Rewind and Recap: October!

October was another busy month for the Pitman family! We started the month with an unexpected, wonderful trip to Canada for Canadian Thanksgiving, which also happened to fall on my birthday. (Which is the most beautiful time of the year in Ontario!) Because he knows that this is my FAVORITE time of year to be at home, Neil conspired with my family and planned this fun trip to to surprise me. We left super early on a Saturday morning and Iain and I followed the Emmaus volleyball team to Chicago, where they played (and won, I might add!) two awesome games! Then Neil, Iain and I left for good old Flint, Michigan, where we met my parents and stayed overnight at a hotel. We all left for Canada in the morning, and poor Neil headed back to Dubuque and work. Then he drove BACK to Canada in time for my birthday the following Friday, and we all spent the long weekend there and celebrated Thanksgiving together. It was a great trip, although I don't have many photos to show for it. We did a lot of lounging around, a lot of good family time and a lot of visiting friends, ate lot of good dinners (including a bang-up Thanksgiving feast, fried turkey and all, complete with a drumstick for the little man!), went to our traditional Thanksgiving craft shows, and spent a lot of time"putting" with Grampy for Iain! He even got to try his hand on a real golf course. Needless to say...he loved it! And there were a LOT of tears when it was time to leave! I also enjoyed lunch and a birthday play at the Shaw Festival, with my good friend Deborah, but sadly have no pictures of that day!

Other than that trip, we mostly stuck close to home. We went to lots and lots of volleyball games at Emmaus, (including the inaugural JAM the GYM!) and Iain and I had a super fun sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Pitman's house one weekend that Neil was out of town with the team. Neil's band, The Surf Report, had a release party for their third album (check them out here!) and it felt like "old times" to stay up late and hang out with friends and listen to music! (Although I must admit, it was a lot harder than it used to be to stay up past midnight!) Iain and Mama baked autumn cookies and delivered them to the neighbors, took a lot of walks in the nice fall weather, and spent lots of time snuggled up inside coloring, doing puzzles, and reading books.

Of course, we finished up the month with a weekend full of Halloween celebrations. On Saturday morning, we headed to the nearby pumpkin patch, where Iain found and collected "bumpkins" and "gourd-as" to his heart's delight. From there, we headed to the apple orchard and got some cider and a tractor ride! We carved our pumpkin in honor of Iain's "funny face", and had a blast trick-or-treating and handing out candy with Uncle Graeme and Aunt Ashlee and our little "burza". (For some odd reason, this is what Iain consistently calls a bear....we're not sure where he got his little Polish accent...!) It was a very harvest-y month, (as October should be!) with lots of leaves, color and beauty, and lots of fall fun. Because I have a TON of pictures this time around, I'll stop talking, and just let you see! Here's what we did in photos!

Reading his FAVORITE book with volleyball buddy Shannon

Advising Grampy as to putting strategies...

The chilly Vineland craft show (pardon me...ARTfest!)

At the golf course with Daddy, Uncle Brett and Grampy

Sister time at the Ball's Falls Craft show!

Thanksgiving feast!

Big boy coloring!

Snuggling at Grandma and Grandpa's

Cookie delivery!

At the Pumpkin Patch, choosing gourds and pumpkins!

Pumpkin carving with Daddy

Little Burza, trick-or-treating

Rewind and Recap: September

Wow. Has it really been over two months since we've had a new blog post! I knew we were busy, but I realize we were THAT busy! It's been a whirlwind fall, that passed in a blur of "pass, set and hit", and "GOOO EAGLES!" That's right, it was volleyball season, which meant a lot of fun AND very little free time. The past two months have seen Neil basically working two jobs, with lots of planning, practices, and games in any and all of his "free" time, and me doing double duty as Mom, since Dad was pretty busy! And of course, lugging Iain to lots and LOTS of volleyball games! Couple that crazy schedule with a busy toddler and a third trimester pregnancy, and you get a picture of our autumn! It was mostly a "if we have a split second free, you'll probably find us napping" kind of time...which meant not a lot of blogging!

Not to say we didn't do ANYTHING but volleyball...! There were some good weekends of family time, and even a trip to Canada! (More about that in October's recap!) And after two months of heading to the "gym" at the "school" to see Daddy's "team" play with the "ball" (four of Iain's favorite words!) our little man is now volleyball's biggest fan! We had a lot of fun with the Emmaus team this year-they are a great group of girls, and did a fantastic job all season! I took some road trips along with them, (both with and without Iain) and Neil took some others without us, and we also had a super-fun team dinner. The season ended just over a week ago, and the Emmaus Lady Eagles finished on a high note at the ACCA National tournament in Kansas City. (More about that in November's recap!)

But for now...September! It almost seems like another world when I look at the pictures, with the green leaves on the trees, and the short sleeves and flip flops, and it sure feels like a long time ago!

Labor Day weekend we headed down to Cedar Rapids to support the Tri-Sate Christian School Lady Huskies in their annual pre-season tournament. It was a lot of fun to watch the TSCS girls play, and a little nostalgic too! Saturday we even found a fun and free farm to take Iain to visit! He liked to see all the animals, but his favorite two things at the farm were the fan on the wall of the barn, and the ball in the pigpen. He also got to ride a duck, and tried his first corn-dog! All in all, a great holiday weekend!

We also went (for the first time!) to the annual Dubuque Labor Day parade! It was cool and windy, and the parade lasted FOR-EVER with about a million trucks, tractors and union workers (guess that's the point of a Labor Day parade though..!) but Iain sure enjoyed it! He was much more keen on all the sights and sounds than he was at his last parade! We even met up with our "across-the-road" neighbor, and got to share her blanket and get to know her a bit.

We baked cupcakes a few times for the girls on the volleyball team, and Iain was reminded how good "cake" is. It's another of his favorite words.

...AND apparently we went through a phase of very static-y hair for Mr. Iain! For some odd reason, his hair looked like this for about a week and then it went back to normal.

More to come from our fall recap tomorrow, and I plan to be a better blogger from here on out! (At least until Baby comes... in about a month!)

Again, eh?

Our final journey of summer was one that we had to keep under wraps until we arrived. We planned a super-secret trip to Canada at the end of August to surprise my brother Brett at his super-secret surprise 30th birthday party! It was a great trip, although very short for Neil. We left Dubuque at about 10 pm on a Friday night, and arrived at about noon on Saturday, in time for a short nap before the party that evening. Neil was on a plane back to Dubuque by 7 am Sunday morning, breaking our own rule: "If you won't be there longer than the time it takes to travel, it's not worth it!" It WAS worth it though, and Iain and I got to spend the next week (incidentally Neil's busiest week of the year; Emmaus volleyball kick-off) having a blast with many loved ones in Canada, instead of moping at home, missing our hubby and Daddy. Many thanks to April for making the drive back with us...she was a trouper for sure, although I don't think she'll be volunteering to travel anywhere with Iain again any time soon!

It was nine days of packed-solid, catching up-good times! And of course, at the end, it still felt too short. Because there was so much fun to be had, and therefore so many stories to share, I'll do it (mostly) in photos, day-by-day, and will try to be concise! Here are some of the highlights of our wonderful, top secret vacation!

Day#1. Saturday-Most of it was used up by driving, but it was the best (as in the fastest, and the most painless) trip we'd taken to Canada since we had Iain! He slept pretty much the whole way, which was a huge blessing! The reason for the visit, was of course, Brett's party: It was a HUGE hit, a great surprise and a fun time! Kudos to Deborah and Breha for their planning, Mom for her cooking, Ashlee and Jenny for their cupcakes, and the boys for keeping us all entertained! Uncle Brett was VERY surprised to see us! He was very surprised in general...and especially surprised that only one person was yelling SURPRISE (...good job there Shane!) because we all got stage-fright or attacks of the giggles or departed the room with crying babies!

(The Pitmans and Pattersons got the strict black and yellow Birthday dress-code memo!)

Day#2. Sunday-An early morning trip to the airport with Deborah (and good-bye to Neil), with a stop on the way at a truck-stop for "the best breakfast in town", although that is debatable. Followed by a nap pretty much all day, to make up for the night of lost sleep, and a late-night "for old time's sake" tea run to Tim Horton's with some girls that I love! Grandma and Grandpa graciously watched Iain while we sipped tea and talked for nigh four hours! (We did need a few refills in there!) Aside: In this photo, I look like I'm smiling, but I'm really grimacing, and saying "APRIL, your chair is on my broken toe!!"

Day #3. Monday-A day of hospitality and good eats (although sadly, no pictures), starting with a reunion of the gang at the Reed's (over yummy home-made cookies), a delicious family dinner ("good chicken"), and a girls' movie night, complete with snacks and the much longed for "Bad Boy" sub!

Day#4. Tuesday-A morning of running around to many of the amazing produce stands Niagara boasts, in order to prep for April's and my afternoon canning tutorial by Mum. We made yummy canned peaches, peach jam (with the rejects!) and dill pickles. More on this one later: I have LOTS of step-by-step photos! Finished the day with a relaxing mom-daughter dinner with the Beattie and Patterson gals (and Iain, so I guess mom-daughter-son would be more fitting!).

Day#4. Wednesday-A fun day of outings for Iain and friends! We started at the splash-pad with Jenny and Gavin and Jenny's mom's group. Unfortunately I didn't get a single good picture of the two buddies together, because someone (HINT: It wasn't Gavin!) was being a poop and wouldn't go in the water! Afterward we proceeded to the carousel, which both boys love, but again, in every picture Iain looks like he's being tortured, so they don't make the cut either! We then proceeded to Deborah's park for some fun (although in keeping with the theme of the day...Iain doesn't look like he's having much of it!) on the swings and the slide, and finished up with some delicious ice-cream from The Loon; another tradition! Finally, dinner with Grampy and the family-always a hoot!

Day#5. Thursday-BEACH DAY! The clouds disappeared just in time for some fun on the sand (and in the Lake Erie waters for the brave ones...who later regretted it!) with some of my favorite people! This was preceded by a fun shopping and lunch date with Mum and Breha, but no pictures of that, sadly. As you can fell from Iain's sandy and contented face...he lurves the beach! Another delicious family dinner (and of course we missed Neil every time!).

Day#6. Friday-The morning began with a COUSIN COFFEE DATE! Wish we could do this weekly Sarah! Love you!

Afterward, another highlight of the trip: a relaxing (thanks to Grandma who kindly watched a busy little boy!) lunch at Mai Vi (a GREAT Vietnamese place!) with five lovely friends, during which we realized we had not ALL been together in five long years (at least)! Lunch was (of course!) followed by ice-cream in Port Dalhousie along with MUCH needed conversation and catch-up! These are my "lifetime friends", and we were chagrined to realize that we honestly couldn't remember for sure the last time we'd all been together. Let's make it a yearly (at least!!) tradition girls! Aren't they beautiful! LOVE THEM ALL!

A quick stop to say good-bye to Grampy! Pretty good-lookin' for a guy who's turning 95 in December!

Day #8. Saturday-After some final Iain cuddles for Gramoo and Grampy, and a quick ride on the "tractor tractor" for Iain, we were on our way home. The trip was filled with much weeping (by Iain) and gnashing of teeth (by April and me), but really wasn't too bad. We met up with Neil in Chicago for a lovely reunion, some Giordano's pizza and a great night of sleep.

Day #9. Sunday-Morning brought a swim in the (frigid!) pool, (Iain protested the whole time: "Nu, nu, nu, nu!"!) some shopping and (of course!) lunch at Noodles before it was off to the airport for April, and home for the Pitmans. We were super happy to be all-together again, but very sad that this homecoming meant that summer fun was over, and our next vacation will be a long time coming. With Emmaus volleyball to keep our schedule (very) busy, a few more weekend trips to look forward to, cozy-fall campfires hopefully in the cards, beautiful trees and cooler weather, we're getting settled back in to "real life". Autumn...I guess we're ready for you!

Final note: While in Canada, we made two more discoveries in the very decisive world of Iain's food preferences. We found one thing he does NOT prefer, and one that he loves.

DOES NOT prefer: Boiled eggs (no big surprise there!)

Loves: Buffalo style hot wings! (is this kid his dad's son or what!)

To Durham and Beyond: Part Four-Homeward Bound

Our trip from Greenville to Iowa was via Indianapolis for the night, and Greenville to Indy was going to be the longest leg of the journey. Because Iain was "car-ed out" by this time, and was getting cranky after the 10 minutes it took each time we drove to our hotel from downtown, we weren't sure what to do. We wanted to be to our hotel in Indy by check-in, but also knew that the trip would take way longer than the 8 1/2 projected hours, what with much needed stops. We also agreed that the more time we could drive while Iain slept, the better, but we were just too tired to think about a 5am wake up call.

In the end, after our busy, busy day in Greenville, we decided not to set the alarm and just "see what happened". We were sure that Iain was super tired, and that he'd sleep solidly, and then we'd get up and go. Well...as Becky's dad says..."You can count on that!" At home, Iain is a pretty consistent sleeper, waking up somewhere around 6am for his bottle of "milk breakfast" and then promptly going back to sleep until 9am or so, but on this trip, sleeping in strange places, getting teeth, and bunking up in the same room with Mom and Dad, he'd been all over the place. Some mornings he'd wake up at 5am and take over an hour to go back to sleep. Other days, he'd sleep straight through until 7:30 or so, and then decide it was time to be up for good. Well, of course, this night he woke up screaming at 3am! We weighed our options: do we let him cry (thus disturbing us and everyone around us) in hopes he'll go back to sleep for a few hours? do we feed him, go back to bed and sleep in, thus dashing all hopes of getting an early start? or do we get up and go? In the end, that's what we did.

We fed Iain, and packed him into the car in the dark, and were on the road by 3:30. It turned out to be a good decision, because he DID sleep for much of the trip, which made for a more pleasant (and faster) car ride! But we were sad that our entire drive through South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee was in the dark, so we missed all of the mountainous beauty we'd caught a glimpse of the day before. I will say that we climbed for what seemed like hours, and even the stars were obscured by the peaks around us, so they must be impressive! Once again, we'd love to go back!

As we started our downward journey into Kentucky, the sun stole over the horizon, and we spotted a familiar southern icon.
I had never been to a Waffle House, though Neil had, and we decided that our trip to the south wouldn't be complete without patronizing the restaurant you see on EVERY corner. Besides...we were stinkin' hungry! If you've never been to a Waffle House (and perhaps I'm the only person in the world who hasn't!) don't let the name fool you. It could just as easily be called "Egg House" or "Breakfast House" or "Sandwich House", and it wasn't the massive selection of waffles I was expecting. But it was pretty good (for a Waffle House) and they had coffee, and it was a nice little break. Did you know you can still smoke in restaurants in Kentucky? Strange, right?

We made it to Indianapolis by about 2pm, and made a quick stop for lunch at Yats. Apparently this restaurant is a Indy landmark, and it was one of our favorites on the trip. They have four locations, the owner is from New Orleans and they serve Cajun and Creole food. They have about five things on the menu each day, and you can order a full size, a half size, or "half and half" (two things) and it comes with two slices of garlic bread and and it's a fixed price. Neil got a half order of red beans and smoked sausage with rice, and I got a half order of chicken with mushroom and spinach on rice, and our total came to $8. It was fantastic food, and plenty of it, and the restaurant decor (in Neil's words) "looked like a record store"! Very cool experience. If you're ever in Indy...go to Yats!

From there, it was off to our final (free) hotel, and we were pretty excited about this one, as it was brand new, and a two-room suite, which meant our little bunk-mate could have his own room! Our hotel also had a kitchen area, which we were excited about. After seeing just how nice the kitchen was, (and in particular the sweet stainless steel cookware they had to offer!) we decided that some Pitman chefery was in order! After a quick dip in the pool, we hit up Trader Joe's, which was just down the road, and got all the ingredients for a gourmet dinner, made by us! Here's what was on the menu: Parmesan crusted chicken, linguine Alfredo with mixed vegetables, Caesar salad, wine for Neil and sparkling cider for Beth, and mint chip ice cream for dessert. Our dinner was mostly made by Neil, and it was fantastic! (The picture doesn't do it justice!) Along with the ever-present hotel Food Network marathon, it was a perfect night!

Sunday morning, we slept in a little, dallied over breakfast, went for another swim, and then packed up the car for the final time. We were pretty sad to have an entire day of "States beginning with I", but we made it home okay, after not too many tears on Iain's part. As you can see below, he busied himself by playing with his hair (his sleepy-gesture), feeding Mr. Lion some snacks, and a nice long break for lunch at a park on the way.

Although the trip held many moments in the car when I wanted to tear my hair out and swore that I'd never take a baby on another road trip, I can give him the benefit of the doubt now. Looking back, I'm sure the 3000 miles we traveled seemed like a lot for a little boy, and (we counted on the way home) the 15 states Iain has visited in his 15 months of life might be considered a bit much. But somehow it all seems worth it in retrospect, and the hours of frustration in the car fade, while the good memories of the trip remain. We're glad to be a well traveled family, and we hope Iain will look at these pictures and know that we had fun together, even though he doesn't remember it. (And since we don't have any pictures to document him screaming in the car, maybe it's good that he doesn't remember it!) And (unless we've scarred him for life, and he never wants to take another road trip!) we're all looking forward to our next vacation together! Got a state for us to visit?