Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Whirlwind

Dear Delilah,

The past few weeks have been a blur of family, friends, travel, and adventure. It has been both the most exciting and most challenging summer in your short life, and it's not over yet!

The flurry of activity began with our annual family trip for one of your Uncle Rudy's baseball tournaments. This year, you fell in love with baseball during his first high school varsity season, so I looked forward to the tournament weekend even more than usual. The weekend included not just baseball, but a stroll through a beautiful park, fun in the hotel pool, and some very hot weather!





Just two days after returning home from the baseball weekend, we hit the road again for a visit with your Grandpa Pat & Grandma Lisa and your first trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo. We had lunch at Grandpa & Grandma's favorite Mexican restaurant where you impressed everyone by eating the spicy salsa like a pro (you get that from your Mama) and taking down a huge heap of guacamole with your bare hands. 

When we arrived at the zoo, you were totally blown away by seeing animals up close that you'd only seen in books or on a screen before. Very early in the day, a monkey frightened you when he swung up and smacked the window of the enclosure, but fortunately, you shook it off quickly and enjoyed the rest of the zoo. One of your favorite parts was riding the train, and you were a big fan of the elephants, the big cats, and the penguins. 







The next morning, we left your Grandparents' home and headed to Chicago to pick up my friend Jenn and her 3 year old daughter D and bring them back to our house to visit for a few days as part of their 3-State vacation. Jenn is a friend that I met online in a parenting community a couple of years ago, and throughout that time we realized just how much we have in common in terms of parenting and our values about life in general. This is no exaggeration, their time with us was downright magical, and I have no doubt that we've made friends for life. You looked up to D so much, and had so much fun with her.

During their visit, we took them to our local Children's Museum:

 
We all went canoeing on the Kickapoo river and stopped on a little sand bar for a picnic lunch and some play time, where you willingly entered a fresh body of water for the first time in your life:




We went on a "Mississippi Adventure Cruise" on the backwaters of the Mississippi, where Jenn was pleased to find that the Mississippi has parts that are much more beautiful than in St. Louis, where she comes from, and you and D got to learn a bit about the wildlife on the river:





On their last day here, we took them up to Granddad's Bluff for the best view of our city before seeing them to the train station for the last leg of their vacation.


We had a low-key Fourth of July spent at home and resting up for the last of our adventures; joining your Aunt Janelle, Uncle Jamie, and cousin Harper at the family lake house for the last weekend of their 10 day vacation there. This was our second trip to the lake house, but the first with weather that was perfect for getting out and enjoying the lake. Daddy and I went kayaking on Friday (me for my first time, which I quite enjoyed once I got the hang of it!), and on Saturday we rented a pontoon and spent the day on the lake. We finally found a life jacket (aka: "boat coat") that you would wear for more than a few minutes and you had a blast on the boat. You got to "help" Uncle Jamie drive the boat, after which you barked the order "BOTH HANDS!" at anyone who came near the steering wheel. Daddy even gave you your first fishing lesson, although the fish weren't biting at all!





Now, at last, we're home again and settling back into our normal routine. Of course, with the new part-time job I started this week, and providing day care for Harper when Auntie Janelle goes back to work next week, we'll have a whole new "normal" to adapt to. I suppose that just about the time we adjust to those changes, it will be time for all of us to adjust to having your baby brother or sister around! 

If there's one thing that's certain about your personality, it's that you're extremely adaptable to change, so I know that through it all, you'll be just fine. I'll probably have to take some lessons from your example of calm and easy-going attitude as we ride the tides of all of the change ahead of us. I'm looking forward to everything that's to come, and I'm so grateful that we've had the opportunity to have so many adventures during our last summer as a family of three.

Love,

Mama

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