Whew, "Grand" Weekends are Fun, but Exhausting

Got any Epsom salts? My whole body aches from this weekend. Was it worth it? You bet!

There were two goals for this weekend, only one was met: let Camille and her great-grandparents, Tom and Loraine (grandpa Tom's parents), get acquainted. They loved her! She was a trooper...especially when she was under the weather Saturday (more on that later). The second goal? Cook for T & L and have plenty of extras for them to eat for a few days. How many meals did I cook? ZERO. It's not easy turning 55 and taking care of a toddler, and cooking. So the cooking gave way to meals brought in or eaten out. They forgave me!

It was a nice weekend weatherwise too so we got to spend some time in the yard, a new Camille favorite pasttime. And Camille really hammed it up most of the time. She sure has an adorable laugh which she shared frequently.

There was one big surprise this weekend. With Camille under the weather and grumpy a bit on Saturday, I kept giving her Tylenol because I thought she had a fever. We put her to bed Saturday night...and boy was it a long night; I was up with her at least four times. We all figured she must be teething (drooling excessively, pulling at her ear, eating way more than she usually does, chewing on her fingers), so on my first time up with her last night I decided to put some Ora-jel on her gums. SURPRISE! There was more than one new tooth coming in. There was a second one coming in on the top as well! I did my first cell texting to Jenna this morning which said, "Bed w/1 tooth, up with 3 teeth!" Yep, Camille is finally getting some choppers! She was feeling much better today.

On the way home today I decided to spend most of the time in the back seat with Camille. Do you know how much back seat a Volvo S60 has? Very little to begin with and even less after you get the car seat in. But it was much easier to entertain Camille from the back seat than by twisting my body every few minutes to get her something. Tom did have to pry me out when we got home and bent me backwards to straighten me up. Thanks, hon!

Enjoy the photos.
A personal disclaimer: I'm not the photographer or blogger that Jenna is.

Sharing the birthday cake!
Why is my mouth open? Well, everyone knows it's
easier to get a fork in a toddler's mouth
if you open yours too.

An admiring great-grandpa Tom sits in the
tight back seat on the way to my birthday dinner.

Birthday dinner! The table next to our was celebrating
a 2nd birthday. The little boy helped get Camille
focused (sort of) on the camera.

Let me in! After spending 20 minutes or so outside
playing with pine cones with great-grandpa (while
we packed), Camille was ready to come in.
(Yes, backlighting is bad!)

Both Great-Grandma Loraine and Great-Grandpa Tom take one
final picture with Camille before we headed back to Minneapolis.
Thank you both for loving her so much and enjoying her company.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Getting ready to go to Sue's birthday dinner.

Hide-n-Seek with the cell phone.

Phone fun. This telephone is actually the first thing
Camille noticed. At one point she tried to put the
TV remote into the phone cradle!

Please and Thank-You. On the road to Fargo.
(The first video shall be last.)

There was a bad accident along the way home. It took almost an hour to get just two miles in the St. Cloud area of I94. By the time we got up to it a good-sized camper was being loaded onto a flat bed tow truck. It was practically flattened. No sign of other vehicles. or people. It must have happened at least a few hours earlier. Please keep this family in your prayers.

Coming home to a clean home and dinner made our trip end on a perfect note. Thanks, Jenna and Aaron!

Okay, Epsom salts, here I come. She's all yours, Aaron and Jenna, I'm taking the night off.