Visit to Detroit Lakes...

Since Nick and I are off to Switzerland tomorrow, we dropped Geno off with my parents for the week. I wanted to make sure that they knew all the little tricks of the trade in regards to Geno's schedule in advance of me leaving him for the week.

My Mom went so far as to make sure that she had his health card and even received training in toddler CPR. If you knew my Mom, she is the most maternal person I have ever met. She would do fine even without his schedule. It is called mother's intuition...and a nursing degree.

Soon as Geno arrived, there were many great activities awaiting his exploration. He LOVED to rearrange the pans in the lazy susan. He spent at least an hour twirling it and throwing every can to the ground after close inspection. It was all fun and games, until a can of beans fell on his foot. We definitely foresaw that happening.

He then enjoyed trying to steal the V-Tech laptop from his cousin Jack. He would muscle his way in between the laptop and Jack, banging on it, relentlessly pushing his weight around in hopes to get his way. When Jack was no longer interested in it, either was Geno. Funny how that works.

The next activity was outside for some swing time. He loved being pushed or just sitting there suspended in the air taking in all of the sights, sounds, and smells. Even in his most peaceful zen-like moments, you can see that his mind is always working.

He loves any electronics, but has clearly taken a strong liking to calculators and phones. As we sat there in conversation, oblivious to Geno's newly acquired motor-skills, we noticed that Geno had dialed someones number and was actually on the line for four minutes. As my Mom would say...that dirty little devil!!

Luckily for me, he is a happy, easy kid! He tends to be perfectly content exploring on his own as long as he has freedom to roam. We took him for a stroller ride up to Grandma Earnest's work, and he enjoyed that as well. He is definitely a thinker like his Dad. Some time this week, he will be able to meet some of the elderly at the nursing home. He will definitely enjoy the attention he will get since he loves the spotlight!

It was great to see that he remembered everyone. He really had no transition time at all and made sure to give all family members lots of kisses which especially melted my Mom and Auntie Bridge's heart!!




While Geno spent most of his time in his own world, Coretta, Jack, and Emilia were inseparable playing hide and go seek, bowling, talking walks, swinging, and watching movies.

Uncle John even got out the fishing pole and was fishing in the river. Coretta, Emilia, and Jack sure loved that even though they didn't catch anything. They also were able to see a beaver and some ducks swimming in the river!!

It was nice to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa, Bridge and John, and my lovely niece and darling godson Jack.

It is great to see how well the grandchildren get along. They never fight! Coretta had an extremely hard time leaving...she has never been away from her brother before and she loves her cousins, but by the end of the car ride, she was doing better. Bless her little heart!!


We'll be back one more time in June before we leave and Grandma has reassured us that the pool will be opened as well!! It will be great to get the cousins together one last time before we leave for Switzerland. These are the memories I will miss!