Trip to Minnesota

This weekend Emma took her first trip out of Iowa to visit relatives in Minnesota. We left Friday morning, stopping in Waterloo to pick up some furniture from my mom's house to deliver to my sister. We also met up with my mom with whom we travelled to Minnesota, although she took her own car since the truck was packed full, and she planned on staying a little longer than we were. On our way, we stopped for lunch in Spring Valley, Minnesota. While we were in Spring Valley, we noticed a garage sale that had some baby clothes, so we stopped and bought a few outfits as well as some toys for Emma.

Since we would have arrived at my sister's house before she got home from work, we stopped at my grandmother's apartment in Hastings. When we arrived there, my aunt and two uncles were there visiting her. We spent a couple hours visiting with them all before going to my sister's house.

We spent most of Saturday at my aunt and uncle's house in Cottage Grove. Three of my cousins, one of their husbands, and five of their collective six children were there as well. With the exception of one of my cousins and her husband, I hadn't seen any of them in quite some time. It was good to see everyone. That evening Emma went to her first concert as we went to the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra concert, in which my sister performs, at Sundin Music Hall at Hamline University. Emma managed to sleep through most of the concert, although she was wide awake during the first piece, Chamber Symphony Number 5 for 10 Winds, Op. 75, by Darius Milhaud. I was afraid that she would start crying during that piece since it was not too pleasant sounding. She did get frightened during the first piece after the intermission, Robert Schumann's Konzerstrück for Four Horns and Orchestra in F Major, Op. 86. With the four horns and drums, it was quite loud. Mel managed to calm her down and she fell asleep before the piece was over.

Finally, yesterday we took Emma on her first trip to the Mall of America following a visit to Ikea. While Mel and I enjoyed chili dogs from Nathan's Famous, Emma had a bottle of Similac. Our return trip was a bit painful when we filled the truck with nearly eighty dollars worth of gas when we were halfway home. But other than that, the drive home was not too bad. We did have to wake Emma up in Clear Lake to eat. We did not want to end up with a screaming, hungry baby in the middle of nowhere. With gas prices as they are, it may be a while until we take another long trip, but this one was fun.