Door County-July 4th

Ryan and I decided to take a mini-vacation up to Door County Wisconsin to celebrate the 4th of July and visit with his mom (Deb) and step-dad (John) who have a house in Egg Harbor.  The drive is about 4 hours and we decided to take our time and enjoy the ride up.  First stop was Oshkosh where we went to the Motherhood Maternity outlet store.  This stop was a success as I found several t-shirts, jeans, and even a dress to purchase.  I even let Ryan stop at the GAP store :)  After the outlet mall, we headed on up to Green Bay and stopped at the Packer Pro shop.  We were really excited to buy some cute clothes for Baby Hagemeier.  Unfortunately, we were very disappointed at the selection.  The baby ended up getting some booties and a teddy bear.  So we left Lambeau field and headed on up to the Egg.

Our visit with Ryan's parents was very relaxing.  Our first night we went to an excellent restaurant called Cooper's Corner.  They had a store there that sold oils and vinegars.  I got an excellent pomegranate balsalmic vinegar that is perfect for bread dipping and making reductions.

Dinner at Cooper's Corner

The next morning Ryan and John went golfing while Deb and I got pedicures and shopped at some baby stores.  That evening we went down near the beach to watch the fireworks.  We were so close that we could actually watch them setting them off.  Although we enjoyed the fireworks, I'm not convinced that the family dog Hampton had a good time...too many booms for him!

Waiting on the fireworks

On Sunday July 4th we decided to watch the Egg Harbor Parade.  They had been advertising that the University of Wisconsin Band would be performing and we figured we might as well check it out.  We picked out our spots and watched the entire parade which lasted an hour and a half!  It was also extremely hot out and we all had to take showers when we got home.

Ryan and I watching the parade

Here are a few things that we saw in the Egg Harbor Parade...

Local Firetruck with Mascot

Camel

Lots of tractors

And finally...the UW marching band!

There were literally 20 kids from the band on the back of a truck.  We were so disappointed.  I just started laughing...we were so hot and sweaty and we had waited an hour and a half to see this!  Oh well!  We should have trusted our instincts that the band would not be performing in a 4th of July parade in Door County!

Once we were showered, we headed out to Fish Creek for some shopping and dinner.  We  also got our picture in the giant beach chair.  It was somewhat of a challenge for me to get in and out of the chair.  Apparently I showed off my underwear in the process!

The big chair

Me and Ryan at his mom's house in Egg Harbor

Ryan and his mom

Needless to say we had a nice visit and enjoyed getting away from Madison for a few days.  Next trip to Egg Harbor will be with Baby in tow!

Learn your vegetables

This week baby center informed me that my baby boy is now the size of a rutabaga.  After putting some thought into it, I realized that I have no idea what a rutabaga is!  Then I began to worry that I won't be able to teach my little man his vegetables.  After asking a couple of other people, I realized that there were several of us who are familiar with the word rutabaga, but can't visualize what the vegetable looks like.  So I have decided to share a few facts I have now learned about rutabaga.

Taken from How Stuff Works

Taken from Kevin Weeks "Seriously Good" Blog

Rutabaga facts:

1. also known as the yellow turnip or just generally a turnip
2. root vegetable that is a cross between a cabbage and a turnip
3. carved for halloween in Britain and Ireland
4. cooked in a variety of ways and often used in soups and casseroles

Now I feel that I can at least visualize what a rutabaga is and will be able to tell my son that he was once the size of this purplish-yellow root vegetable!

Halloween Baby

Last weekend we went to Green Lake where 3 of Ryan's brothers were camping and where Ryan's dad has a summer place.  We had a great time at the pool playing with our nieces and nephew.  While there were many great moments of the weekend, there is one particular one that makes me laugh whenever I think about.

Here is a conversation (paraphrased of course) that I had with my nephew Ethan.

Ethan: Are you having a halloween baby?
Stacy: Yes, he is due around halloween (I was very impressed that he knew this information).  Do you think we should dress the baby up in a costume?
Ethan: Yes
Stacy: What should we dress him up as?
Ethan: Christmas!
Stacy: (Laughing) Should we dress him up like a Christmas tree?
Ethan: No
Stacy: How about an elf?
Ethan: Yes (laughing)

After this conversation, I may have to buy a miniature Elf outfit in case the baby is born before Halloween.

Little kids say the funniest things. I can't wait to hear what my little boy will have to say in a few years!

Lions and Soccer Balls

The summer is flying by and we are starting to plan for our little man to arrive.  We have now registered and picked out a theme for the babies room.  We are going with a safari/sports theme.  Many of you may be surprised that the babies room will not be a tribute to the Brewer's gift shop!  Our bedding is really cute and has lions and giraffes and other safari animals playing with soccer balls, etc.  Below are some of the wall hangings (copied from Babies r us) that go with our crib bedding.  Now we just need to decide what color to paint the walls.

Along with our sports theme, Ryan's mom got the baby some really cute socks this past weekend at a shop in Door County.  My favorite pair are the baseball socks.

I'll post more about our trip to Door County and all the other activities we've been up to this summer later.  I still have to take pictures off the camera...a simple task that always seems to take longer than necessary!