1,000 Miles

Kylie and I just got back from an adventure to "Grandma Grandma's House" and even more for me! I went from Duluth to NU to Valleyfair to NU to Woodbury/St. Paul to NU to Owatonna to NU to Duluth. Whew! It ended up being about 1,100 miles or so between Saturday morning and Thursday.

The main purpose of going down was our 2nd Annual Como Zoo trip with my mom's side of the family. We grew a bit this year to include 16 great grandchildren and a hotel stay! Adding to that number were plenty of grandchildren (which I am), aunts, uncles, and even grandma herself. One cousin in the midst of a move from Boston to Seattle even made it with her 3 kiddos! We followed it with a few days of hanging out with Justin and Becca (niece and nephew).Things I've realized about Kylie over the past week:
1) She's matured a bit for car rides. It wasn't nearly as torturous as usual and I'm hoping she has turned a new leaf.
2) She overcame her dislike of water. She LOVED the hotel pool and I have no idea how many times she jumped off the edge right into the water. I even dunked her several times thinking she'd slow down a bit, but that didn't work either. My arms were killing me the next day from lifting her out of the pool- good upper body workout;-)3) She demonstrated, as always, that she's only really naughty when Jon or I are around. Directly quoted from Grandpa Jerry, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with her. She was perfect all night" and "I didn't need to tell her 'no' ONE TIME." I'm still wondering whose kid he was really watching that evening! But enjoyed the break nonetheless.

4) Although for the most part, Kylie typically doesn't care what the other kids are doing, she did attempt to participate in Becca's ambitious attempt at duck duck gray duck:
5) Amusement park rides are a "thumbs up" as she experienced her first:
Kylie loves showing off her new counting skills...and getting a bit silly in the process:

Special thanks to Grandma, Grandpa, Justin, and Becca for all the help with Kylie...without them it would not have been quite as enjoyable! Love you guys.