Day Six...Geocachers Anonymous?!

Ok, so we are totally addicted to geocaching (thanks a lot Jared)!! :-) We had a very successful hunt today! We went to see the replica log cabin house that Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in and found a "cash" here, however it was too far wedged in between the logs that we couldn't reach it, darn! The weather was around 60 degrees today, overcast and windy. (Brrr, all my Minnesota blood is definitely gone, I can't imagine what it was like to live in that tiny log cabin in the winter!) We saw some beautiful sites along our drive and "cache hunt": a gorgeous bald eagle and a park at the top of a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. I think we completed around 11 caches today, which was a pretty successful day for us rookies! Ethan enjoyed kicking back for his afternoon snooze! We are off to Des Moines this weekend to visit our friends and favorite places from our previous "home". Have a great weekend!!

Day 5...Happy Birthday Grandma!

Ethan and I got to spend the entire beautiful, sunny day with my mom, which was an extra special treat since it was her birthday. (Jake however spent most of the day at the VA in Minneapolis on a site visit to check out there anti coagulation clinic.) Grandma, Ethan, and I travelled down the river on the Wisconsin side to Winona where we went to the Watkins factory and then ate some Chinese food. Then off to Kellogg, MN where we spent the afternoon at the Lark Toy Factory...a little boy's paradise! Ethan discovered his love of Thomas the train and spent close to two hours playing on the train table. He also got to ride the carousel and the cool "plasma car". We ate ice cream at the Nelson Cheese factory and dinner at the Pickle Factory. What a wonderful day! I of course forgot to bring the camera...darn!

Day Four...Mmmmm!!

Well we had awful weather for our first full day here...rain and more rain with a high temp in the 60s, which wouldn't have been bad if it didn't rain the entire day. Mmmmm, did we eat good food all day though! Jake went and picked us up coffee and quiche at Great River Roasters here in Pepin, WI for breakfast! We then tried to do a little unpacking, with some help from Ethan. Then off to lunch at our favorite coffee house, Lilys, in Red Wing, MN. Ethan discovered his love of banana bread here (he wasn't so sure about the hot apple cider though). Then we headed to Lake City where we ate Papa Tronnios pizza for dinner, thanks to my mom!! I swear I'm going to gain all my pregnancy weight while on this trip, the baby is eating well! O' Ethan has also discovered his love of cheese curds on this trip (for all you Florida people it is deep fried cheese, yes it sounds gross but it is sooo yummy...just ask Ethan)! I had a great evening socializing and shopping at my friend Megan's "At Home America" party, while Jake tried to keep Ethan entertained in the basement with Megan's husband, Andrew! The weather was too terrible to take many beautiful fall scenery pics yesterday, but notice that tree in the background of the second pic. O' how I love fall in the midwest!!

P.S. I forgot to mention a cute Ethan story our last day of driving, right before we got off the interstate to eat lunch, Ethan started proclaiming from the backseat "stop, eat...stop, eat"! Next year on this trip we will probably be hearing "Are we there yet?"!

Day Three...Lincoln, IL to Pepin, WI

Well after three beautiful, sunny days of driving we arrived in Pepin, Wisconsin last night around 8:30pm. We did most of our driving today off the interstate through rural Iowa and Wisconsin. I've made this drive many times and I must say if you have the extra time it was sure nice to get off the interstate. In all honesty, I don't think it really added that much extra time to the trip since we stopped many times along the way to geocache and actually sit down to eat instead of grabbing fast food like we normally do because we have always had our beloved dog, Visken, with us. (Visken is at home with our awesome babysitter, Jennifer!) Ethan was a trooper for the entire trip and content with snacks, books, and DVDs! He was happy to announce "vroom, vroom" when a semi or motorcycle went past. His new favorite words are "yes" and "da-ma" (a combination of dad and mom).

The first pic is of the burrs Jake got covered with going after the first geocache of the day (Ethan and I enjoyed playing at the playground instead)! :-) The next pic is of Ethan "rock climbing" in Le Claire, IA (just outside the Quad Cities) where we stopped for lunch. The last two pics are of the sites of rural Iowa and Wisconsin.

It is great to be here...even if it is raining!

Day Two...Lebanon, TN to Lincoln, IL

Well so far so good...we left Dale and Maggie's house in Lebanon late morning and continued on the journey. Our good friend Jared got us into geocaching (geo-what? just google "geocaching" while he visited us in August, so for Jake's b-day he got at handheld GPS. We stopped a few times along our trip today to geocash. Our first stop was about 10 miles down the road from Dale and Maggie's at Cumberland University. What a beautiful campus and I was the lucky one to spot the "cache" in the gazebo! We continued northward stopping a few times along the way to geocash, eat, potty, fuel up, etc. Our next major stop was at Fort Massac state park in Metropolis, IL. What a gorgeous park right along the river. Ethan enjoyed playing at the playground and digging in the dirt there (and helped mom do a little stretching)! The next stop was to see the giant Superman statue in downtown Metropolis! Cool huh? We then continued on and decided it would be nice to get off the interstate, so we headed up Hwy 51 and stopped to eat pizza at Monical's pizza in Centrilla, IL. We ended day two about 30 miles north of where we planned to, but found a really nice hotel in Lincoln, IL! So far so good...Ethan has done really well, just doesn't like getting back into his car seat after we stop. I'm having a lot of lower back pain, but so far making it ok!

Day One of the "Great Vacation"...Gainesville, FL to Lebanon, TN

Well our journey began on Saturday morning at 9am (EST) when we pulled out of sunny Gainesville headed north. We had a great day of driving, only a little road construction in Georgia, but even made it through Atlanta without any major delays. We arrived at my aunt and uncle's house in Lebanon, TN around 6:30pm (CST). As always it was great to visit with Dale and Maggie and eat some yummy home cooked meals! Ethan's highlight so far was getting to sit in Dale's tractor. His eyes got as big as quarters when Dale started up the tractor, not sure if he thought that part was really cool or if he was scared to death!

Hi ho hi ho its off to the dr. we go...

I ended up taking Ethan in to see the dr. today since he threw up again this morning (missing his field trip to the fire station I might add)! The current verdict is he has little to no enzymes left to digest milk, so she said it could be 2-3 weeks before that happens. In the mean time we are to encourage lots of yogurt and only small amounts of milk. Poor kid! He lost a fair amount of weight as well, but she hopes when he feels better that he will make up for lost time. Please keep him in your prayers as he continues to heal in the next few weeks!