Heat & Humidity

Sean, Addison & I spent the past two weeks in Iowa on what could be my most favorite trip back! It was so wonderful to get out of town and away from our miserable weather to see the sun and our family!



I have so many pictures to post from our trip, and it may take me a few days and many postings; but I'll get them up - I promise! Meanwhile here's some info and pics from our trip.

The weather was too hot to spend much time outdoors. The temperature was in the 90s with the humidity about the same. So it was pretty muggy. One day the truck's thermostat said 111 degrees - yikes! Anyhow, it was so humid that when I took my camera outside the lens just fogged up. Before the humidity completely shut my camera down I was able to get this picture to show how humid it actually was.



Now I've got to brag. Sorry but I have to do it. Addison traveled like a true champ. Our travel days were about 16 hours a piece, on three separate planes with the longest plane ride lasting almost 6 hours (plus a hour on the runway before take off). Let me tell you: after that kind of day I'd sure like to fuss and cry - but not this girl. She handled the whole trip (including sitting in my lap all but three minutes of the flight) so well. On the way home she only slept for one hour and the rest of the time she was content to read books, play with her Abby Cadabbie doll, peel stickers (she did put one on her sleeping Uncle's face), eat and wave to everyone in the back of the plane.

While the other passengers offloaded, we got SO MANY compliments on how good Addison was. One guy, who sat in the row behind us, said that our 'baby traveled great.' Sean said to him, "Thank you. We were worried." The guy came back with, 'So was I!" At least he was honest!!!

Okay, so it wasn't totally perfect. Our only hiccup while flying was the last 20 minutes of our flight to Minneapolis. It was the red-eye flight and she did cry then. I think it was a combination of her ears popping on descent along with sheer confusion as to why she wasn't nestled in her crib. Anyhow - I think only one crying episode during 32 total hours of travel with a 14 month old is a HUGE success and definitely worth bragging about!!

While in Iowa Addison visited a real toy store and she had so much fun! From the moment we walked in she fell in love with the place. I held her the majority of the time while we walked around. She kicked her little legs and clapped her hands as we walked past the fun toys. When I put her down she went crazy running from one toy to the next. When I'd tell her to come on she'd kinda jump up and down and move her head in all different directions. She wanted to listen to me but there was too much to see before she moved on. Okay, I'm sure that the way I described it made no sense to anyone but me - but trust me it was funny!

Anyhow we were on a mission to get Addison her first real baby doll. Can you believe that the store dedicated to nothing but toys did not have baby dolls?! They had porcelain dolls and a large empty shelf across the aisle from them. We assume they must have been making room for the pub. (Seriously, they're putting a PUB in there. The sign outside the castle shaped toy store says "Grill & Pub coming soon!" I so wish I had brought my camera with me to get a picture of that.) But back to the toys, we did eventually find Addison a doll - at Target. Say what you will about Superstores but this one came through for us when the 'mom & pop' couldn't.

Addison getting her baby doll from Tudie:


Obviously, Addison likes her:



Both Addison and Grandpa took excellent care of the new baby:



All in all it was a great trip! Our days were relaxed without a lot of action. However the days were filled with wonderful company and adoring Great Grandparents. How does it get any better than that?!