Friday

I know I didn't post much towards the end of our vacation.  I'll try to catch up in the next couple of days.  Here's how Friday went...

Avery woke up bright and early Friday morning at 7am.  She slept great in the pack and play and in the hotel.  It must have felt more like home to her, because naps in Dayton's pack and play at Grandma Jean's house did not go as well.  She never behaved badly, but she also didn't sleep as well.  I guess she didn't want to miss out on the fun.  ;)

We had toast, waffles, yogurt, coffee, eggs, and juice for breakfast.  Not too bad for a free hotel breakfast if you ask me.  ;)  After breakfast we went back to our room and Avery had a nap.  She slept well, like I said, in her pack and play in our hotel room, she did just fine.

Later we got up and went to Grandma Jean's house to see the family.  Avery loved seeing and playing with all the kids!!  Zoe (Michael's Cousin's daughter) kept saying that Avery was the cutest baby she'd ever seen.  Zoe and Payden (Our nephew) would hold Avery's hands and help her walk around the house.  She LOVED all the attention from the older kids!  They loved helping out and playing with the baby.

Michael and I had a great time chatting with all the family.  The people who were at the house most of the time were Grandma Jean, Steve (Michael's Uncle), Kim (Michael's Aunt), Stephen (Michael's Cousin), Sara (Michael's Cousin), Kyle (Kim's brother), Howard (Michael's Uncle) and the kids.  Michael's brothers, their spouses, their kids, and his parents were also there.  Then, of course, there were miscelanious (sp) family members and friends who were constantly in and out.  We definitely had a houseful again this year.

On Friday while Avery took a nap, Michael and I took an opportunity to go downtown.  We went to the distillery and took a tour and to the winery and did a tasting.  We came back with a bottle of liquor and a bottle of wine.  It was fun getting some of the local products that are all made with ingredients within a 25 mile radius of LeClaire.

For lunch on Friday the family made Tacos.  The fixings fed a bunch of people for the rest of the weekend!  There was sooooo much food!!  I think they bought and cooked over 20 pounds of ground beef.  We certainly ate well while we were there in town!! 

Friday evening we always go and watch the parade downtown.  The kids love getting candy and seeing the floats.  Avery did a great job sitting on the blanket and watching things go by.  There was a Hawaiian theme to the parade this year, so the kids got lots of plastic lei's.  The babies even got a sucker.  This was Avery's first time to have candy, and she loved it!  We'll have to keep an eye on that as she gets older.  ;)  We ended up leaving the parade just a little bit early to get Avery back to Grandma Jean's and down for a nap.  We needed her rested up because there were fireworks that evening and we'd be up well past bedtime.  ;)

On Friday night we watched the firework show.  Avery did a great job of keeping her headphones on, but she still prefered to watch them from inside the best.  It was a great show, as always.  We enjoyed sharing it with our little girl.

It's amazing how exhausting vacation can be!  We got back to our hotel around 11 and were completely beat!  Avery did great and went to sleep right away, as she was pretty exhausted as well, from both the day and the lack of naps.  ;)

That was more or less how our Friday went.  Enjoy the pictures and I'll try to post about our Saturday and Sunday in the next few days.  :)  All I can say now is that it's good to be home.  :)