Hello Folks!

Bet you wondered what happened to us?! Well, we outran the winter storm that shut down I-90 and we rolled back into Maine Friday evening.

Frances has not adjusted to being home yet and experiencing some separation anxiety, which is awesome. She has had two naps today, so that is good.

I will be updating the missing days soon, so....for those of you who want to find out what happened while we were away in full, check back later. One thing that I learned on this trip...blogging with a teething baby is not very easy. I hope that you all enjoyed the pictures though.

We will set out again in January, and I have decided to give monthly updates to our whereabouts for those of you who enjoy shots of little miss Frances and are not on FB.

On the Road again...back to Maine, first stop, Columbus, OH

meditating (shooping) and eating mexican in fairfield, iowa

Teething, a Ladies Lunch, and BBQ

Spaghetti Dinner...um and Termites Damn!

Well folks, today we didn't do much. We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast and then around lunch time, uncle Stanley learned that he had a bit of a termite problem from the pest inspector. That sucks. Frances didn't let it get her down though, she had a grand old time in her exersaucer in her little German girl hat.



Then, before the sun set, we headed out for a walk through the neighborhood. Um, it is really windy here on the plains, so we had to bundle up. The wind chill was in the 30's according to Uncle S...whatever.

Ahh, that was refreshing, check out my rosy cheeks! After our walk, we went grocery shopping for a big spaghetti dinner. It was a hit. The Lawrence Hardens are going to miss our family dinners :-(

Frankie is 7 Months today!!!

Frankie is 7 months today. She slept in and then took a 2 hour nap in her "I love You" Great Apes t-shirt.

After napping we joined Annabelle and Morgan for lunch at Hokayama...that's right Mainers, we had sushi in Kansas, it was surprisingly fresh. Good call Morgan!


After lunch we took a stroll down Massachusetts street in downtown Lawrence. This of course means first stop...in the tea shop for some green tea sourced in Japan of course! Lawrence is a very odd place in KS, but we love it.

We visited "The Toy Store" where Frankie scored two new ugly dolls for her stroller and then at the SportsDome she scored some Jayhawk gear that I can't wait to show a certain UNC Tarheels fan that I know...

The one with the apron is named Minimum Wage...she's an orange cat. Finally, we hit Border's (yes, Mr. M. Herrick we did not go to the local bookstore...) to pick up some winter themed books: Frosty the Snowman board book and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer-- two of my favorite Christmas TV shows when I was a kid.

Back at 720 Justin, we chilled out briefly with Uncle Stanley and Aunt Wendi before heading to Shawnee for another play date with Sarah and Emma. Ben, the two crazy pugs, and the huge cat joined us today.


Emma really liked F's Skip Hop Diaper pouch. She took her first 8 steps she liked it so much. I was hoping that Emma would show F how to crawl. She is still working on it, I guess two new teeth is a lot for a 7 month old.

Sarah showed me the big kid toys...parenthood can be very fun. So many cool toys.


F and E were contemplating what to do with the diaper pouch next...

E went to bed and F, S, and I headed to Jose Peppers for some comida Mexicana!!!!
It was muy excellente.
F had winter squash and prunes...she gave Sarah a kiss for being so awesome, and...

Teaching her how to wave the wheat! Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU!

Last day of November 2009...Shopping for a new Camera and Tacos!

Back to LA and a visit to El Mezcal III

On the Road in KS...Lindsborg,KS Thanksgiving with the Reedys

This morning, F and I picked up Morgan Reedy to go to Lindsborg, KS home of the Bethany College Swedes and Andrea and Gary Schwager. Thanksgiving with the Reedys and another delicious turkey dinner.
Frances was delighted...

After dinner we took in some of the warm Kansas sunshine on the front porch swing.

F and Gary bonded.

Then the boys decided to go hunting...well two of the boys (Gary and Tom)..love the outfits.

The ladies, and Morgan, decided to hit downtown Lindsborg to catch the sights. It happened to be a Taste of Lindsborg day. Nice. First stop was a local coffee roaster--Blacksmith Coffee Roastery. We had coffee and shortbread cookies. I bought a gift for a certain Swedish friend of ours and I tried their christmas blend, which was perfect pick me up after a turkey dinner. Frankie was resting.

After coffee, we hit the Dalas about town. I don't know if we are allowed to touch them...oops.
We checked out some art galleries...Andrea got me a gift...SWEET! A lovely chain necklace that I am going to enjoy wearing back in Maine. Thanks A. It started to get dark and the dogs needed feeding, so we snapped a few more shots before heading back to 8th avenue.



Oh, and we picked up a bottle of wine...Too bad we didn't have a opener.

HOWEVER, Gary was resourceful. I believe the quote after he broke the bottle was: " You know you might be a redneck when: you use a drywall screw and needle nose pliers to get out the wine cork..." So, this is what happened. Strained pinot grigio was delightful and worth the effort--Thanks G!

After all of that excitement, we headed out to the fire. F had gone night night and missed all of the fun...
Father Tom and Duke chillin'...
Duke, Jade, and Ruby fight over a rope by the fire...
Tom and Tamara chillin...blogging or trying to...
Kay and Andrea posing...sweet night!