The Toledo Zoo...

So Mike's boss got us a family pass to the zoo as a welcome gift, and Milo and I have already been 3 times. I love having the pass because I don't feel bad about going just the two of us, I don't feel bad about only going for a little bit, and I'm loving watching how Milo is actually seeing and recognizing some of the animals :) Plus, it's great for me. The Toledo Zooapparently is quite impressive for the size town. Couple of the animals we saw on this trip...

The polar bears in the water are a little tricky to see, but it's a mama and her cub, born earlier this year. Siku, the cub, is a huge draw to the zoo these days, and we haven't gotten to see her yet because it's always been so busy around her, and she always seems to be back in her little cave area. This time though, we went after everyone

was back in school, and it was a beautiful afternoon, so they were diving and playing and wrestling! And there was hardly anyone there. Perfect, times this those when Iso love being at home so that we can take advantage of that kind of thing.

Same deal with the tiger too, I've never seen them up and around, but this

one was all over his lengthy enclosure,and because there was no one else there,Milo and I just watched him from feet away for quite a while. And yes, Milo knows that tigers "roaar!"

We also took a ride on the carousel, which again, we were all alone! The nice older gentleman

let us pick an animal (gorilla, 'cus Milo has a thing for monkeys and it's a little tricky at this point to try and explain the difference between a monkey and an ape) and then took us for our own private

ride. Milo loved it and said "weeee!" I guess that's a good thing because our host said that many kids his age are scared.

I know this seems like such a silly thing, this whole zoo adventure, but as Milo gets older, I'm

realizing how cool this opportunity to be at home with him really is. We can take our own field trips and outings whenever we want to wherever we want. Makes me want to find some other kids who have to be in daycare, and take them with us. Maybe we will...

Things Milo would like you to know...

In the attempt to not only keep all you informed, but try to make this a reasonable journal for Milo to look back on in his later days, here's a list of some of the things he deems important to discuss, aka his first words, in no particular order, and probably forgetting a few...

bow-wow (after some discussion with the Gilbertsons, I'm thinking this was his first intentional word)

cat

bot-too (bottle)

la la lo lo (bed/rest time)

cars

truck

choo-choo

down (usually meaning both up and down, sometimes confusing)

plane (often "plane-ay," not sure why, but ask the book club ladies, it's hliarious)

blocks (very carefully articulated, "ba-lah-ks," like if he could articulate the c and the k, he would)

bonk

mo (more)

plees (please)

monk (monkey, green monkey or black mommy and baby gorilla)

tars (stars, recent favorite, and he's surprisingly good at identifying them)

lights (loves, loves, loves lights, any and all, lights that are stars are the best!)

cup

hi

he-llo

mine (grrrr.... where did he even learn this?)

no

hey

book

ball

bath

duck

bo (boat)

bye

dad (sometimes even "bye-bye dad," he even did this with shockingly good timing as I was saying goodbye to Mike on the phone while in MN)

ma-ma-ma-ma (usually associated with whining, again, grrrr...)

ball

shoes (after Nana bought him his first pair of shoes, sometimes it's "two shoes," though not really sure if that's on purpose...)

nose

ears

eyes (loves to pull your eyelids after saying this, you've been warned)

mou (mouth)

cheeeeese (Mike said he said "cheeese, plees" the other day)

joos (juice)

poops (when asked, do you have poops?)

And he also does a myriad of animal sounds when asked including but not limited to mahw (more closely to a Siamese's guttural meow that a typically sweet meow), moo, bah, nay, twee twee (birds), meh (goat), qua qua qua (duck), raaaar (lion), and maybe others that I'm not thinking of. Then, of course, car and truck noises, beep-beep, bbbrrrrrr (trilling lips together), ah boom (associated with crashing or bumping into something), choo choo, more in a tooting way, not a statement as in identification. He even tried chugga chugga chugga the other day when playing with his trains. Didn't exactly sound like that, but don't worry Grandpa Al, we'll get it right.

**Mike Edit**

Other words:

Whee!

Yay! (usually with clapping hands)

Ba-loo (balloon)

Walk

Rocky-Rocky (when sitting in chair that rocks)

Bath

it-ties (kitties...sometimes he gets the k in there)

dink (drink)

Pow (all done)

Milo, Milo, Milo! (he likes to chant his name)

I've been also trying to teach him that his bathtime walrus says "galomph, galomph." :)

First blood...

Well, blood has been drawn in this battle to walk. We've had too many bruises for me to admit, mostly because they've most often occurred on his head and I always worry that someone will think the obvious; what can I say, the kid's got a ginourmous head, and he leads with it. The other day, Milo, walking alongside the coffee table, tottered a little off-balance, sat a little too quickly, clipped his chin, and bit his lip. You all would be so proud though, I didn't freak out, I remained calm, we chatted about what happened, he cried, we drank some water, tried some ice, I tried to look at his mouth, which was not happening, so we pulled ourselves together and moved on. Not bad, right?

Off subject, but here's Milo with my MN Book Club gals. They moved the schedule around so that I could be there when I was back for Karen's wedding. So blonde is Lynda, brunette is Kara, red-head is Polly. Then the picture with all our kids, two boys are Conner and Gavin, Polly's guys, and the girl is Alex, Kara's daughter. So cool to get all our kids together!

The Great Road Trip, part 2: From the Twin Cities to the Twin Ports...

Ah, the adventure continues... Post-Karen's wedding, Mike, Kristi, Jason, Collin, Karen and Bill all dispersed, leaving Larry, Steph, me and Milo to contend with the empty house. Partly to get out of their hair, partly to take advantage of proximity, Milo and I headed north to Duluth, Mike and I's home for almost 4 years while he was in grad school, pre-pharmacy school.

We departed just before nap time Tuesday afternoon, barely made it out of the cities before Milo got a little sassy, and I was in need of some caffeine, so I decided, in the essence of my mom this time, to swing thru the outlets. One iced latte and $30

later, we left with 2 new polos for Dad, 2 new dresses and a pair of sandals for Mom, and a new hoodie for Milo, since in true Minnesota fashion, the temperature had drop about 20 degrees in about 12 hours.

Back on the road, Milo fell asleep, and I started a new book on CD. I called my friend Kristin as we approached the Twin Ports area (Duluth, MN & Superior, WI), and we agreed on a picnic of

subs in a park with slides and swings for Milo. Great to catch up with another one of my "little chickens" from the days with the youth group. We laughed and caught up, eating and pushing Milo on the swings, until he reached his limit about 30 minutes past his bedtime. We dropped Kristin at home, with plans to grab a quick coffee in the morning so I could meet her guy before

they headed down to the cities.

We pulled into Knuths driveway (see early posts re: living in the RV in their backyard :) about

1.5 hours post-Milo-bedtime. He had fallen asleep in the car, but what can I say, he's a champ and turned on all the charm for Mike and Kim Knuth. And they are such gracious hosts; they

make me feel like I am doing them a favor by

inviting myself over to impose on their

beautifully quiet sanctuary! We chatted, caught up on life, watched Milo scoot around and harass Oreo, their little dog, and turned into bed shortly thereafter. Milo and I slept until about 7, missing the departure of our hosts but enjoying a gorgeous morning on their back deck with

a breakfast of Mike's coffee and Kim's muffins made with wild blueberries picked on their

vacation!, and headed to Canal Park where we walked along the canal, drank coffee, and chatted once more with Kristin and met Zach, a very friendly and polite young man who knew well enough to sass me just enough.

Milo, being about negative 2 hours of sleep from the night before, and about an hour late for

his morning nap, was in need of reprieve, and I was looking for an excuse to drive up the shore, so we hit the

scenic highway towards Two Harbors. We didn't make it all the way, but he got a good hour nap in before we grabbed lunch and headed to

west Duluth to see Svobodas. Jen and Eric are one of those rare couples where we wives like each other at least as much as our husbands do, and now, as we add kids to the mix, it's fun to see them play and interact with each other. Zeb and Jayven took Milo under their wings, sharing their trucks with him, playing with him on the swings at the park, digging holes in the sand for him to sit in, they were great. All too soon, Milo and I needed to hit the road once more. We said goodbye to our buddies and hit the road, thinking a short nap could hold the munchkin over...

I was on the way to my friend Amanda's house when I realized I had to stop by and visit the flower ladies. The women at Dunbar Floral were my stand-in family when we lived in Duluth, letting me and Mike in on kids' hockey games, graduation parties, and life in the family business in general. They also taught me almost everything I know when it comes to floral design. And they have not yet met the kid... We walked in the door, and Sandy (sister-in-law) says, "well I'll be darned!" and Sherri (owner) walks up to where the light from the front

door no longer blinds her, and starts to tear up. Sherri's not one to cry, don't get me wrong, she can be a big softy, but I never thought just introducing my son would bring tears. She explains that just that day she had found out that a dear friend had past away suddenly in her sleep at 47 years old, and that Milo and I couldn't have picked a better day to stop by. They oogle Milo, showering him with a new stuff lizard selected from the shelf on the salesfloor and a balloon with Simba on it. That's another amazing thing about these gals: their generosity. They would never hesitate to give anything and everything they could, especially to a flirtatious 1-year old, giddy with lack of sleep.

After many hugs, we departed the flower shop, heading to our old neighborhood, where ironically, Amanda bought a house less than a block away from our old house. And the house is fantastic! Amanda and I are kindred spirits; we have such similar tastes, that I realized as I walked into her house, it felt like walking into the best version on my own home. She picks out things from the same stores that I would pick from and uses them like I would, actually better. After meandering thru her new pad, we packed Milo in the backpack and walked a little ways down the road to a little cafe and laughed and ate and remembered and just loved on each other. She's that kind of friend. All too soon it was once again past Milo's bedtime, and though he was being a real champ, I could tell that the short morning nap and the total obliteration of his afternoon nap was paying a toll. We said goodbye to Amanda and headed back to Knuths.

Kim was waiting for us, and this heavenly aroma oozed out of the house as she had just baked coffee cake for us for the next morning. We packed Milo off to bed, and she and I sat at her

dining room table, organizing her final project as a high school mom. She's responsible for all the sweatshirt orders this one last time as her youngest graduated. She made patient calls trying to explain that you can have either a red or a black sweatshirt, not a red and black sweatshirt, or that really, your son probably doesn't want the girls style of sweatpant because it really is a girl's style of sweatpant ;) and trying to be somewhat helpful, I stamped checks and filled out deposit forms. All too soon, we too went to bed. We shared the delicious coffee cake in the morning, and Kim too loved on my kid. A little before nap time, we packed up and hit the road once more. Milo fell asleep before we hit Martin Road and slept until we got into Minneapolis, poor little guy. Only about 36 hours, but lots of catching up.

Where did we find these friends? These fantastic people who love us and our kid, even when we don't see them for over a year? Who give and give to us, when we feel so undeserving? And how in the world do you thank people like that? How do you thank someone for being good for your soul?

I am my father's daughter...

I find myself saying this more and more these days, actually both ways; I think I am an excellent conglomeration of both my parents. But I think my dad in my comes out in more extreme ways. Case in point: ridiculous road trips at crazy hours and times. We shall call this "The Great Road Trip, Part 1: Fellowship of the Wedding Rings."

Before we moved to Toledo, Mike's sister Karen (see below) got engaged, set her date, so we started planning the trip. Shortly thereafter I was approached by another gal, friend of a sister-in-law of a friend (did both of their weddings the past two years consecutively, and if you can follow that, you need more help than I do :) who wanted me to do flowers for her wedding this Saturday after Karen's wedding. Being me, and all that that entails, I figured, sure, I'll be in town, why not just extend our trip.

Then we moved, then we traveled all summer, then the countdown began, and I started the process of organizing, listing, and packing for me, my 1-year-old son, and for my flowershop-on-wheels-traveling-across-5-states. I have a miniature 3-subject notebook committed to this trip. The first section for Karen's wedding, the second for Melissa's, the third for what we will need as a family. Oh, and I thought it would be a great idea to plan a little get-together with a bunch of our MN friends to join us for a couple of pints at a couple of pubs downtown the night Mike flew in, so I had him pack all his stuff early too so he could just take the train down and join me.

Okay, so got all my lists organized, started packing, checking things off, finding what I needed out of the boxes of flower supplies, checked my email to realize I had not thought to ask off for that Monday night that Milo and I were supposed to leave. No big deal, I'm not usually scheduled passed 9. But of course this would be the one night that I would be scheduled until 10:30, and not get out of there until almost 11. I had the car all packed, got a great deal on a hotel room west of Chicago to break up the trip for Milo and me. I drove the wagon to work that night, and Mike put Milo to bed, then got him into the car a few hours later, met me at work so I could hit the road from there.

Fortunately, my angelic son fell back asleep before I even hit the highway, I popped in a book-on-CD, and we made tracks. Got to Chi-town by about 2:30am central time, found our fantastic little hotel (ask me about it sometime, I'm sold on this place), checked in, Milo made friends with the front desk guy, made it up to our room where there was supposed to be a crib, there wasn't, but instead I found Lake Minnetonka reincarnate on our floor. I called my new friend at the front desk, he shuffled around for a minute or two, offered to come get my non-existant crib, apologized profusely when I told him it wasn't there, and got me into another room in less than 5 minutes. King-sized bed, so I figured Milo and I could share. Set up a little cove with pillow walls so he couldn't roll out, and we settled in. Oh yeah, forgot to tell you, the little guy had been sick, to the doctor a couple of times with inconclusive symptoms, just enough to give him a good fever and make him pretty uncomfortable. So we got about 4 hours of highly disturbed sleep. Got up, grabbed breakfast at a fantastic greasy spoon down the way, and we hit the road again.

Milo fell asleep almost immediately again, and probably slept another 2-3 hours. Great for him, and really, great for me as the driver, but after not getting hardly any sleep the night before, I was highly envious. We drove, and when he woke, we chatted. He knows lots of animal sounds now, and right when he was starting to get cranky, and I didn't really have anything to offer him, out fell "Milo what does you monkey say? (lime-green stuffed monkey from Grammie)" Milo pauses, waiting... "Hi-yah!" Laughter erupts from the backseat. Repeat. Never seemed to get old, who knows why I thought of that, and even more, why he thought that was funny, but it worked. Got us to a rest area, used the facilities, which by the way, how do any of you women use the bathroom and control a non-walking/standing toddler-type? Just something to get you thinking... I found a careful balancing act worked quite effectively. Set out a blanket and we had a picnic under growing dark clouds. Milo scooted around, ate some fruit and yogurt and crackers, pretty good for a sickly kid, and we were off once more.

We did finally arrive at our destination, and I would say the trip here to MN was a great success. And I've only continued to push the envelope of my child's patience in the car through the past week, but that's for another time, and another section of the saga... "The Great Road Trip, part 2: From the Twin Cities to the Twin Ports..."