Up North

Disclaimer: Okay. It's been a long time coming - nearly two weeks passed due, so get ready for a trillon pictures courtesy of Mimi!

In the middle of July my mom, my sister Kristin, Noah and I loaded the car and headed north to Wisconsin to visit family. My mom is from northern Wisconsin. Her parents and three siblings and extended family live there. With my teaching schedule, we only make it up once a year. Summer is a great opportunity for a road trip! My mom and I took Noah last year when he was 3 months old. It took us 17 hours drive time plus we stayed in a hotel halfway there. So this summer we were hoping to make it in one day's time since Noah is older. He did incredible! 13 hours straight with minimal stops to fill up or potty. And did we think ahead! We had a tub full of toys that blink, flash and play music. Mimi brought her portable DVD player with Elmo, Dora, Diego and Backyardians in tow. Auntie Kristin loaded up on snacks and juice for the car ride, too! Noah was in hog heaven! Our main goal was to get Noah time with his great grandfather, Kenneth, who is suffering from dementia. It is important to me Noah experience Wisconsin and get to know this side of the family-as nutty as they are ;)-as much as he can. There is a lot of tradition and pride in this side of my family. It's essential to me Noah is exposed to these wonderful people.

So this is the farm house my mom grew up in. My great grandfather, Otto Kolander, built this house with his bare hands. My grandparents live here today. We stayed the first part of the week with them. We had many visitors so this little house was full to the brim!

From left to right: Noah with his Great Aunt Terri, her daughter Cousin Holly, Great Grandma Stoner, Aunt Kristin and Mommy. We were gabbing in the front drive. Aunt Terri couldn't wait to get ahold of Noahbear.

My Grandpa Kenneth. He's a rascal and old sailor. Don't let him fool you. He remembers quite a bit from the good 'ole days.

Aunt Kristin and Mommy took Noah on walks a lot. It was pretty cool (in the 60's) and rainy most of the time we were there, so playing outside wasn't an option. To keep him from bouncing off the walls, we took him agate hunting and pine cone collecting. We'd walk down the road to Great Uncle Keith and Aunt Debbie's house, too. That's where Noah got into some pretty fancy spraying water. Aunt Debbie was watering her garden and well, the sprinkler was on so Noah had to get wet!

Back from one of our walks- Grandpa, Mommy, Aunt Kristin, Mimi, Grandma and Noah. (I swear I don't have to pee in this picture...The sun was in our eyes. I was ducking. Who crosses their legs to duck? Honestly.)

I love this picture. My mom really has a talent for capturing good shots. This is one of my favorites. He will always be treasured, too.

Noah with his great grandfather.

Mimi's brother, Great Uncle Keith and Aunt Debbie. Uncle Keith turned 50 while we were there and Debbie put on a mean fashion show with Aunt Terri. Fun times just being girls.

Because of this trip, Noah is obsessed with cars. "Ca" (aka "Car") is a new word picked up from this trip. He came home with at least 6 toy cars we purchased from various places. He is such a happy boy when he's playing.

Noah and Great Aunt Terri spent time listening and singing to the Leap Frog radio. Noah was showing her which letter to push for the Alphabet Song, one of his favs.

Mommy with Cousin Erik, Aunt Kristin and Cousin Holly.

Erik and Holly are two of the three children Uncle Steve and Aunt Terri have (pictured here). Their oldest, Jeremy, was in Texas working as a camp counselor. Holly just finished her freshman year at Augsbury College and Erik was in between high school summer basketball games, so they came out to visit.

This is the only picture Uncle Steve wasn't crossed-eyed in. He's a big goofball. He is my godfather. He lived with my parents and I while he attended OU when I was a baby. He used to swing me to sleep out on the swing set in the back yard. I was the flower girl in their wedding. I stood on two quarters (which I could have after the ceremony) and wore a royal blue dress. I fell asleep on the table at the reception hall. Good memories.

Hilarious this picture is! We laughed until our sides hurt.

Grandma threw the bunny ears up on Mom! Hahahahaha!

Wednesday evening we re-packed our suitcases and re-loaded the car. We headed into Frederic to stay with my mom's sister, Nancy and family. We met them at a softball game starring my cousin Kate's boyfriend, Ethan, at second base. This was a good time for Noah. He loves going to the ballpark. Except the whole time he kept saying "Dada" and pointing. He thought Daddy was playing...So sweet and sad at the same time. Daddy stayed home because he had to work at the fire station. He desperately wanted to come with us. Cody loves the countryside and the chance to see deer!

Our first day at Great Aunt Nancy's we loaded up two cars and headed to Fawn-Doe-Rosa, an wildlife conservation and educational park, so Noah could see the deer. Noah fell asleep on the ride over to the park and Aunt Kristin carried him in asleep. But once he heard "deer", his eyes popped open. He was amazed there was a live deer instead of a stuffed one like at home. He could actually touch and feed them! This park is pretty cool. We used to go there a lot when all of us cousins were younger. I was so excited to get to take Noah! I knew he would love it and boy, did he!

I mean, seriously. This buck was right there. You could touch him! There were several deer and other wildlife walking around waiting to nibble on your fingers!

There were tons of wildlife - ones natural to the state of Wisconsin like this cute otter.

My cousin Kate (whom I adore because she gave me an awesome hair cut at her salon for $16!!!!) and her new beau, Ethan, a high school history teacher. Very nice guy. Good ball player. He is also pretty good on the guitar. We went to one of his shows later in the week.

Timberwolves - gorgeous.

Gaint Elk-majestic.

I had to keep texting Daddy after every new animal Noah saw. It was really bittersweet. What a great experience for Noah, but Daddy missed it.

A Wisconsin Badger - Go UW!

A grizzly bear - He looked mighty hungry...

A busy beaver gnawing away at the wire trying to make a getaway...that will take forever to get through...

Is that Farmer Joe? No, wait. That's Noah!

A sweet colt...Remembers me of a My Little Pony

Checking out the pigs. Oink. Oink.

There were also a lot of farm animals, like at your typical petting zoo. The goats were the meaniest and greediest ones. They would rip your bag of corn right out of your hands if you were careful. They would follow you around eyeing you until you gave them some corn. Noah got his little fingers nibbled on pretty good. He just looked at the goat like "You stupid animal". We stayed clear of the llamas. Aunt Kristin had her hair eaten once by a llama and she's never gotten over it.

The smaller woodland creatures were toward the front of the park. Noah liked the teeny bunnies the best. He always points at the Trix Rabbit on his yogurt cups at breakfast, so he was pretty thrilled to see one in person and touch it! There were also baby raccoons, mountian lion, a pot-belly pig, a fox, donkeys, shetland ponies, miniature horses, ducks, geese, chickens and a very fat bobcat named Cody (below). No joke. His name was Cody. Noah's souvenir was a Daniel Boone hat. Aunt Nancy called him Noah Boone. Too cute.

We tried to keep to Noah's routine as much as possible. I think it paid off because he was a very happy boy the whole week-long trip. Each night we would read our books and look at pictures of Daddy and our dogs, Rocky and Addie, before we'd go to bed.

Great Uncle Bryan (aka Wild Man) hung out with Noah two evenings so us girls could do girly things. The boys stayed at home and watched hunting videos. Uncle Bryan took Noah on a tour of the house frequently to show Noah all the animals - bears, deer, pheasant, duck, quail - and the many antlers in the basement. Noah came home with a bigger muscle on his right arm than left from pointing up on the walls at the animal heads. He did a lot of pointing. A very curious little boy and future hunter.

In all, it was a great trip. We wish the miles weren't so far between us and time would bring us together more often. We're already planning a trip back in May 2010 for Joel's (holding Noah in the picture) high school graduation. Hopefully Cody can swing it for a vacation instead of having a Honey Do list to complete while we're gone. At least he won't have to paint our bedroom. He already accomplished that during this trip! (It's a chocolate brown and it's gorgeous, by the way.) We did a lot of shopping-mostly for pants for Noah because 1) it was too cool for shorts and 2) Noah peed through every pair he wore! He was constantly going in or walking out somewhere in just a diaper. We did a lot of eating because country food is the best! And we did a lot of laughing; around the campfire especially. It was good to be up north.