Nascar weekend!

Dad and Ed took their long-awaited Nascar trip to Atlanta this past weekend, I attended a quilt show in Minneapolis for work, and Thomas and mom hung out at our house.

Dad and the #3 car

Ed after some solo laps

Date night at Qdoba with Grammy

Playing at the coffeehouse down the street...the inspiration for a shopping trip on Monday (see below)

On Monday we took a trip to Toys 'R Us to get Thomas a riding toy. He checked out the features of all of the different choices!

Sitting on Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars. Fortunately, all of these toys make noise. I've already heard "Oh Yeah! Lightning is ready!" too many times. :)

Drinking from the watering can

First time in the sprinkler on one of St. Louis' signature 85 degree summer days

It feels so cold but so good!

Opening Weekend at the Lake

We started summer #3 at the lake the third weekend in May. The weather did not cooperate, so it ended up being a lazy, rainy, indoor weekend.

This is what waterskiing in mid-May looks like.

Thomas helped empty the dishwasher. He does the silverware at home. Here, where the dishes aren't as nice, we let him do the dishes too. The standing on the dishwasher door was a one-time thing for the picture, but he really wanted to empty the glasses as well. Such a good helper!

Kelly and Dustin and baby Cook pose for a picture. Thomas will have a new friend by the end of the summer!

Ken and Susie, the couple we rent from, have 6 grandkids. This means lots of fun toys they share with Thomas. He loved the slide, and figured out how to climb it and get his feet around in about 15 minutes. 

Look mom! No hands!

Another fun toy thanks to Ken and Susie!

Thomas Takes a Trip

You may have noticed that Thomas wasn't in any of our Peru pictures. He spent the week in lovely Milwaukee with Grammy and Grandpa. Here are some highlights of his trip. 

Thomas loves Oscar, and Oz is fairly patient in return. In fact, Thomas said his first word, "key" (which means kitty) while in Wisconsin. He now says it every time he sees a cat or a dog.

Mmmm...cat tail is tasty! 

Playing in the sand at the lake with Aunt Jenn-Jenn

Driving the pontoon boat with Grandpa

Dad and Pat have been working on getting the Model A to run for Jenn and Pat to use at the wedding. Thomas tested the steering wheel.

Harley dudes! Apparently Thomas was very enamored with touching the motorcycle.

Helping with the laundry

Riding a carousel in Madison

With Grammy on Mother's Day. Way to go Dad--buying Mom a "grandma" Mother's Day card!

Peru!

Ed and I spent the first week of May in Peru, visiting Lima, Cusco, and of course, the ruins of Machu Picchu. It was wonderful!

The main square of Cusco

A famous example of the Incas' building skills: a 12-angled stone that fits perfectly with those around it. 
Overlooking Machu Picchu. Once we arrived in Peru, it took a plane ride, two buses, a train, and another bus to get us to this point--definitely remote!

Ditto. We'd seen photos before coming, of course, but nothing compared to seeing it in person. It's so much larger and more impressive (construction-wise) than what you see in pictures. 

Looking through a window at some terraces, steps, and a stone wall with two types of construction.

These were thought to be agricultural terraces where the Incas grew crops.

The next day we climbed Wayna Picchu, the mountain you see in the background of the main Machu Picchu pics above. From there, we had a great bird's eye view of the ruins. 

A motorcycle taxi in the town of Ollantaytambo.

We also spent an afternoon in a traditional community, seeing how houses are built and weaving is done. Here are the ladies in their traditional clothing. The highlight of the afternoon was playing a soccer game against these ladies...and they beat us!

Such a cute little baby! I wanted to bring him home to be a little brother for Thomas. :)

Ed had alpaca for dinner one night. He also tried guinea pig, a fairly common meat in Peru. I tried neither. Side note: In the cathedral in Cusco, there's a huge South American inspired painting of the Last Supper. On the table in front of Jesus and the 12 disciples is a plate of guinea pig. Plus, Judas' face was painted to look like Pizarro, the spanish conqueror who defeated the area. I think the artist took a few liberties...

Standing with Rachy, our Australian friend who was living in Lima. We got to spend a few days with her, which was great--we hadn't seen her since she came to visit us in NJ six years ago. Plus, since she works for a travel agency, she set up everything for our trip, which made it so easy! 

Climbing in Kentucky

Since we already had babysitters set up the next weekend (when we thought the wedding was!), we headed back to Kentucky for a little rock climbing and camping at Red River Gorge.

Ed climbing

Me climbing

Heather, Craig, John, Ed, and me after an afternoon of good climbing

Kelly and Nash joined us for a night of camping in an awesome site.

It poured and stormed all night, but we were tucked safely under a rock overhang--a perfect, dry, and private camping site!

Meanwhile, Thomas was making friends with Alli's dog Bella.

And being entertained by a group of fantastic babysitters: Grandma, Grandpa, Alli and Micah

Catching up...April!

So you know life is busy (and maybe a little disorganized) when you find out out on a Friday (from the groom!) that his wedding is actually the next day, not the next weekend! I was in Chicago for a quilt show for work and Jenn's bachelorette party, but Ed and Thomas headed to Cincinnati for Craig and Heather's wedding. Thanks to Uncle Mickey and Aunt Maryann for watching T for the weekend while Ed performed best man duties! 

Meanwhile, I was with the girls in Chicago Saturday night celebrating with Jenn, Jen, and Tara.