Trip to QC part 2 :)

Newsflash... Mike amazingly posted a new blog!! http://demarrupnorth.blogspot.com

We all had a great time in the QC! Even though it was bitter cold!! It was maybe -2 there, which amazingly felt colder than the -20 weather up here! It was about -20 here shortly after we got home. Luckily the weather was great for our trip home (except for the coldness of course).

Got some good pictures while we were there. Unfortunately my camera never made it out of my purse at Fay's house! :( I made sure to hunt it up and take it there! And then I got so busy visiting that I didn't get it out to take any pics :(
Here are some of the pictures I did take ;)

Duncan drinking his juice box out of the pocket of the bib

Ally and Riley playing with Beatrice ~ she looks a little scared in the first picture ;)

Duncan and Riley eating fruit snacks

Emma and Maria had too much fun playing with Riley's kitchen
My cousin Brad's new baby, Henry, with his Grandpa Terry holding him. He's a month younger than Beatrice - he's a big boy.
Ally's baby bump playing guitar hero! ;)
Riley in the baby bouncer
What a cutie ;)
Aunt Tiffany holding Beatrice
Grandma Marcia holding Beatrice The girls taking a break from swimming in the spa :)
Dad and Baby :) how cute

Beatrice getting cousin Abbi :)

Trip to QC

We had a fun drive to Iowa with all the damn snow...

luckily Beatrice is a great driver ;)
Lounging around in the motel room after breakfast...



We all slept really good, except for Maria, who Duncan kept kicking...

Loads of Pics!!

Get ready for lots of pictures from our trip to Davenport! It was a really long 3-day trip (two of the three days were pretty much spent in the car). The trip was so much longer on the way home. On the way down we only had to stop a few times for feedings and diaper changes and it wasn't so bad - only a few minor breakdowns... on the way home however... we had to stop 4 times for feedings and probably just as many times for diaper changes and we had dueling breakdowns for about the last hour of the trip - both Duncan and Beatrice were just done being in the car. It will probably be a while before we make the trip again.

Anyway, we had a great time during the one day we had to visit! Emma got to the motel Friday night not too long after we got to town. So she got to spend some time with her new baby sister :) we got some really cute pictures of them together! :)

After breakfast on Saturday it was off to Aunt Ally & Uncle David's house where we played with Riley. Grandma joined us there. Duncan and Riley played on the slide together and ate some spaghetti for lunch.

Aunt Tiffany holding Beatrice

The whole Gang!

Duncan and Riley taking turns on the slide

Time for speghetti!

Then it was off to Panchero's for the rest of the fam's lunch!! :) mmmmm....
After lunch I took the girls swimming while Duncan took his nap. He actually slept really good and long.

Then it was time to get ready for dinner with Mike's family. Almost everyone made it to Fay's house. We had Grandma's famous fried chicken and Fay's famous cheesy potatoes :) and some awesome desserts! Lea made a yellow cake with triple chocolate frosting :) can't go wrong with chocolate.

Grandma Campbell Holding Beatrice

Lea giving Duncan a drink. She kept trying to get him to say Lea while we were there, which of course he would't... but as soon as we got back to the motel room he started saying Lea over and over again!! The little stinker!
Lea holding Beatrice

Beatrice smiling for Lea :)

Grandma, Grandpa, Ashley and Alyssa came back to the motel room after dinner for a saxophone performance by Maria ~ who's gotten pretty good in the short time that she's been playing.

Of course by the end of the day everyone was a little exhausted and crabby :) I had planned on getting a family picture at some point over the weekend, but that didn't happen - so I thought at the least I would get a picture of the kids for this year's Christmas card. That proved to be somewhat of a challenge - last year it was fun trying to get three kids and a dog to cooperate, but this year it was four kids and we skipped the dog :) Duncan kept trying to get down, and when he was finally staying put Beatrice got crabby and then spit up all over her outfit! :) Here's one of the outtakes ;)

Loaded up and ready for the trek home... already looking bored ;)

Weekend Trip to Iowa

Well, getting settled back in after our very short weekend trip to the QC area to drop Maria off for her visiting vacation. She gets to spend a week with her grandparents, a few days with Aunt Tiffany and Grandma Marcia, and then a few days with Emma and her mom for some girly fun. She's been really looking forward to it! She was really excited about getting to go fishing with her Grandpa! I'm sure she will have a good time! I miss her already :(

Both the trip down and then back up were really pretty good! Exhausting, but uneventful in a good way. Although we did stop in Boscobel at a garage sale, and got quite a deal on a baby swing and bassinet! And let me just say that has to be the friendliest town in Wisconsin. After the sale we hit a gas station to fill up and the employees there were very chatty and friendly (as was the lady hosting the garage sale). They said I looked quite round - in a good way! :) It was a really nice traveling day. We left around 8:15 and got to Davenport around 3:30-4:00, where Maria's older sisters were anxiously awaiting her arrival. Their grandparents were able to arrange for them to stay the weekend. It was a really nice surprise for Maria.

It was nice to spend some time with the family. Unfortunately, Riley was running a fever :*( so she couldn't come over and play with Duncan, and we didn't get a chance to see how much she's grown! Ally was able to come over though and spend some time with us, that was nice :) And we got Taco Pizza!!! :) Yum! And the Happy Joe Special! :) oh it was so good! I totally miss so many of the restaurants! There aren't too many up here... of course there wasn't enough time to visit all of our favorites, but no place up here makes taco pizza and I'd been craving it for a while. Maria is in for a special treat when she gets to Aunt Tiffany's, as they opened a Panchero's in the QC! We used to go to the one in Iowa City at least every other week! It was our favorite. I think we actually went there once a week when I was pregnant with Duncan :) Of course I didn't find out they'd opened one there until about 10pm... if they would have been open for breakfast I would have gotten a burrito for breakfast! :) But Maria was just talking about Panchero's the night before we left, and I told her that no one was going to drive her to Iowa City to get Panchero's... turns out it's a lot less of a trip! She's so lucky! :)


Well, it was a good trip, even though it was a little short. Duncan learned a new skill on the way. He rediscovered his feet, especially his toes. He was putting his junior mints between his toes, then he decided to read his book by putting the covers between his toes to prop it open! Then of course he put his chicken nuggets between his toes and then ate them out! Too funny! But it kept him occupied!

When we got home and opened the gate, it looked like it had snowed in our yard! The big Poplar tree had been spitting cotton, but it must have really let it all go while we were gone!