We had big plans for this weekend. We attempted to take Eleanor on her first camping trip. We met the Brechts and grandma and grandpa Rusch at Itasca state park friday evening. It was a rough ride for me (I worked the night before and only slept 2 hours before the 4 hour ride and couldn't sleep in the car and got a little car sick) but Eleanor did fine. we had some dinner and set up camp and it started getting kind of chilly. We bundled eleanor in 2 pairs of pajamas and tried to put her to sleep. it took about 2 hours and 2 walks with success finally going to Auntie Em. I was relieved. OK, we can do this... but it only lasted about an hour, and then she was up (and most likely so was the whole camp grounds) we tried for about 2 hours to comfort her and get her back to sleep. finally around midnight, we decided we couldn't do it anymore so we headed back home. we are bummed to miss out on the fun family camping weekend, but we felt like it was the thing to do. Saturday was spent relaxing, mostly and unpacking. Sunday we decided to take Eleanor to the state fair. We didn't think we would get to go this year, but since we weren't camping, we figured we'd give it a try. Eleanor did better than we expected. It was a beautiful day! she loved the food, including a twisted sister (an italian sausage inside of a breadstick) pigs ears, mini donuts, turkey sandwich, and chocolate covered key lime pie. She enjoyed dancing to one of the live bands and visiting our friend Chris at work.
on another note, walking seems to be just around the corner, she takes steps here and there when she feels like it (the most is about 5 now) she is also becoming more vocal, not really words but she sure likes the sound of her voice!
one more day of relaxing. tomorrow we may get a visit from grandpa mike and joanie! and grill some steaks.. mmmmmm
