Pt. 4 - Lincoln, NE

Sorry for the delay, but in case you were wondering... the last part of our road trip was Lincoln, NE. Our primary reason for going was for Paul Velander's wedding. He is a good friend of Jack's from high school. The wedding was beautiful (although hot), and the people friendly. We also had fun at the tractor museum (I think this was Nolan's favorite part of the whole trip! See pic.), Antelope Park/Playground, throwing rocks/fishing in the Velander's lake, and playing in the hotel pool. There wasn't a whole lot going on in Nebraska, but it was a fun time!

Part 3: Minnesota

Why on earth would you go to Minnesota you ask? Well, it certainly wasn’t for the mosquitoes, although there were plenty. The primary reason was to visit our dear friends Ben and Laura who moved there last summer, and to see some family on my mom’s side that we don’t get to see very much. We had a great time! Here are some highlights:

4^th of July – Nolan got to play in one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes – which he LOVED! And we got to see fireworks – which I always LOVE! The only downside was that Nolan apparently ate a little too much watermelon which he projectile vomited all over my face… and then all over Ben’s. Gross.

This is Jack and Nolan playing by the lake. The water felt really good after a long day in the car!

This is Nolan playing with some glow sticks while we waited for fireworks to start:

It gets dark really late in MN... fireworks didn't start until like 10:00, which was 11:00 Eastern time. Nolan tried is best but just couldn't make it the whole time. Meanwhile Laura and I had a great time hanging out and catching up!

Family – We got to visit my Aunt Marie. I haven’t seen her in forever, but it was good to visit and catch up. We missed out on seeing some other family, but my mom got to see them so the trip wasn’t a total waste.

Baseball – Tuesday we went to a MN Twins baseball game – Nolan’s first game! He really did a great job considering baseball games are so long. I think his favorite part was all of the clapping and cheering. He was quite the little flirt with the people behind us. Whenever they would cheer I think he thought they were cheering for him. He also loved the cheese curds they serve there (which I’m willing to bet they don’t have at all baseball stadiums). It was really fun!

Mall of America – You can’t go to MN without going to the Mall of America. Well, maybe you can, but since I’d never been I wanted to check it out. Obviously the boys could care less about the shopping, so the highlight was definitely the rides. Nolan got to do his first “roller coaster” rides! He definitely had a BLAST! It was really fun to watch.

At the Lego Store... Nolan got to meet one of his favorite characters - Woody from Toy Story! (the Lego version of course):

Nolan playing with some Lego's:

(another engineer in our midst?)

Jack and Nolan on one of the rides:

Our friend Ben on a ride w/ Nolan (who is clearly having a BLAST):

The "horsey" ride - w/ our friend Laura:

Part 2: Chicago, IL

It took us 13 hours, but once we got to Chicago we had a great time! We got to see Logan and Antonio who showed us around the city. Some highlights include: eating brunch at Anne Sather’s (best cinnamon rolls EVER), walking around town and the playground, visiting the zoo, eating traditional Chicago Pizza, and more… wish we had more time to spend there!

It's hard to see it in the pic, but Nolan has icing all over his face. Even he knows the glory of Anne Sather's delicious cinnamon rolls!

This is Nolan looking at some animals at the zoo. Good thing his head is so big or he would have gotten it stuck:

Quick group shot near a fountain somewhere in Chicago:

Road Trip!

For our summer trip this year we decided to travel across the country – first to Chicago, then Minnesota, then Nebraska, and back home. My biggest concern going into the trip was traveling with a toddler and a hugely pregnant momma (me). But I am relieved to say that Nolan did AWESOME and I was able to control my bladder to a reasonable amount of bathroom stops. All in all, we had a great time! I will be posting some highlights from our trip (but it may take a couple of posts worth, so be patient!)

Pt. 1: Driving (and driving, and driving some more…)

Here is us packed and ready to go... -->

Throughout the 10 days of our trip we spend about 48 hours in the car. Yikes!

Nolan usually does ok in the car, but he is so active that he gets restless after a certain amount of time. This could pose an obvious problem when you’re traveling for a bazillion hours. Thankfully though we were able to plan accordingly (thanks to much advice from friends!) and we all survived! Here is a glimpse of his time in the car:

We left around noon which is the time Nolan usually takes a nap. He was bathed and fed so he fell asleep pretty quickly in the car, and slept for 3 hours!

After "nap time" we stopped for gas, bathroom, and to stretch our legs. Afterwards Nolan was perfectly content to eat his popcorn and watch Toy Story on our portable DVD player (best. invention. ever.)

By the time we stopped again it was time for dinner. We ate and stuffed Nolan full of french fries (a reward for being so good). Then he played some in the car - with an empty cup no less. I couldn't care less what he was playing with, as long as he was happy!

And for the final lef of the trip, it was bed time! While we drove through the dreadful state of Illinois (tons of tolls and terrible roads!), Nolan slept. We finally arrived at our destination about 1am Central Time.

The rest of the traveling days followed in a similar manner, although this was the longest day of driving. The others were 7, 7, 12, and 9 respectively.

More to come soon...

Swimming!

A few weekends ago, Jack, Nolan and I took an impromptu trip to VA Beach to visit some friends. We were only there for about 24 hours, and wouldn't you know it, as soon as we started to get ready for the beach is started storming. I was excited to see what Nolan would do at the beach. Last summer when we went he just sat there and tried to eat fist-fuls of sand. yuck! I think he's old enough now to actually play in the sand and in the water. So hopefully sometime soon we'll get to go back.

Since we didn't get to go to the beach, we went in the pool instead. Jack and Nolan didn't seem to care that it was raining since they were going to get wet anyway. I wasn't sure how Nolan would do. Last summer we went to the pool a lot, and he loved it, but he was either in the baby pool or in an inner tube thing (neither of which we had available this time). But I'm proud to say that he was not scared of the water at all! He jumped right on in there! He enjoyed swimming around (with the help of Daddy and a life jacket) and jumping off the edge of the pool. He even jumped off the diving board (into Jack's arms)! I was impressed, but I should have known he would have no fear. Now I need to watch him VERY carefully if we are ever near water since I know he has no problems jumping right in.

Here are a few pics of Jack and Nolan in the pool... I didn't get a whole lot because it was raining and the water was making the camera lense blurry. But you can tell in just 2 shots that they seemed to be having a great time!

Hot Days

This week it has been uncomfortably hot. That hasn't stopped Nolan though. All he wants to do is play outside. He doesn't seem to care that within 5 minutes his cheeks are bright red and his hair is soaked with sweat. The first thing he does when he gets up and the last thing he does before bed is stand at the door begging to go outside. He just can't get enough. Yesterday I decided if we were going to be outside we might as well get cool. So I pulled out the baby pool and filled it up with nice cold hose water (previously this pool was solely for Boomer, but I figured they could share now). Boomer jumped right in. Nolan was a little tentative at first, but once he adjusted to the temparature, he went nuts. They both had a ball! Boomer splashed and Nolan laughed. It was fun to watch them. I get the feeling that was only the first of many times the pool will be in use this year!

Here are a few pics:

This is Nolan getting use to the water (clearly loving it though):

Eventually we put the slide so that it would go right into the pool...

... Best. Idea. Ever!

The look on Nolan's face is that of sheer joy:

The Big Move

Well, we have officially moved! This past weekend we packed up all of our belongings and moved them to either storage or to the apartment where we will be staying for the next little while. We are both happy and sad about this transition... Happy because we will have the opportunity to save some money, and because we will have free reign of the farm for Nolan and Boomer to run around (which they both LOVE). It's ironic because when I was growing up, all I wanted to do was live in "town" in a neighborhood like everyone else. Now that I have that, all I want is to move back to the country. So I think it will be a good thing to move, but we are sad to leave behind so many good memories. After all, this was the first place we lived together as a married couple, our first home to fix up and decorate, the first home Boomer knew, the home we took Nolan home from the hospital to - and the only home he's ever known.

Anyway, we are moved, and settling in to the apartment. I think Nolan and Boomer are having to make the biggest adjustments to the move. Boomer has pretty much given up sleeping with us. He prefers to stay in the house now so that he doesn't miss anything exciting - like going for walks or tractor rides. Plus, everytime he has been there before that is where he's stayed, so that's what he's use to. Nolan is also getting use to his new surroundings. Bed time has been a struggle only because he would much rather be playing outside than going to bed. It doesn't help that one of the windows in his room is missing a shade so it isn't as dark in there. This is particularly problematic in the mornings when the sun comes shining through and wakes him up at 5:45. Today he slept until 6:15 so I hope we are making some progress. I'm going to stop on my way home and pick up some room darkening shades for his room. Hopefully that will help!

To wrap this up, here is a picture from the last week or so (taken at the old house):

I thought it was funny because of all the camo Nolan was wearing. Boy does he love those boots! I couldn't help thinking to myself "This boy needs to get out to the country ASAP!" Now he can wear his camo boots and fit right in!