remember this baby (the first picture)? well, he’s a little bit bigger now.
just got back from a weekend with mr. happy stuff’s family. what a great, relaxing time we had! i took lots (and lots and lots) of pictures. here are some of my favorites:
(grandma and grandpa were generous enough to be my photographic guinea pigs for pictures of lovely older faces. i’ve done so much baby photography, i thought i’d try the other end of the spectrum. they kindly complied.)
there was dew on the grass this morning outside the b&b.
and here’s what we did (besides take pictures):
on friday, mr. h-s and i both worked a few hours in the morning, then headed out. we had a few things to return to ikea, so we stopped on the way there. then got terribly snarled up in chicago traffic. took us three hours to get from ikea to the indiana side of the city. blech.
saturday started off with the b&b’s now [in]famous gigantic breakfast. we had pancakes, eggs, fruit and muffins (that’s what i call three breakfasts!). then, mr. h-s and i hopped onto our bikes and pedaled from the b&b to grandma and grandpa’s house (about 26 miles) through amish country. what a great ride! the weather was perfect and the ride was very flat–just watch out for the horse poo! we saw a barn being built, two pink pigs sleeping in an empty corn crib, a pasture with 5 or 6 mini-horses, a dog trying to herd a full-size horse (and nearly getting kicked for his trouble), and two giant fuzzy caterpillars crossing the road (about as big as one of my fingers!). we arrived just in time for a nice light lunch, then took showers and visited with the family. when i mentioned that i had taken a puppet workshop last week, aunt e. told me that there was a string puppet show in town–did i want to see it? sure! so five women packed into the car (there were also some cute shops near the puppet show) and off we headed on an adventure. the puppet show also had a puppet store nearby and i found a fantastic puppet with interchangeable parts (i’ll try to take pictures in the next day or two to show you). the show itself was fascinating. we hadn’t really discussed marionettes in class very extensively, so it was cool to see how one person could do a whole show with them. this show was “international circus” with a trapeze artist (pictured below), a weight lifter, a chinese acrobat, a brazilian soccer player, a granny-esque character who danced the can-can, a roller-skating/thumb-sucking clown, and a unicycle-riding monkey wearing a leather jacket. the puppeteer dressed in black and wasn’t “backstage” so although my eyes wanted to only watch the puppet, i could occasionally study him to see how he was managing all of the puppet manipulation. afterwards, we were allowed to take some pictures and learn how the puppets work. neato!
that night, we all went to the olive garden and had a great time. there were 18 of us (including the baby) so we were a bit worried when they wouldn’t allow us to make a reservation, but we were seated in less than half an hour and got three servers waiting our tables to speed things up a bit. it was a challenge, but i managed to save room for lemon cream cake for dessert and it was sooooooo worth it. it managed to be both rich and refreshing at the same time. delicious!
then, true to family form, we went back to the b&b and played cards into the wee hours. my puppet came out a few times to help with the game. in at least one of his combinations of parts, we discovered that his name is herbert and he likes to read poetry in coffee houses. (he has a fuzzy orange goatee)
sunday was a family day all day. we had a mini church service at the house (i lead singing) and then a delicious lunch of curry chicken. and then the floodgates of food were opened. there was hearty noshing all day long (even after everyone was completely stuffed following a big lunch!). i took lots of pictures (see above) and we all played cards and laughed and had a really wonderful time. (here’s one small card game group)
finally, it was time to say goodbye and off to bed and the weekend was over. hugs all around and we’ll see you next time! thanks for a relaxing visit!
