This past weekend found us in Iowa visiting Auntie Carrie. (Uncle Adam is currently in Honduras so we were visiting a lonely Auntie Carrie only.) It was our first road trip with the kids, a nice four hour jaunt down there. It actually wasn't too bad either. We borrowed Uncle Mathias' portable DVD player so Annika was happy to watch movies the whole time (Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Peter Pan). And James took a couple naps. We had to stop once so I could feed him but other than that we just loaded him up with toys to play with (meaning chew on). I took off Friday and Monday and that was perfect. Kris was able to work Friday morning and Monday evening and didn't have to use any of his limited vacation time. And our weekend was perfect too! Friday evening we got there in time to have yummy homemade pizza and relax before bed time. Saturday morning we got up, relaxed and walked to the park near Auntie Carrie's house. What a cute little neighborhood park too! It had three different slides for Annika to play on plus swings. Annika LOVES the swings She had to ride on three of the four swings. Apparently each swing needed it's turn. James was in the fourth one, trying to chew on it of course. (Side note: James is a chewing machine! Monday on our drive home I was inspecting his mouth and I swear I can see two little teeth on his lower gum. Maybe he'll get some teeth soon?) After lunch and some down time we took a drive to Auntie Carrie's new school. She's going to be a professor this fall (having just gotten her PhD - so proud!) and we were excited to see her new digs. We were going to walk around campus a bit but Annika fell asleep in the truck. Instead we took a driving tour and then headed back. Sunday we played outside for a while. Kris and I helped Auntie Carrie with some gardening and outside chores while James and Annika played. Annika was soaking wet by the time we went in for lunch. We were watering flowers and such and Annika was using it as her own personal sprinkler instead! James was content to play on a blanket with toys in the shade. Sunday night after the kids went to bed Auntie Carrie was nice enough to keep watch over them so Kris and I could go on a date. We headed out to see Knocked Up (Funny!). James woke up once while we were gone but eventually went back to sleep after some rocking/bouncing by Auntie Carrie. Monday we packed up, said our good-byes and headed home. It is so nice to have Auntie Carrie within driving distance! I'm excited to see her a whole lot more now!

Today we are the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii! Kris and Annika went out to pick one up and when they came back in the house Annika proudly told me that she was going to play tennis on the tv. After Kris got it set up he made a little Annika Mii and they played tennis and some Rayman Raving Rabbits for a while. I think we're going to enjoy the Wii. I think there will be games that all of us will enjoy. And I'm not much of a gamer. However, I am coveting the new Wii Fit that was announced last week at the E3 conference. It's supposed to be out this year yet I think and I told Kris that I want it for Christmas!