Fall weekend

Have I mentioned how much I love living back in the Midwest? Only a few hundred time? Okay, here's a few hundred and one. I LOVE LIVING IN THE MIDWEST!

This weekend, Jeff's brother Chad was going to be visiting his parents. So we just drove up. Yup, that's right. Piled everyone into the car(including Shadow) and drove 4 hours up to their house. No need to buy plane tickets months in advance, no need to kennel Shadow, no need to wait in lines at the airport or hike from long-term parking with child, car-seat, and luggage in tow. Ah, the blissfull simplicity and spontaneity of driving to see family. To top it all off...it is fall. Have I mentioned I haven't had a fall since 1998?

So we drive up, and to add to my perfect weekend, Andrew slept for an hour on the drive up!!!! Andrew NEVER falls asleep in the car. It was amazing. Grandma's house is like Disneyland in Ohio for Andrew. So many new toys take out of their organized stacked crates and buckets and spread throughout Grandma's clean house. Plus, Grandma and Grandpa have a tee-ball set up (which we played for hours) and a ladybug infestation outside their garage (Andrew "the exterminator" Spurgeon helped reduce the numbers...although completely by accident. Don't ladybugs like to be picked up by toddler pinchers and put into a glass jar?) Great-grandma Spurgeon came over and we went to a farm for their fall festivities. To my happiness, Andrew finally warmed up to Elsie, counting her fingers in the car, and not scowling at her the whole time. The farm was so picturesque. The best part...a Corn Crib. Which is basically a huge tub (well, wooden mini pool contraption) filled with corn. Who knew corn could be so much fun? Andrew threw it, rolled in it, pooped in it (okay, so he pooped in his diaper in it, but he was inspired to do it). And amazingly, he only brought 3 kernels home in his clothes!

Chad arrived that night after we'd put Andrew to bed, so we had a nice time chatting and catching up. My favorite "Chadism" of the weekend, "Austin is really nice except that it is surrounded by Texas". Andrew woke up Saturday morning and fell in love with his "Kuncle Tad". It was so cool. Chad would leave his sight and Andrew would ask "Tad go?" Chad continued to try and train Andrew to be left-handed...a losing battle, I'm afraid. Andrew adored the UT balls that Chad brought him. He even got to watch hours of TV with Chad. They were buddies. I hope Chad enjoyed his time as much as Andrew did.

The air was crisp and smelled like fall. We wore sweatshirts and jeans and crunched through leaves when we went for walks. We saw a wooly caterpillar! Loved it loved it loved it. And Andrew just loves his grandparents (and Kuncle Tad) so he would've been happy no matter what the weather.

As usual, when we visit Jeff's parents, life problems get solved. What would we do without them? Paul made the engine coolant light in my car go away (add coolant, and it goes away...go figure!). He also made a little shelf for Jeff to stack his TV electronics on (Jeff tried, but didn't measure properly). Linda managed to find a Halloween costume that Andrew will wear (construction worker). And she once again made me feel like Andrew is a little genius (apparently most 2 year olds don't know the meaning of directional terms such as in front of, next to, under, etc). Oh yes, and she single handedly ruined any DIE-et that I was on. She makes such good food! And both his parents and his brother managed to bring smiles back to my Jeff's face, a feat that I wasn't able to accomplish much the last week. For that alone, they are miracle-makers.

Hope everyone out there had as good a weekend as we did. They don't come much more perfect than this.