Iowa Visitors and Illinois Getaway

My mom and Dave escaped the floodwaters of Cedar Rapids to come stay with us for a bit. And we thoroughly enjoyed their company for a week and half. While they were here, we had home-cooked (and from scratch, none of this store-bought prepared stuff) meals, entertainment for the kids (both in the form of Lucy the Cat and Papi Dave), new dresses made, and fun outings with Nana and Papi.

I thought this was cute. Ella wanted to read the paper to because Nana was reading the paper.

But here's the funny part: Ella was reading the business section and my mom was reading:

The comics!

My mom and I found these ready-to-make dresses when we were at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Bascially, all you have to do is sew one seam down the back, hem it up and add a couple straps. Voila, a dress! Ella had fun watching Nana make her dress and she lived in it for 2-3 of Nana and Papi's visit (don't worry we washed it!). Nana made Lily a cute dress too, but I have yet to get a picture of her in it.

Ella and Lily each got to have a "special" morning alone with Nana and Papi. Ella went to the Mall of America and picked out a couple new outfits and had lunch. Then she managed to con Nana into getting her a new doll at Friends 2B Made which is like Build-A-Bear but with dolls instead of animals. Here is Ella Bella with her latest addition to her stuffed entourage, Hayley Doll:


Lily enjoyed a morning at the Eden Prairie Mall. They went to storytime, bought some new clothes and played at the play area.

Nana also came prepared for an art project! She brought stickers, ribbons, pipe cleaners, glitter glue and more to make Fourth of July cards with the girls! I was also enlisted to be part of this project since I guess I have a reputation for being "crafty". :-)

During the middle of their stay, Nana and Papi watched the girls for two nights while Andrew and I drove down to Galesburg, Illinois for what I believe may have been (if I counted correctly) our 10th Knosher golf tournament! We always love our trips to the Knosher. This year we were also joined by Tom and Pat. The four of us had a nice lunch at Sully's Irish Pub (ah, nothing's really changed there) on Thursday afternoon and then the guys went off to play a practice round of golf. I met up with Amber, and she and I went to get pedicures and played a bit of Wii in the hotel. This was my first experience with the Wii and it was quite entertaining! I'm much better at Wii Bowling than I am in real life, that's for sure.

Thursday night all of us ate dinner at The Rib Shack, which is just that. BBQ in a little hole-in-the-wall place off Henderson. And its been there forever! I can't believe we never discovered it when we went to school there. Of course, a customary trip to Seminary Street Pub was in order after dinner.

We all met up again bright and early on Friday morning at Soangetaha Country Club and enjoyed a beautiful day of golf and spectating (is that a word?). It's always so fun to see Harley (the team's former coach and the tournament's namesake). He hasn't changed in all these years and we hope he never does! It's also so fun to see all the people we see at the Knosher each year because for many of them, it's our only chance to see them all year. You can view pictures from this year's event, as well as past years, here at the new alumni golf photo site. We are also creating a new blog to host information on all the alumni golf events throughout the year. :-)

Thanks again to Nana Mary and Papi Dave for watching the girls for us while we were in Illinois! And for everything else you did to help us out while you were here! We really appreciate it!

Oh and P.S.: Lucy the Cat was a big hit with the girls. They started picking her up and carrying her places (not sure she was so thrilled with this) by the end of the week. And Queenie Dora is still alive and kicking despite the visit from the cat and the cat licking her water. SO we're back to one pet in our household. :-)