Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Iowa Family Weekend

This past weekend was Family Weekend at the University of Iowa, where my brother is a Junior.  I was able to take this past Friday off of work, so Matt, Morgan and I make the 3.5 - 4 hour drive west.  In order to break up the drive with Morgan, we made a halfway stop in Galesburg, IL for lunch at the Landmark Cafe and brief window shopping.  It was an old town with a very small downtown area, but it worked really well as a halfway point for our journey!

We arrived in Iowa City around 2:30pm, checked in at the Marriott and then headed to campus to meet up with Gregory.  He showed us around the campus and enjoyed some beers with Matt while Morgan and I tested out the playground in the middle of the pedestrian mall.  I must say that the pedestrian mall is a weird mix of stuff.  There are the campus bars and cheap campus eats but also the playground and expensive shops with clothes and home decor items that don't really seem affordable for the college-age crowd.  I get that it might work when the parents are in town, but I'm really unsure how these businesses make it year round. 

After dinner with Gregory, we headed back to his apartment to meet his roommates and their families.  Everyone was really nice and all of Gregory's roommates were really great with Morgan.  She really enjoyed running around between all of the guys and playing peekaboo with her blanket.

Saturday dawned and after some debating, Matt and I decided we could allow Morgan one day in Hawkeye gear for her Uncle Greg.  Below is a picture of Morgan waking up Grandma and Grandpa in the hotel room next door!

The above picture is a family pic that Jamie took.  Even Matt and I got in the Hawkeye spirit, not that it helped.  Both the Hawkeye and the Illini lost their games. 

Watching football isn't really a great activity for Morgan, so Grandma and I took her to the nearby Children's Museum.  It was actually a ton of fun and offered a lot of fun play options for someone Morgan's age.  Of course her favorite part is always watching the other kids.  She loves seeing older kids and really loves when they interact with her.  My favorite part of the afternoon at the Children's Museum was watching her feed the baby doll.  We have a plush baby doll at home that Grandma and Grandpa got for her first birthday, but besides put it in and out of the stroller she really don't do much with it.  The baby dolls at the museum were very lifelike and she really just wanted to keep picking them up.  The below picture is Morgan feeding one of the baby dolls a bottle.  It only took one try to let Morgan know that the bottle was for the doll and not her!

I'm really proud of my baby girl and can't believe how grown up she is getting.  This really makes me think she will be a great big sister!

Below is a picture of Morgan in a toy called the Bilibo.  I really want to get her one of these for Christmas.  They can be used as a variety of things but Morgan liked to get into it like a chair and tip around.  It was pretty funny!


We tried to take some family photos this weekend for my parent's Christmas card, but none of them really turned out that well.  The lighting was a little weird and the shots are a little blurry.  Either way, I figured I would share them with cyberspace and whoever reads this blog!
This weekend is the first weekend in a long time and the last full weekend this year, all three of us will be at home and not working!  We are planning to have some friends over on Saturday to watch football, eat dinner, and make some Christmas crafts!  I can't wait!  I'll definitely be posting pics next week of our felt ornaments and clothespin wreath for holiday cards. 

No comments:

Post a Comment