Ohio Vacation: Homecoming

We left for home after the reunion, so about 4ish Sunday night.  We made it all the way to the west side of Indianapolis.  We actually ended up staying at a Hampton Inn & Suites and the room was the best on the trip - and the cheapest!  Thanks to John's dad we got to use his military discount on all of our hotels on the trip and the savings were much welcomed.

We left the hotel on Monday morning around 8:30am after the best continental breakfast yet.  I thought that all of our breakfasts were great, all offering quite the spread.  I had never seen scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes at a hotel breakfast before and all three of our hotels had some sort of combination.  Another 600-700 some miles and several pit stops we finally arrived home.  Megan did a much better job of getting back into the carseat after stops during the drive home.  She must have been anxious to get back too as she jumped right into the van!  Megan was a little antsy in her seat but sitting that long was hard for everyone.  Even Mickey and Finding Nemo didn't do much for holding her attention.

I don't know why I was so surprised, but as soon as we reached our house and let Megan out of the car, she ran right to the front door and grabbed her sidewalk chalk and then water bucket and ran to the air conditioner.  It was almost like we never left!  And when we went inside Megan ran right to the remote control!

We returned to a torn up driveway and sidewalk.  Our driveway was one of the lucky ones chosen to be replaced this year!  We were a little frustrated that we received zero communication about when the events would take place.  Our awesome neighbor Laura actually ended up sending me a Facebook message saying that our driveway was getting replaced starting Monday and once the cement was poured we wouldn't be able to drive on it for 10 days!  Because we didn't know exactly when the concrete would be poured, we walked her through opening our garage door and backing the Prius onto the grass.  Today the concrete driveway was poured and the sidewalk should get poured within the next few days.

Our Hillbilly Family...

I mentioned that we took an old time photo of our group while in the Wisconsin Dells.  Don't laugh too hard, but here it is!  Megan really had a grand time "churning" butter and she must have been hungry because she tried to eat the fake strawberries in my basket after the photoshoot was over. 

Ohio Vacation: Day Four

Today was the day of the Kauffman family reunion - the main reason we made the trek east to Ohio - and it was held at the Ohio Caverns.  I've been slowly learning a little about Valerie's family but will not claim to be an expert by any means.  Valerie's father was Nelson whose dad was Alfred.  The reunion is for Alfred's family and all his sisters and brother's families.  All in all, there are not a lot of true Kauffman's around since Alfred only had two sons, Nelson, (who had daughters) and Vance, who had just one son.  It was neat to see how they had everything organized with separate books for each of the original Kauffman siblings.  Megan just got added to the book today and her and Alexa are of the 5th generation.  Valerie spent a great deal of time talking with other relatives and finding out more family history.  She was shocked to find out that the Kauffman's really came from Switzerland contrary to the original German belief.  They were Amish and then became Mennonites.

While Valerie soaked in all of this wealth of family history, John, his dad, Megan and I toured the caverns. Megan's naptime was really an hour prior so she was pretty cranky during the tour and fell asleep in my arms about two thirds of the way through. Sleeping babies are heavy!! Despite that, we really enjoyed the caverns. We had toured many caves growing up but I thought this one was especially fascinating. I couldn't believe all of the stalagtites hanging from the ceilings. They even introduced us to what's called the "soda straw" which is like a column but hollow in the inside where water flows through.  Here are some of my favorite cave photos.  I just realized that they all start to look the same after a while but they are still unique in their own special way.

Above the actual caverns was the picnic area where the gathering was.  I fell in love with this pile of rocks with the most gorgeous marigolds and red geraniums I had ever seen so I had to get a few photos of them.

At the end of the cavern tour, John found Megan a "pet" caterpillar.  I think she liked it.  I'm glad that this was Megan's "pet" instead of the bat that we found as we were climbing the staircase to exit the cavern!

And one more thing I need to add before I forget... I have now officially been in a Kroger grocery store and an HHGregg electronics/appliances store. 

Ohio Vacation: Day Three

Well, we made it through the third day of vacation and the weather here couldn't be nicer.  It is warm but it hasn't rained and it's not too windy.  The one part of being away from home and being out and about like this is that Megan's nap and bedtime routines are completely thrown out the window.  It has made it very hard on Mommy because Megan is so whiny and clingy all day long and it is next to impossible to get her to bed at night.  We gave her a queen bed to sleep in by herself and she does fine once she gets to sleep, that is.  I tried and tried to get her to sleep last night but Daddy had to come to the rescue and lay with her and eventually she fell asleep.  We slept in until 8 then so Megan did get a pretty good night's sleep.

The main thing we did on day three was visit the Piatt Castles. They were built late 1860's by the Piatt family and the houses were decorated so we could see how they would have lived back then.  This first castle was the original one.  The decoractions were very gamey as you can tell by the chair with all the horns, reminiscent of the Teddy Roosevelt era.

This second castle belonged to one of the Piatt sons.  It is the most decorative outside and was very large inside.  You could tell this one was built later because of the number of bathrooms inside the castle. 

All of the wood floors were gorgeous and this castle had its fair share of gamey decorations as well.

After the castles, we went to visit Valerie's uncle Vance and aunt Ginger at their home in Urbana.  We had a nice visit with them and it was great that they could meet Megan.  Then we headed back to the hotel where we finally got a chance to get Megan in the pool.  I think she loved it and did a great job kicking and splashing. 

Ohio Vacation: Days One and Two

It wasn't until just recently that we decided we would have a family vacation this summer after all.  We really wanted to go somewhere and when the invitation for the Kauffman family reunion came in the mail we knew exactly what our vacation would be.  It scheduled for the last weekend in August at the Ohio Caverns.   As we bought snacks and I thought of things to bring I put them in a growing pile by our front door.  Megan loved hauling around the juice boxes and fruit cups - I guess she approved of what was on our list of things to bring.  When I got out the suitcases (the biggest one for John and me; the littlest one for Megan) she was right there helping me pack.  Megan's version of packing was just hopping into the suitcase and trying to close the cover herself which in turn caused her fall backwards every time!  Then she put in her pack of diapers and a couple fruit cups and got in to try it again.  She was ready to go!

John worked his usual late shift on Wednesday night so I did most of the packing after putting Megan to bed.  We went to bed around 11:30pm but had the alarms set for 3:00am - (John's normal wake-up time for a Monday morning).  We were able to get out of our place around 4:40 where we drove to John's parents and packed up their van.  We left Minnetonka close to 5:30 but were still able to miss most of the morning traffic. 

This was going to be a long driving day but we had many stops along the way which helped pass time.  A stop at Humbird's for cheese, a stop in Wisconsin Dells for fudge and an old time photo, and stops for gas and bathroom breaks and picnic lunches. 

Megan passed a lot of time creating "masterpieces" for Grandma Lewis.  This tray worked great for holding her crayons!

When Megan got bored with her crayons, she helped me solve some of the toughest Sudoku puzzles.  We must have a baby genius on our hands!

We ended up driving all the way to Greenville, Ohio that first day and I think we pulled in around 9 or 10pm.  We ordered a crib for Megan but her and I ended up sharing a queen bed.  We wanted to make it to Greenville because we planned on touring the one and only KitchenAid stand mixer factory the next day at 10am.  Just John and I went on the tour since Megan wasn't old enough (had to be 12) and Grandma and Grandpa had already taken the tour a couple years ago.  The factory was fantastic and we got to see how the parts got painted in all of the fun and bright colors, how all the parts got put together and the wire wips were put together, where defected products were refurbished and where all of the European models were assembled.  Here is a special stand mixer that was made after 9-11 and given to about 100 firehouses that were involved in the rescue efforts

After our tour was over we met back up with the rest of our crew and headed to downtown Greenville.  The city had this nice little fountain inside a roundabout which made for a great photo op.  Of course Megan just wanted to play in the water stream.

In Greenville there also was a KitchenAid store.  In the basement was some refurbished products, a small museum and a little play kitchen.  Megan ran right up to the kitchen and started cooking!
 

What did we do the rest of the day?  Stopped in Piqua, Ohio to see a house that Valerie lived in until about 2nd or 3rd grade.

Visited Valerie's cousin Rick's thrift/antique store and then visited Rick's wife at home to feed their horses.  Megan loves animals and the horse is Grandma's favorite!

We even found a state park to have a picnic lunch and get another photo with Grandma and Grandpa!

We ended the day with a visit to the cemetary where Valerie's parents were buried along with her father's parents.  What a beautiful cemetary and definitely one of the biggest ones I've ever seen.

Too Cute Tuesday

I love these new pictures of Megan.  My mom and I took these last week in their back yard and park.  Megan literally does go around smelling all the flowers she sees, saying "Mmmmm" after each one.

 

 

A Good Husker

Megan earned her dinner tonight for sure.  I was inside my parents' house when my mom came in and told me that Megan was shucking a cob of corn.  Layer by layer she peeled away and kept a good attention span until the very end.  With just a few layers left, Grandpa jumped in and helped Megan finish it off.  Megan must have been really hungry because she started to eat the corn right then and there!

Megan at 17 Months

Can you believe it?  Another month just flew by.  I looked at Megan last week and had to ask myself when did she get so tall?  For some time I had always measured her to a certain point against my body but just lately it seems she shot up.  We'll have to wait until next month to see how much she actually grew.  Megan still seems to have pretty short legs (big surprise, huh?) with a longer torso and a little plump belly.  Some of Megan's 18 month clothes are getting a little small so we are starting to incorporate some 24 month outfits into her wardrobe. 

Hands down, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is still Megan's favorite TV program and we're starting a collection of episodes on the DVR - right now we're in the upper-30's.  We still get the same excited squeals when we turn Mickey on whether it be in the morning or in the evening.  And she loves calling for Toodles!  Speaking of squealing, that is the reaction we guess the right answer to what she wants.  I guess it's her way of saying "yes" and is a cross between a giggle, a squeal and the sound that Goofy makes...

Megan's climbing is really taking off.  Not only is she very good at the parks' play equipment, but she is turning everything in the house into a jungle gym.  She climbs onto the toilet, into her high chair, onto the stool at the counter and is really trying hard to climb into her crib - if only she could get her leg over the rail!

We are very proud of Megan and her eating habbits.  Not only is she doing a much better job with her utensils and cups, but she is getting more adventurous with her tastes.  We are happy that Megan has eaten several pieces of chicken at a few meals within the last few weeks! 

Megan is very good at blowing bubbles now.  After a couple months of practice, she has finally gotten the coordination of dipping the wand in the solution, pulling it out and holding it up to her mouth to blow.  She still ends up eating a little bubbles but is very good overall.  While outside, Megan still loves playing with water and her watering cans.  Coordination is increasing and she is able to water plants for us now!

Something that is pretty annoying to us is how Megan will drop things to get our attention or come back into the room.  Lately, I have not been strapping her suckey onto her at bedtime and Megan will take her suckey, throw it onto the floor and then start bawling.  It is kind of funny, however, when she gets upset and throws her suckey across the room! 

Megan is starting to have an interest in coloring.  At least, I think she is but mostly I think she just likes "collecting" and holding onto the colored pencils and crayons.

We know that Megan is remembering situations from certain events by a few things that happened at the fair last weekend.  In the exotic petting zoo, she saw Daddy using the feed dispensers to get food for the animals.  When she went to the fair with G&G Gennrich two days later, she walked right up to those dispensers and pointed!

A Day at the Fair

It's fair season and the Carver County Fair ran from last Wednesday through today.  Looking at our schedules, John and I decided that Thursday would be the only day that we could make it there with Megan.  Since we won't be going to the State Fair this year, we went all out (with coupons, of course) at the county fair.  I told John as we were leaving that this was probably the most fun I've had at a fair.  It's so different experiencing it with a little one.  This was a whole new experience for Megan and she loved every minute.

We didn't get there until about 1:00 because we needed her to nap first and I am so glad she got one in.  But by time we got there it was lunch time so her and Daddy had corn dogs!  We also got garlic fries, cheese curds, pork burger and a pork chop on a stick.  Yum!

We lucked out with a really nice day, but Megan still got thirsty and loved drinking out of these fancy cups!

After eating and going through a couple buildings and watching a dog trick show, we were off to the animals!  I bet we stayed in the aisle with sheep and hogs for over 15 minutes with Megan running back and forth between the pens.  She'd pet an animal once, get excited and squeal and run to the next one!   There was no posing with these animals - they were too exciting!

We made it all the way through the small animal barns with goats, sheep, pigs, poultry (very intrigued by the geese.  They stood about her height and made the funniest noises she'd ever heard), and rabbits.  Finally, we reached the exotic animals petting zoo.  She didn't care much about this area until she realized that other kids were feeding the animals and she just had to do that too!  I didn't want to pay the quarter for the feed so John found a faulty machine that gave us feed for free!  Megan was not at all concerned with the big tongues licking her hands or her hands going inside the animal's mouths.  When we ran out of two big helpings of feed, she was still pointing to the dispenses as we left the area. 

The reason we had to leave the exotic animal area was so Megan could have her first real pony ride!  She saw the whole setup and knews exactly what this was!  I am not kidding when I say she was all smiles the entire time. 

Nothing trumped the pony ride but I had purchased some ride tickets prior to the fair so we took her on the Merry-Go-Round twice along with a couple car rides tht basically just went in circles.  Despite the Merry-Go-Round going a little too fast, she did a good job on those four rides.

Megan's fair experience didn't stop there.  Her Grandma and Grandpa Gennrich and Auntie Rachel took her to the fair on Saturday where she met some calves - one who was born the day prior - and even got to go in their pens to pet it.  Then, today we all went to the Carver County Fair parade here in Waconia.  The parade only happens every five years so there were a lot of exhibits - about 150, but who's counting!  It was long and we came home without sunburns but with good memories and about 3.5 pounds of candy! 

What a great fair weekend!