Motor City Bound

Its May, the month of Mayday, the last snowfall, and Felix and Nicola's second annual trek to S.E. Michigan to visit the extended family. This year was a little more challenging than last, in that Felix was much more mobile and could not just sleep anywhere. But, despite a few rough spots, he and his mama had a great time and are looking forward to next year's Drodt and Swehla reunions, playin' with the lil' ones, and going down memory lane with Felix's nana. Now for a few highlights from our trip.





Here's Alayna, her beau Robby, and Felix outside our most-dined-at restaurant of the trip. Gotta love the delicious home-cooked food! But seriously, the waitstaff was very kind and accommodating of a rambunctious one-year old who could tolerate being in the high-chair for about one minute. I just wish they would stop giving Felix crayons...he thought they were an appetizer. As for Alayna and Robby, it was so great to see them, and to meet Robby for the first time!




Presenting the Pine clan (minus three) with my Aunt Helen Swehla, who just turned 100 in January. This is one of the sweetest ladies on the planet who continually wows me with stories from her youth, and has a memory way better than mine. Her tales of raising 4 kids all born within a 5 year time-span make me put my challenges in perspective!




Here's Felix on the wood stove that was originally my great-grandmother's ... Mary Swehla. She made her famous Czech noodles on this beauty of a stove. Felix thought it was super-fun to play with the pots on it.



Our Michigan trip would not be complete without a drive down to Toledo, Ohio to Tony Packo's, the famous Hungarian restaurant that Klinger from MASH made famous. We love it for the super yummy sweet-hot pickles and peppers, and always end up squeezing way too many jars into our bags for the plane-ride home. Fortunately, Felix did us proud and ate up the soup with dumplings, and scarfed down some German potato salad.



As I mentioned before, Felix had a hard time sleeping on the trip. He is one baby who needs his sleep, and like most kids, he sleeps best when he is in a familiar place. The one exception was when he was with my dad in the backseat. Felix and my dad both like to take catnaps in the car, and this was one of many little dozes they took between Ida, Petersburg, and Dundee.

farmer boy

In early May we headed over to Dodge Nature Center for the Spring Farm Festival. Felix had a great time seeing all the farm animals including chickens, cows, lambs and pigs. And posing for a picture with a cow-cutout!

There was a lot of reaching for the various animals with Felix's trademark "mwah - mwah"...which we've translated to mean "hey, what's that? Bring it over here!"











The best part was when Felix called out to the cow, and the cow came over and sniffed him, and then licked him on the face. Felix was a little surprised but took it in stride!










We hope that this is just the beginning of a lifetime of love and respect for animals and the environment.

sunshine on my shoulders...

It's such a classic image, carrying your kid around on your shoulders. The truth is, he is really heavy and it kinda hurts my neck. But he loves it so much, how can you not do it?

that summer feeling

well, okay the weather here in Minneapolis has been anything but summer-like so far, but we have had a few days where Felix could go out in short sleeves. Just because he has bright lime green sunglasses, it does NOT mean he will ever wear zubaz

Romper from the vault

Today Felix was outfitted in a snazzy plaid one-piecer from mama Nicola's collection of clothes she wore as a child. Made by her nana, this romper sports a tot swinging from a rope on the front (you can kinda see it in this picture) and zips up the front! If only we had coordinating one for his mama to wear. Paired with a red onesie and his riley-roo shoes, he was a real fashionista!

Tunnelin'

Felix got a new toy this past week - a blue expandable tube made out of tent-like fabric. We got it at Ikea and he loves it! Here he is after crawling through it about 100 times.