Weekend Update

Our extended weekend seeing family and friends was a successful and enjoyable one. We started out on Thursday night around 4:30 when we picked up Brian from work. Then we started the journey on our way to Dubuque. It took us about 6 hours to get from here to there, including one stop for food. Anna was a trooper. She slept the first three hours, woke up to eat, "talked" from the backseat for another hour, and then was upset about the final hour. She didn't want to be in her seat any longer and she was tired. We got to Dubuque about 10:30 and were thrilled to get out and stretch. Anna was very happy and cheerful and glad to see her Great Grandma. Friday morning we got up and enjoyed some time with Gram and Anna met more family.
Here she is with Aunt Lisa and Cousin Abby.

Abby and Anna have the same birthday!
Anna and cousin Maggie

We spent most of the day on Friday at Gram's house and the few times that Anna was cranky, Uncle Ralph worked his magic and suddenly she was fast asleep!

Anna listening intently to Aunt Jane.

Anna and Anne.

While we were there Anna also met Uncle Tom, Cousin Stacy and her fiance Irving. It was a lot of fun! Saturday we headed out to go meet up with more friends.

Anna and Daddy ready to travel some more!

Anna's all smiles...we haven't told her yet that she gets to sit more in her car seat!

Saturday we met up with our friends Chris and Kelly and their two boys Keaton and Kenton. Keaton is 2 and Kenton was born just weeks after Anna. It was really fun to see them as it had been almost 2 years since our last visit! We met up at Chuck E. Cheese...seemed appropriate for the kids :) We enjoyed pizza and their company...a picture should be coming of the group...I forgot to bring in my camera!

After Chuck E. Cheese we went to Waverly to stay with Lindsay and Andy. It was fabulous. They have a cute new little house that was very welcoming! We all went out for Mexican and then came back and put Anna to bed. The four of us stayed up reminiscing and playing RockBand. There may have also been a late night run to Hy-Vee for cookies and fluff...taking us back to our college days at Wartburg!

Sunday we went to church with them and also ran into two of my professors from Wartburg and caught up with them. Their kids were there and had grown so much! It's been 4 years now since my college graduation! It was fun to hear about where other people are now and visit with them. We went out for lunch at Sub City and then took a stroll around campus before packing up once again and heading north.

We got home around 8:00 and although we had a wonderful time and loved every minute of our trip, it was a relief to be back home and start unpacking. This picture kind of sums up the weekend...

Anna was wiped out!

This is the last week of summer for me, then it's back to school next Tuesday. I'm definitely going to enjoy every minute of this week! We already started off well, spending the afternoon with Amy and Jessica from work, doing a little shopping at Amy's house, and enjoying each other's company. Friday we are having a garage sale with Anne at her house, so hopefully we can get rid of some of our junk :) Other than that, should be a quiet week with lots of relaxation time :)

The kitties enjoyed being home without us...probably spent most of the weekend like this: