Wonderful - But Busy - Weekends

Since returning from our trip up north, our family has had a series of super busy weekends, many including traveling long distances. We are so lucky that Jackson is an excellent traveler and a good car sleeper! He loves to keep himself entertained by playing with toys, talking to himself, or simply looking out the window until he falls asleep.

Ready to go for a ride in Daddy's truck

Jackson and I spent the weekend of Sept. 20th hanging out with Auntie Brea and Uncle Andrew at their new place in Hudson. They recently moved into a town home there and are really enjoying it. The ladies of my mom's side of the family joined us for a day of eating and shopping - one of my favorite ways to spend a day :) - and then Grandma Paula spent the night so she could have more time with her grandson. We had fun watching him trying to crawl and chasing Andrew's remote-control car. That's right, folks: I said Andrew's remote-control car. He claims that it was a long-ago gift from his dad, but by the way he was workin' that thing, I'm guessing he's played with it more than he'd like to admit. ;0 Jackson was completely mesmerized; you could almost see the little wheels in his brain moving.

I get so close and then it zooms away again! Dang it!

Grandma and Jackson like to play Pat-a-Cake

We stayed home the following weekend, just enjoying being together and catching up on things around the house. It seemed like forever since we'd had a chance to do that! Time during the week just has a way of getting away from you... Then came the first of two college friend weddings: Maria and Andrew, married in her hometown of Ironwood, MI. Curt had been there before but this gave me a chance to cross another state off my list. We were able to re-connect with Chee Lee, another college friend we hadn't seen in two years, and others whom we had last seen in August at our camping weekend. We stayed at Cody's in Superior the first night and then stayed in MI after the wedding, stopping to eat breakfast and again to feed Jackson on our way home. He slept during the long stretches and was able to be out of the car for those breaks, so it was no problem. Our friends had fun seeing him at the wedding and they were all super helpful, which gave us a wonderful opportunity to relax and have some grown-up fun for a change!

Chillin' in our room at the lodge

Last weekend was a trip to the cabin as well as wedding #2: Jim and Aimee, in Duluth. We went to the cabin Friday night for the pre-opener hunting weekend, so we did lots of running! We had a really fun weekend and most of Curt's siblings were there, in addition to his parents. (No deer for the boys, in case you were wondering. Fine by me!) Auntie Sheila, Uncle John, and cousin Madelyn came down from Duluth on Saturday morning. The babies had fun playing together and watching Sadie run around outside. It's always so great to see Sheila and her family; we don't see them as often as we'd like since we live so far apart, but we have a lot in common and it's neat to get the kids together and to watch Maddie to see what our son will be up to in the coming months. And she's pregnant with baby number 2, so we are thrilled for them and happy to see our family growing!
We drove to the wedding reception Saturday afternoon and met up with some of the same friends we'd seen at Maria's wedding, as well as more friends from college who we'd last seen in August (and the previous August before that). We had another fun adult night while Grandpa, Sheila, and John watched Jackson for us back at the cabin. I guess his night wasn't as much fun as ours, but he was happy again by Sunday when Mom and Dad were back with him. :)

Yesterday Andrew and Brea came up to hang out and spend the night. I wish we could see them more often, too. I always have such an awesome time with my sister no matter what we're doing. We talk about everything and laugh our butts off at the stupidest things! And Andrew's not so bad either. Especially after he took apart, dusted, and cleaned up my hard drive all day yesterday! It's working much better and I'm excited. THANK YOU, ANDREW!!! :)

Cuddling with Auntie Brea. She's lucky - he rarely does this anymore!



Another reason I love Andrew so much - he's great with our son :)

We have had lots of fun this past month, but we've been so busy that I'm really looking forward to the coming weekend at home! We'll see if it works out that way...