Whew! What a whirlwind. Where to begin?
This alliterative moment brought to you by the letters W and H.
On Friday evening we went to dinner with my dad, brother, and Leah’s parents, who were in town for a couple days. It was nice. And it’s always fun to watch the grandparents joust over who’s going to pick up the check.
Saturday morning we got up and took Ava downtown to play in the public fountain with her friend Nora. We also grabbed some lunch. At 3:30 we packed up and moved out to Ava’s friend Augie’s first birthday party (we managed to get Ava down for a nap in the meantime). Augie’s party was great. There was a lot of good food to eat and fun kids for Ava to play with. She ran and ran and ran and watched the park’s tiny locomotive go ’round the track again and again. We all had a wonderful time.
Following Augie’s party we went home and gave Ava a bath and changed her clothes in preparation for her next engagement. Aprille and Denny invited us to their belated housewarming party, and it was a beautiful evening for the festivities. Their property backs up to a public park that Ava had a great time exploring. The guests at the shindig were all smart and funny and friendly, not surprisingly, and the food and drink were out of this world. Ava’s friend Eliott was there, and the two of them sat in the back yard and tried to catch fireflies. It was just about as close to a perfect night as you can get.
Sunday morning we got up and prepared to go downtown to meet our friends Annette, Andy, Nina, and Maddie, who were visiting from Decorah. Ava played in the fountain and on the playground equipment with Nina and Maddie, and then we all went to The Airliner for lunch. When we were done eating, Ava stopped for a bit on the sidewalk outside and danced to the tunes coming from the Jazz festival being held downtown. She’s such a showoff.
We got Ava home for a nap and then threw some items together to join Gramary and Uncle Scott at City Park for a picnic. We grilled bratwurst and played frisbee and paddleball. Ava rode on the park’s miniature train with Gramary, and we all waved at her when she rolled by. It was a nice, relaxing evening, and Ava passed out almost as soon as her head hit the mattress when we got home.
On Monday morning we scrambled around and got out the door early to drive to Dubuque to meet Aunt Rachel and Uncle Kevin for a tour of the Mississippi River Museum. What a cool facility. Ava loves watching fish, and there were plenty of huge catfish, gars, and walleyes swimming all over. There were turtles, snakes, a big alligator, and even otters! If you ever have a chance to get to this museum, avail yourself of the opportunity.
It was hot and muggy that day, and after the museum we went to Eagle Point Park to enjoy a nice picnic lunch Rachel had prepared for us. We ate high atop a bluff overlooking lock and dam #11. As we supped, a huge Chinook helicopter droned overhead, and a vintage military jet blasted by low over the river in preparation for that evening’s air show. It was very cool to have so much activity going on, but Ava was a bit too distracted to eat much of a meal.
After lunch, we all went to our hotel to check in and get Ava down for a nap. I snoozed with Ava for a couple hours while Rachel, Leah, and Kevin went to get some coffee and sit outside. Rachel and Kevin hadn’t planned on spending the night, but after Ava’s nap they decided that they would stay, which was great. We then went off to have what turned out to be a fairly bad dinner at a place called the Blackwater Grill. It was the one sour note of our whole trip.
After dinner we walked along the river walk to see if we could catch some of the airshow. We saw a little, but we missed most of it, and we were too far away to see the real action. We were hoping to come back later to watch the fireworks with Ava, so Leah and Rachel headed back to the room to give her a bath while Kevin and I went to pick up a toothbrush for Rachel and some beer for us. When Kevin and I got back to our meeting spot by the river, Rachel showed up alone. Turns out Ava was just too sleepy to come back out, so she and Leah just went to bed. The three of us sat on a blanket and watched the fireworks while we sipped beer. It was a pretty good show.
Finally, yesterday morning, we had a disappointing breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then changed into our swimsuits to partake of the huge water park housed under the roof of our hotel. Ava had a blast swimming around and floating on a raft with Kevin and Rachel (and Kevin and I enjoyed zipping down the waterslide, too). We stayed at the park until Ava’s lips turned blue and her teeth chattered. We then returned to the room and got packed up and dried off; we slipped out the door right at our 11 a.m. checkout time.
Rachel wanted to go take a last walk along the river, so we all strolled over and sat on a bench in the shade and watched the barges go by. It wasn’t long before we decided to prolong our visit just a bit more by picking up items for another picnic, so we got directions to a grocery store. After we picked up some sandwich makings and water, we went back to our spot at Eagle Point and enjoyed a gorgeous, breezy day with a couple hundred other July 4 revelers. Rachel brought along a little kite for Ava, but we were never able to get it off the ground for more than 30 seconds.
When we were done eating, we left the park and stopped at the Dairy Queen on the way out of town so Ava could get some ice cream. We sat near the building and watched her munch on her ice cream sandwich while all sorts of kids swarmed around the DQ and in the parking lot nearby. When Ava finished, we said goodbye to Rachel and Kevin and got on the highway home. Ava was asleep before we got out of the city limits, and she and Leah slept almost the entire way home. It was a fantastic weekend. But I have to remember to blog in smaller portions instead of putting everything into one big post like this. My hands are getting tired!