Hilton Head Island, SC

Maeve visited her 14th and 15th state this past week - Georgia and South Carolina. We spent a week with Jan, Steve, Brigid, Ed, Sean, Anne and Finn in Hilton Head Island and visited Savannah. We had such an amazing time and hope that work will allow for more weeklong vacations in the coming years. You can truly unwind and relax - well, as relaxing as it is to travel with a 13 and 18 month old. We went to bed by 10pm and woke up between 5:30 and 6am every day. We don't feel rested but we did enjoy watching the kids play on the beach and in the kiddie pool. As you can imagine, Anne and I together took many pictures so you'll see them here.

Highlights of the trip included playing in the sand and in the 75 degree water at the beach and riding bikes into Sea Pines under a myriad of trees. It's safe to say that Finn didn't enjoy the Burley on the back of the bike and Maeve was so-so with it. It helped to open it up and allow the breeze to come in but that helmet was a nuisance according to Maeve. We got in 2 rounds of mini golf, and Jan won a free game with a hole-in-one. We won't mention how bad Eric lost to the girls! Most of our pool time was spent in the kiddie pool with Maeve and Finn. We were worried on Day 1 when Maeve would only go in the heated indoor pool but she warmed up quickly to the ocean and the outdoor pools. She enjoyed bullying her younger cousin around - we have to work on sharing! Our favorite restaurants were Skull Creek Boathouse, Salty Dog Cafe, and Lady & Sons in Savannah. Pool Bar Jim's also made a great Pina Colada and served Yuengling beer which was delicious. Maeve and Finn were a hit with the crowd at two of the restaurants with live music. They loved to dance.
See a video here:

Enjoy the pictures!

18 month stats

Maeve is 18 months - here's the latest stats on her...

Height: 31.5 inches (38%)

Weight: 24 pounds, 12 oz (75%)

Head size: 19.6 inches (99%)

 

Maeve loves building with her blocks, puzzles and reading lots of books. She says 'help please,' 'up,' 'bath,' 'duck,' and 'turtle.' She still signs 'please' and 'thank you' a lot and also does the sign for 'turtle,' 'butterfly,' and 'no bite' when we read about that in her books. She enjoys playing outside at school and eating lots of fruit and chips. She has 12 teeth now - 6 came in over the past 3 weeks!

We are thankful for her health and enjoy her smile and kisses every day.

Spring Carnival and the Zoo Mobile

This weekend we enjoyed Maeve's Spring Carnival with school. They had big kid rides, games, food, and pony rides. Maeve was too small to go on the big slide, and she wasn't interested in getting very close to the ponies so we colored a beach ball and played on the playground  with her friends Grace and Chloe. She loved trying to play the game of tossing the rings. She won bubbles and was very excited about that. Aunt Laura joined us and even ran into one of her Kindergartner's there. The weather held off but you can see in the pictures that there were dark clouds looming behind.

Later that night Grandma Jan watched Maeve so we could go to an event for Young Professionals to benefit the Minnesota Zoo. They had their Zoo Mobile there (aka traveling animals) and we got up close and personal with a hawk and a snake. We also won some live auction items - a rocking dog for Maeve and a tour for 8 people at a Vodka distillery in Wisconsin. Eric will have to plan a boys trip there sometime this summer.

It was a fun weekend. Now we just need to make it through one more week of work before we head to Hilton Head Island, SC. We are looking forward to fun in the sun.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers that are both here with us today and in heaven. I enjoyed my Mother's Day with Maeve and Eric. We had a wonderful brunch at one of my favorite spots in the Twin Cities, Broder's Pasta Bar. We all enjoyed eggs, pasta, drinks, and even tiramisu. That was all before 11am :)

While I'd like to think that I can do most anything as a mother, I realized yesterday that putting together baby toys is not my strong suit. After 30 minutes and only 3 screws in this house, I knew it was a "dad job." Eric finished it and now Maeve can enjoy something outside other than climbing on the gutter.Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Kirchner for the house.

As tired as I am today because Maeve has been up since 4:45 and has only slept for 30 minutes and Sadie is making a mess of everything (Sadie graciously brought us a dead bird yesterday), I enjoy each and every day that I've been a mother to both :)

Thank you, Eric, for the beautiful flowers and for the cute Mother's Day gift from Maeve. She also did a cute butterfly card at daycare this week.