10 Months

We celebrated his 10 month birthday by flying to North Dakota to see family. Well, not really the trip just happened to fall on this fantastic day.

We flew into ND on Friday. My A.Kris picked us up and we went to my gpa's apartment where my A.Kim, Gma, Gpa, Cousin Dylan, Cousin Zach, my Dad and Cocoa were waiting. It was nice to visit while we ate dinner and Gman showed off his fancy karate moves. Unfortunately with it being so much later there already it was a short visit before we had to get on the road. My cousin Zach was awesome enough to lend us his newly acquired SUV so that we wouldn't have to rent a vehicle over the weekend. We had planned on borrowing my step-mom Michelle's car, but it ended up being out of commission this weekend.

We loaded up our luggage and drove over to Michelle's house. I got to hang out with my youngest stepsister, Cecile, at their house while the guys went to the grocery store for provisions. Then we loaded up the rest and the caravan headed up to the the "cabin". It was great hanging out on Saturday and Sunday with my dad, Michelle, Gman, Bean, Jason, Cecile, and my Gma. I got a nasty migrane on Sunday. It was horrid. The pain wasn't that bad, but it was impacting my speech processes. I had to think really hard to make the right words come out, and even then I think I got it wrong sometimes. It really scared the family so we ended up heading in to the ER just in case. Luckily the Cat Scan was clear. They gave me their "migraine" cocktail and within the hour I could feel the difference. That lousy trip ate up the last few hours with my dad. When we got back he had to pack up and head home for work on Monday. My gma headed back with him and he dropped Cecile off at home on the way.

Jason, Michelle and decided it would be better for us to relax that night at the cabin and head back to town on Monday. Thank goodness because I really wasn't up for helping much on Sunday and there was still a lot of cleaning/packing to be done to close the place up for awhile. We had a nice night visiting and then Monday morning we rocked it.

The rest of the day Monday was unpacking and hanging out with the family. We went to Old Broadway for dinner. They have the best Raspberry Lemonade. It had chunks of actual fruit in it and tasted like REAL lemons! Gman ordered a Bacon BBQ Burger and ate the whole thing plus every last fry!

Jason was excited that we got to stop to get some Surly Beer. The attached coffee shop even serves a few varieties on tap he could try first.It's not distributed outside of MN, but gets amazing reviews. Luckily we knew about this before we came and had packed leaving room to take a few home. =)

Tuesday morning we met up with my friend Sarah for breakfast at the Fryn' Pan. It was oh so wonderful to visit with her again. We met when I spent a month in ND visiting family when I was 12 and we have remained Pen Pals ever since. She came down to AZ when the kiddos were about one, so it's been 10 years since we've seen each other.

After breakfast we went in search of some Vikings/Twins gear to wear home and then started the big pack up. Shortly after we checked in at the airport they said our incoming flight had been diverted to Bismark because of tornado funnels. But 5 minutes later they said it would be landing soon and to get ready. They rushed us on the plane and got us up before the major part of the storm him. There was lots of lightning that was cool to watch, but the flight was really smooth.

We landed in the 107 degree horrid heat. Thankfully Jayne was there waiting with the air condition running. I know I'm sure going to miss it there. It's the kind of town I think I could get used to. I know the massive amounts of snow and -50 weather would be rough, but I bet I could do it. If only I could pack Jaynes family up with me and still have Carrie in a visitable distance. And the Gma's ... And Gman likes being near his Dad.. And... Blah blah blah. A girl can dream right?

I should note Bean's advancements too, right? He is "cruising" all over the place. He will walk around a room holding on to things rather than get down on the floor and crawl straight to what he's wanting. He's not too fond of a sippy cup, but he likes regular cups and straws just fine. He's had lots and lots of foods now, and we're really only limiting him on honey, cows milk and anything he can't chew without teeth. I'm lucky (in my way of thinking) that he doesn't have any teeth yet. He still does great at eating most things though. And he definitely knows what he wants now. We had tacos for lunch on Tuesday. I gave him bits of the toppings on his plate. He ate a little bit of cheese, then the turkey burger and bean combo. Then fussed until I put more meat mixture on his plate. Three times. Lol. He also really like scrambled eggs and blueberries. He just about to outgrow most of his 12 month clothing, but not quite yet. And he'll walk in shoes, but prefers just his feet.

Oh!!! And Gman passed his High White belt test at karate the other week! He's very excited not to be in the bottom level anymore. It was awesome to watch him do the test. And even more exciting because Auntie Carrie got to come up and be here for it to. Gman has such a HUGE grin on his face when he saw her there. WTG Gman!!