What does a monkey do?

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We took our old dining room table over to my friend Adam's apartment and he captured this primate interpretation.

Operation Getaway

Scot and I left for Duluth last Friday for our B&B stay. The weather was amazing when we arrived--sunny, calm, and in the high 70s. After checking into our room, we enjoyed complimentary wine and cheese in the mansion's first floor. Then we ventured out to Canal Park, walked around the boardwalk, and had a wonderful dinner at an Italian restaurant.

This is the interior staircase, located in the center of the mansion. Our room was actually the open door on top of this picture. There were 6 guest rooms on this floor. The owners of the mansion lived on the entire 3rd floor, which alone was close to 4000 square feet of living space.

This is the sunroom on the first floor where we enjoyed wine and cheese in the afternoon and coffee in the morning.
This is the dining table we sat at for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday morning with the other guests. On both days, breakfast began with an elaborate fruit plate, then we had stuffed french toast on Saturday and eggs benedict on Sunday.
This was our room. Our private bathroom was to the right of this shot.

The outside of the mansion.

After breakfast on Saturday we each had a massage--the massage therapist came to the B&B to do them! Not a bad start to the day...

The weather took a huge turn for the worse on Saturday--I'm not sure it got above 40 degrees. We had hoped to take a harbor cruise in the afternoon, but nixed that idea. We went out for lunch, did some shopping, and made the best of it. It only got worse on Sunday--there were actually snow flurries in the morning! None of it really mattered, though, we had such a wonderful time and left completely relaxed.

Ava's report from Grandma Diane was "perfect"--I think they enjoyed their weekend together just as much. Grandma took Ava to music class on Saturday, they went out to Culver's for supper (where she apparently became a local celebrity with all of the compliments she received), and had an all around good time. I think Grandma probably could have done without the early wakeup calls (5:30 and 6:30), but that's the nature of our beast...

Here are a few more pictures of us and the shore of Lake Superior. Notice the savage tan Scot brought back from Afghanistan. :-)

18 Month Stats/Obsessions

Ava checked out great at her 18 month appointment yesterday. She's still tall and skinny!
22 lbs, 13 oz (20th percentile)
32.5 inches (75th percentile)

Ava is completely obsessed with shoes. When Diane watched her last week she said Ava spent the better part of the day trying on shoes--her shoes, Di's shoes, my shoes...it's finally sandal weather here so she was having a ball with my wedge sandals. She can now put most of her own shoes on herself, it's pretty cute. And I just love how she says shoes. It's so exaggerated. "SHHHOOOOOes!"

At least once during music class on Saturdays she also runs over to the shoes and puts somebody else's on. It's kind of embarrassing.

And her latest obsession is buckles--like on high chairs, shopping carts, etc. She has figured out how to snap them together so she will do it over and over and over and over again. Keeps her entertained!

Also, when I go to get her from her crib in the mornings, she says "mil, mil, mil, mil" over and over again, while signing milk until we go downstairs to get some. It's like somebody who desparately needs coffee in the morning. "I need my milk fix!" Then, more often than not, she barely drinks any of it. Oh well...

He's Home!

Monday, May 14th was a day I had circled and starred both on my calendar and in my mind for 7 long weeks and it finally arrived. After working half a day, I picked up Ava from Vicki's and we sped on over to the Guard base. All sorts of family members (all smiling) gathered in the Operations building while we waited for the plane to arrive. Just before they were scheduled to land, we headed on out to the field just next to the runway to watch them come in. They did a low approach and a "wave" to the crowd, then circled around again to land. Then there was an excruciating wait of about 30-40 minutes while they checked in with customs and tied up everything they needed to do. Ava had a ball playing in the field and watching the other planes at the airport take off. She pointed each time and yelled "sssshuuuuu!"

Their plane finally came back to us and the troops began to exit. Seeing Scot again for the first time was amazing! Ava was a little bit leery and gave him a shy smile, but didn't cry when he held her. She seemed genuinely happy to be in his arms again. And of course, I was too.

Then it was back to business--the troops had to in-process and do some medical things so Ava and I waited around for another hour or so while Scot finished up his tasks. We grabbed Olive Garden To Go on the way home and had a nice family dinner. It is so wonderful to have him back home!

Scot and I are off to Duluth for the weekend to stay at a B&B, while Ava stays home with Grandma Diane.

Scot showed us most of his pictures the other night. Thanks again to those of you who sent him mail--he got the most letters/packages by far out of anyone in his crew. They also passed on some of the goodies to the guys on the ground in some of their air drops. So, those goodies went a long way in helping the morale of everyone.

10 More Days...

I sent off what will be the last package to Afghanistan yesterday. YAY! Things are going well for Scot...or at least it seems. I haven't talked to him for almost a week, but I've gotten a few messages and emails. He flew the last 2 days and those might be his last 2 flights. Tomorrow his crew starts something called "duty crew" for the next 4 days. They will stay at the base, man the phones, drive people to and from the runways, etc. It's very comforting to know that he is pretty much out of harm's way for the remainder of his time there. They leave on the 11th and are scheduled to arrive in Minneapolis on the 14th. It can't come soon enough!

As for Ava, she's doing well too. Her new favorite thing (and word) is bubbles. She's a big fan of giving kisses these days too. It's very cute! The weather has been pretty nice, so she's been outside at daycare the last few days. Our next big purchases will be some kind of climber/slide and a sandbox. Should be fun!