mid week getaway

on wednesday, azalea and i took a mini road trip to duluth to visit our friend dani and her new baby gino. i wasn't sure how azalea would do in the car for 2.5 hours, but she was great! she talked/sang, slept a little, and looked out the window completely content. i was so happy! we got to duluth around 11:00 and got settled in. dani's husband was gone for the night for work, so it was just us girls (and gino!) 

azalea had lots of fun exploring the house. she kept me on my toes!

it was so fun to meet gino. he was born on new years day and he is such a cute little peanut.

it was also fun to see dani as a mom and i'm happy for her that everything is going well (gino is a great sleeper at night!). we hung out for a couple hours with the kids and then took them to the mall for a while. azalea was sort of a stinker and didn't last very long in her stroller. she did sleep for a bit, though, so we were able to grab some lunch at the food court. i got her a couple cute things at old navy (darn you clearance rack!). gino slept the entire time we were there (oh, how i miss those days!). 

we went back to their house and i got azalea down for a nap. she slept for 2.5 hours! i couldn't believe it. i ended up waking her at 6:00 so she could have some dinner and play time before bed. we made spaghetti for dinner and she ate some off my fork and loved it. (i feel bad because she normally wants to go to bed before we can get dinner made at home. i'm hoping she will start staying up later, so she can enjoy some real meals with us soon). right now she gets her own meal in the early evening.

azalea loved gino.

i think it's the cutest thing when babies forget how small they are themselves and are so fascinated by other babies. she wanted to check on him all the time. and would even try to climb into his bouncy seat. she went to bed around 8:00 and we watched a couple movies and made sugar cookies (that didn't come out right despite going over the recipe like 5 times. thanks, martha!). azalea slept well in her pack n play, but was ready to go by 6:30 the next day. oh well. 

we spent thursday morning just hanging out at their house. we made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and dani's mother in law came over to visit the babies. we headed out around lunch time, but first stopped at the mall to see a friend. azalea did really well in the car on the way home too. she slept for over half the ride. whew! 

we took this funny picture right before we left. i guess we didn't need to bend down so much, huh? :) 

i was thinking...it's funny how things have changed. i met dani in college and we've been good friends ever since. we weren't exactly "crazy" back in those days, but we would go go go...shopping, out to dinner, out to the martini bar, etc. this visit was pretty slow-paced, but no complaints from me :) can't wait to see them again. for now i'll just have to settle for pictures of that cute little guy.