Mommy & Daughter Weekend get-away!

Eleanor and I spent this past weekend in Grand Rapids, MN with my brother Jordan (the dentist!) and his lovely wife, Natalie. They were such gracious hosts to us all weekend. It's fairly exhausting keeping a toddler entertained for the weekend (especially when it's not in her own home/a home that has no children in it (YET!) ). But, keeping us entertained is what they did and we had a great time. The best part was just seeing Eleanor interact with her auntie and uncle, whom you can tell she loves so! In this picture Eleanor is the welcome-wagon at the front door of J & N's house.
This is one of Natalie's favorite pictures. It is cute, but I HATE that I'm wearing white socks! I forgot to pack black...

Tea Party!
We visited two nice parks over the weekend. The weather was gorgeous and it was nice to let Eleanor explore new parks. Here are her and Jordan climbing a rock wall...she did really well. We have a climber on our hands (but, aren't all toddlers?).

Taking a break to admire the scenery.

There were LOTS of hugs this weekend. Very precious for Mom to see that...

The girls hanging out at the park.

Recently, Eleanor is very fond of pockets and putting her hands (or other objects) in them.

Girl bonding time looking at pictures from this past summer on the computer.

Uncle bonding time playing the guitar (which Eleanor was very captivated by!).

Another park and her first time on a tire swing (a personal favorite of mine in elementary school).

On Sunday we went to a Children's Museum. There were lots of fun things for Eleanor to explore including this life-sized maze to walk through. Hide & Seek was never so fun!

Much to my dismay, she didn't want to dress up like a princess. But, I think she would make an excellent Firewoman anyway...

The Grand Rapids Children's Museum is also attached to the Judy Garland childhood home/museum. Crazy as it sounds, Judy Garland was born in Grand Rapids under the name of Francis Gumm and lived there until she was about 4 years old. We quickly went through the museum and her home (Eleanor was less interested in this part!) and it was really cool. I'm a huge Wizard of Oz fan so that part of it was fun. Here is Jordan posing as a Munchkin (and a girl Munchkin no less)!

Interesting side note: The Ruby slippers were stolen from this museum a couple of years ago and they have never been returned/found. Sad...

" We're off to see the Wizard!"

Our final night at J & N's place (which, by the way, is so cute - they have really done a nice job fixing things up). If you blow up this picture on your screen you have to check out Eleanor's face...she looks like Chris Farley!! :)

Thanks again Jordan & Natalie!

We hope that it's the start of many "Up North" trips for us! In fact, I feel so "woodsy" now that I'm planning on re-decorating my bathroom with a moose/pinecone theme. :)