Kollmans

Her new favorite sport. . .
Ed. . .and Hannah wearing a dishtowel as a bib! Pretty creative, huh? Thank Mr. Ed for that idea! Worked like a charm.

Mary
Jim, Annie, Ed, Corky, and of course Hannah

In order to get to my parents' house in Michigan, we had to fly into Chicago, so we got to see the Kollmans, too! We arrived in the evening, and spent the night at Corky's house where all of the Kollmans enjoyed Hannah's company :)

It was Corky's Birthday, so Hannah got the added joy of watching us all sing Happy Birthday! She loved it! Oh, and of course she loved eating the cake too. . .Another highlight was the musical birthday card Corky received from her friend. Hannah spent at least 15 minutes opening and closing the card to listen to it "sing".

When we first arrived, Hannah started out shaking her head NO at everyone who approached her or talked to her, but she warmed up after about an hour (and interestingly enough, after they gave her some cake. . .) After that, she was running around like she owned the place! It was so funny. Hannah also really enjoyed chasing Katie, Corky's dog, around; watching Ed feed Katie treats; trying to get Katie to drink from her sippy cup and petting her; rearranging Corky's photos and bringing us all the ones with daddy and grandpa in them to show us.

While we were there such a short time, that didn't stop her from figuring out how to climb the stairs! I was wondering if she'd ever get the chance to learn since she never gets a chance at our or grandma's house--we don't have any! But I worried for nothing. She figured it out all by herself in no time! Thank goodness she won't need an elevator in her house in the future!

We left after breakfast on Thursday and headed to Michigan! Uncle Ed (aka "The Godfather") was kind enough to drive us all the way there so we wouldn't have to take a train. What a nice guy! I think he just wanted to spend more time with his Goddaughter :) We stopped at McDonalds somewhere in Michigan, and they had the old school highchairs with pictures of Ronald McDonald and the gang all over the trays and the cushion on the seat! Hannah got a Happy Meal, and some freaky looking scarecrow doll (Wizard of Oz). She seemed to like him even if Ed and I were creeped out by it. Ha ha. On the way home Ed took us to a Texas Corral restaurant for some good BBQ. Hannah enjoyed eating the butter the most. . .lovely. She also scored a balloon! WOOHOO!

Overall, Hannah is a pretty good traveller. She only cried once on the way up, but we were saved by daddy's iPod! One of her favorite PBS shows is on there, and it usually keeps her occupied long enough to forget what she was getting upset about. Then on the way abck she slept a little, but after dinner she was a bit weepy. Listening to a message to her from daddy on mommy's cell phone speaker helped. The only problem was, every time the message ended and daddy said "bye bye" she start WAILING!!!! As soon as I restarted the message the waterworks immediately shut off, and she was a happy camper again. Ummmm. . .that was fun! I think I pulled a muscle in my arm from extending it back to the back seat for about 20 minutes so she could hear the message over and over and over again! Finally, we pulled over at a toll and I got in back with her and all was right in the world again :)

When we arrived back at Corky's house, Hannah remembered where she was and continued to walk around like she owned the place! It was funny. She was back to doing all the things she'd done before we left a couple days earlier.