Kieran's 1st Birthday...

I will start by saying, our trip to Michigan was rather successful. I am very glad we decided to make the trip, it was nice to get out of the house!

So we will start with our trip there...

We left the house a little before 11am on Saturday, I don't really remember how the trip started out, if Rowan was asleep or screaming, either way it didn't last long because she slept for 2 1/2 hours out of the 3 hour trip. We ended up stopping at a rest area about 2o miles before Blayne and Molly's exit. Changed her diaper, fed her and got back on the road. Then she decided to scream 15 minutes later when we were in the Culver's drive thru. We were at Blayne and Molly's around 2 or 2:30pm. We were the first to arrive so Blayne and Molly got to enjoy Rowan before the rest of the family arrived.

Saturday night we all went out to dinner to a little Japanese place where you fill a bowl with your choice of veggies, meats, greens, and a sauce and they fry it for you and then you enjoy. It was a cute little place, and the food was great. Rowan slept through the entire dinner, good thing because it was close quarters if we would have had to deal with a fussy baby. Then we walked a block or so for some ice cream, and took a quick trip through a baby boutique, didn't buy anything surprisingly (it was a little pricey, thus it being a 'boutique') got a quick scenic tour or St. Joseph's beach and town and then home we went. Dusty managed to find a wiffle ball set at a little shop downtown, so the guys got all sweaty playing wiffle ball after dinner. I think I heard Blayne and Ed won, don't quote me on that though!

Sunday we spent the morning hanging out, pulling together last minute party items, ran a few errands, and then it was party time!!

Kieran is such a little man now. I think we figured we hadn't seen him since Easter time, and he has changed so much. A couple days before we arrived Kieran had his first haircut ever, it is super cute! Molly isn't sure she is a fan, but it is adorable either way. Kieran is walking all over the place, is happy all the time (except for after a long birthday with not much napping, understandable) and is such a bundle of fun. Can't wait to see Rowan at that stage of the game, not rushing it though.

Molly went all out on the farm theme for the party, and it was a hit. Even the cake was shaped like a barn, and the cupcakes were hay bails too! Very creative. We grilled for lunch, had cake, watched Kieran open a ton of presents, actually I think Blayne and Molly opened most, Kieran lost interest. This little boy has lots of big boy toys now! He'll be busy. Ed made Kieran a picnic table for his birthday. He even ate his cake at his new table, he seemed to be a fan of it.

Our plan was to head home late afternoon, but after receiving news from Ed and Sue about the bad traffic, we decided to wait a bit longer and try to miss the traffic. So we ordered some pizza and had dinner and then hit the road. I think we were on our way about 7pm WI time, and arrived home just after 10pm. Rowan slept the entire ride home!! She cried out a couple times but went right back to sleep, I think it helped that it was dark out.

Here ends a very successful first road trip, first time meeting Cousin Kieran, Uncle Blayne and Aunt Molly, oh and cousin Peaches too! And Kieran is 1 year old (or 12 months as Molly likes to call it) it seems like just yesterday we were visiting him for the first time in MN. My how time flies, can't wait to see Rowan and Kieran grow up together, too bad we don't live closer to them!