Carnival!

Well, as you all know, yesterday we arrived in LeClaire, IA for Michael's family's annual get-together at Tugfest.  :)  Here's a little of how things went once we finally got into town...

We got to our hotel at 2:30.  We only added 15 minutes to our trip in stops.  I think that's pretty good considering we had a 10 month old and were traveling for over 6 hours!  :D  Thankfully the trip was fairly uneventful.  With the exception of a couple short naps and a diaper blowout, Avery did great!!

Even though check-in wasn't until 3, we asked and we were able to check in early.  The nice lady at the desk even gave us a larger room so there was room to set up Avery's pack and play.  We brought our stuff upstairs and got ourselves arranged.  Then, we set off for Grandma Jean's house.

There are a crazy number of kids this year!!  It is so good to see everyone again and see how all the kiddos are growing!  Avery had a great time playing with Zayden out on the back porch at Grandma Jean's house!  Zoe and Gracey love Avery and think that she and Madison are just the cutest little girls ever!

After some food (which is never-ending when the family gets together for Tugfest) and visiting with the family, we set off for the carnival.  :)  While there's not much for us there this year (with Avery being so small still) it won't be long before we're there with all the other parents, waiting in line for wristband night.  You see, on Thursday night of Tugfest, it's free to get into the carnival.  It's also wristband night where $20 gets you a wristband so you can ride as many rides as you want.  We go down on Thursday night because we don't do much down there, so we might as well go on the free night and not waste admission fees on a 20 minute walk.  We'll also pay to get in on Saturday so we can watch the Tug up close and personal, and so we can watch the bands on Saturday night (which is when the better bands play).

In our time walking around the carnival we watched Payden ride some rides, we talked with Stephen and Howard, and we got a funnel cake.  No surprise here, Avery loved it!  :P  But, there's not much food she turns down.  ;)

We ended the evening back at Grandma Jean's house talking with family, before it got late and we came back to the hotel to get Avery in bed.  She slept really well through the night!  We were very pleased.  But then again, we expected her to sleep well through the night since she took so few and short naps during the day yesterday.  ;)

This morning she woke up at 7.  She was happy and ready to go!  We gave her a bath and we got showered and ready.  We all went down for breakfast in the lobby.  It was delicious!  Then, we came back upstairs for a quick morning nap before we begin our day.  :)  I think I hear little Miss stirring now.  So I think I better be off!  I'll try to take some more pictures today!

Love you all!  Thanks for checking in!!
-Michael, Jen, and Avery