophie too. But the girl has a total obsession with dogs so the fact that she got to sleepover and play so much with her just made her weekend. Lahf would bring her the ball and she would "throw" it for her. It was adorable. Linnea probably saw more of them than me!

Sometimes it's fun to just sit on a big chair.

My friends Alison (from CO) and Melissa (from FL) were also here visiting, but I didn't get any pics with them :(

I did get to sit 10 rows up from Justin Morneau at Friday's Twins Game though. I worked at it and then went and sat with Al and her dad. BEST SEATS EVER!!! Thanks guys! It was wonderful to catch up!

Melissa and I and our friend Becky and Linnea walked around Como Lake on Monday morning which was lovely as well!

My friend Jamie is also visiting and we may see her tomorrow before we go on our trip.

We were going to go to her cabin on Monday but with Linnea's sinus infection and all I had to do to get ready for Ohio I thought we better stay back. We will see Jamie in September for sure when she gets married at her cabin!

Stillwater Half Marathon

After 12 weeks of somewhat strenuous training the big day arrived! I ran and finished the Stillwater Half Marathon. I didn't get the time I wanted, but considering the heat and the hills I am very happy with it! It took me just over 2 hrs and I was shooting for just under 2 hrs but like I said I'm happy with it. Chris didn't get to run it due to some tendon injuries so that was too bad but he did find a coworker to run in his place. He is tall one in the back! Chuck, myself and my good friend Mikey from college are the others. This was before the race and unfortunately I don't have any from after since we didn't find each other :(. My dad has some though so I will get them up as soon as I get them!

We had to take a bus to the start. The start was at 7 which was soo much earlier than Im usually functioning but thank God it was at 7 or it would have just been hotter.

Here we are on the bus.

And here we are at the start! All together which only lasted for the first mile. Oh well, we knew we are all going through the same stuff. We did find Chuck at the end so we used our free beer ticket together and also found our free Quiznos subs. These two things and the fun pasta feed dinner we did the night before made the 13.1 miles all worth it.

This video is our dear sleepy Linnea. She and we had a busy day. After she crossed the finish line in my arms and spent some time in Stillwater she went back to my parents house with them and took a lil catnap in the car. Chris and I also went to my parents house for a BBQ since it was Memorial Day Weekend and my aunt and uncle were visiting from Utah. I sadly don't have any pics from this fun picnic, but I do have this video showing how exhausted Linnea was. This was at 6:30pm about 4 blocks from home. She was asleep in her crib by 6:45 and slept til 8am!

A Saturday Morning Walk

Saturday morning Linnea and I went on a lovely walk around Como Lake. Near the end she insisted on getting out and walking around which I thought was just fine! The more practice walking the better, plus we werent really in a hurry. Im so glad she wanted to get out and walk where she did because it gave me some great photo ops! Look an enjoy our sweet little girl.

She was very sad I wouldn't let her go in this lake water. Sorry Linnea it was practically a dropoff right away. We will go back to Lake Johanna to go wading. I promise.

This train cheered her up though! I know...she doesn't look very cheery, but that's because the poor babe had a sinus infection. We learned that on Sunday when we took her in to urgent care after the runny nose and low grade temp wouldn't go away. And her eyes just didnt look like herself. She was a trooper though and slept over at grandma and grandpa's and watched me run the Stillwater half marathon.

I had brought her in on Monday and the dr told me it was just teething. So maybe it was teething and the beginning of the sinus infection, but either way she is much better now that she has been on amoxicillan. Thank goodness since we leave tomorrow for our road trip to Ohio and it's just nice to have happy Linnea back.

Chutes and Ladders

Last Friday we met two of my high school friends and their kids out in West Bloomington at Chutes and Ladders to play, have a picnic and catch up.

It was a hot but super fun day!

Linnea made it down the slide a few times andthought that was okay...

But really loved getting wet in the misting area! She has never gotten so excited about being sprayed or doing anything in the water so that was great! What a fun way to start Memorial Day Weekend. I wish I would've gotten a picture with the all the kids! There were 4 of them! Next time!

Our Garden!

A few weekends ago we finally got around to planting our garden with my parents help and it looked like this...

Green beans are above and also some flowers and plants.

Above will be a variety of cucumbers, tomatoes, snap peas and broccoli and a huge hollyhock there in the back!

And above we have a variety of peppers, zucchini and maybe cauliflower and carrots.

And here are little Linnea's clothes hanging out to dry! We are going to try and hang out our clothes as much as possible this year!

And Linnea can swing while we do it. Or play with clothespins...which I'm sure will lead to a finger pinch or other body part pinch one of these times.

Stay tuned for all the growth already in our garden! We have many sprouts already but I havent taken any pics quite yet. We are so excited to have fresh homegrown veggies again! And I'm curious how the flower gardens will look too. We planted a few new ones this year.