Labor Day fun...

We started out the weekend with one of those Friday-afternoon-in-traffic drives down to New Albany, IN to see Grandma D (Joe's grandma). In addition to the stop and go all around I-465, Reece decided he didn't want to be strapped down, so we had a loud drive. But it was worth the effort, we had a great 23 hours in Southern Indiana! Friday night we were greeted with a full meal of baked chicken, mashed potatos and gravy and grandma's famous corn bread. Oh my...we ate way too much. Then, to top it off we had a still-warm peach cobler and ice cream. Reece was thrilled with the mashed potatos that he got to try. It seems like Reece has probably been ready for table food for months...but we're just now getting comfortable with the idea. He had his second taste of grown-up food the next morning with grandma's perfect biscuits. By the way, don't bother counting the calories that we're listing off here...it was a crazy couple of meals. To walk it off, we went to the Bass Pro Shop to let Reece see the fish and wild animals. It was a lot of fun to see him react to everything. Then, at McCallister's Deli for lunch, Reece got to try roast beef, cheese and potatos - to be followed up with his full dinner when he got home. He may have actually eaten more over the two days than we did! Reece had so much fun with grandma that he already asked if we can go back some time. We didn't tell him the secret about grandma moving to Muncie soon...hopefully it will happen yet this summer. The "big finish" of the weekend was when grandma pulled out the collection of Smurf glasses from 1982 that are still in mint condition. She sent them home with us...so now you are all invited over to join us for cookies and milk - out of the sweet Smurf glasses.

After a great church service on Sunday, we headed home to pick up the house in preparation for Joe to have over his mentor group - 17 freshmen that he helps with academic advising. Meanwhile, Reece and I took off to spend the night over at Grandmama Baker's house in Brownsburg. It was nice to just relax and spend some time with mom - Reece had a lot of fun looking at the cat, clapping (his newest trick), and playing with Gmama Baker's toys. He also got to sit out on the deck and watch the humming birds - it was amazing how close they would fly to his head. Then, we learned that he loves to listen to us sing Deep and Wide - check out the big cheesy pics. Uncle Jamie and aunt Melissa stopped by to see Reece on Monday morning - Reece was proud to wear the Red Sox hat for a few minutes, but he was afraid his dad wouldn't be too happy (he's a Braves fan).

We winded down this evening with playing chase around the house. Hope you have a great week!