Only in a small town in Iowa

Before we got too far away from my hometown we stopped at a little gas station in Spillville. According to my family they make great pizzas, be we just stopped for a couple of beverages. Little did I know when I walked into this place that they would sell something near and dear to my heart, Kolaches. 

Not too many people know about this yummy delicacy. Kolaches are Czech pastry pinwheels that have your favorite preservative inside. My favorite happens to be cherry, but you can also get apricot, prune, raspberry, and poppy seed. If you google Kolaches you will see mainly two different ways to make these, open faced and pinwheels. The correct and only way to make them is in a pinwheel. 

I remember when I was young help my mom and her church make dozens and dozens of these early in the morning for a yearly craft show. Still to this day, church ladies start the ovens and 5 am and go until 2 or 3 pm. The end result is a couple hundred dozens. 

If you are ever in the area of Spillville stop at the Mini Mart to get your self some, you will not be disappointed. Or at least get one a try.

The above photo is courtesy of nevereatsolo.com

Weekend Getaway with the Hubby!

This past weekend Mike and I ventured up to Minneapolis, without Sullivan. For the majority of Sullivan's life he's had both his parents with him all the time. There has been only a couple of nights where Mike or I have been away but never together. On Friday after work he headed up to Calmar to spend the night at my parents. The next morning we packed up our things and took Sullivan over to my sister's house and then we head to Minnesota. I knew Sullivan would be fine because he's very comfortable with my sister's family and she has two boys, one which is almost exactly a year older than Sull. My biggest concern was how he would do when he was tired. 

We got several updates from my sister, all of which were how much he was loving life, loving the "Cozy Coupe, " and loving Asher. We took our time get up to Minneapolis, stopped at a suburb to do a little shopping. Once we got to the big city we checked into our hotel and headed to one of my favorite places, IKEA! Gosh I love this store, I believe we spend a little over two hours in this place, but I could have easily doubled that. Of course I couldn't leave the place without not getting Sullivan something. This lucky little boy scored a circus tent. 

Big Boy!

Look at this kid! Can you believe how big he's getting? I sure can't.Here's some snaps from this week.

While daddy's away..

This weekend Sullivan and I got to have some mother-son bonding. Mike packed up early Saturday morning to head up to Minneapolis for a guys weekend. Once a year he tries to get together with some high school/college buddies to draw for fantasy football. Last year Sullivan was very young so Mike just called in his picks and missed out on most of the fun. 

Here's what our day on Saturday looked like:

6:15- woke up ate a little Kix cereal while watching tv and playing
7:30- ate breakfast got dressed for the day
8:30- left for Farmer's Market, garage sale, ToyRUs
9:30- back home to play with our new kitchen
10:30- Grammie and Papa stopped by
11:20- out to lunch at Applebees with Grammie and Papa
12:45- another trip to ToysRUS to exchange baby gate
1:30- back home to take nap
3:30- snacks and playtime
4:15- trip to Walmart (yes another baby gate, couldn't find the right one!)
5:45- dinner
6:30- played outside 
7:30- get ready for bed

Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

This past Sunday Mike, Sullivan and I head east to Dubuque to visit the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. This was Sullivan's first official vacation field trip with us. I thought this would be a great icebreaker since Dubuque is only an hour and a half away from Cedar Falls. 

The Museum and Aquarium is very nice. We had fun looking at different fish and sea creatures and learned a lot about the might Mississippi River. We even got to see an alligator! I think Sullivan two favorites of the day where the turtles and the sting rays. 

We headed home after a couple of hours because Sullivan started to feel a little under the weather. He's been having a tough week or so due to a bunch of teeth coming in. We have one molars through and the other will hopefully break through soon. I believe this month alone he's gotten over 5 more teeth.

Later this fall we will have to try again at another little adventure away! 

We got a walker!

I'm a little late but Sullivan is officially walking! On Saturday, July 27th it was like a light switch turned on and Sullivan decided he was going to give walking a go. Occasionally you can find him crawling to get a toy or his bennie but for the most part walking is his primary way to get around. 

This past Sunday Sullivan also picked up how to stand freely in a room. This little boy is getting so big, and just in time because on Monday he will be transitioning into the toddler room at daycare. It will be a big day for him. Wearing big boy shoes all day, taking naps on kiddie cots rather than in a crib, eating lunch in the cafeteria with all the big kids and getting to do fun things like play in the gym and do arts and crafts. I am so proud of him and who he is becoming. Here's a little video of him on the move.