Gail's Visit!

Kate was so happy that Grandma Gail (or Mama Dale, as she calls her) visited this past week! Dan & I were pretty thrilled, too. We had a great visit with her and got lots of fun stuff done. She came in late Tuesday night (over five hours late, due to the plane leaving Seattle almost two hours late, thereby missing her connecting flight in Chicago). But despite a rocky start, the rest of the trip was a blast.

Wednesday was her birthday, so we took her to Ginza of Tokyo. I love that place; the food and the atmosphere is great. Kate was thrilled to watch the hibachi chef, but when he lit stuff on fire, her face got the biggest, "What on earth..." look to it, and she repeated, "Uh-oh!" several times, despite our assurances that what was happening was completely normal. And by the way, that means that in 2012, Kate got to spend both grandmas' birthdays with them, both at Japanese restaurants!

Friday the three of us went to Kate's art class, where we worked on some paper mache projects. Well, Gail & I watched the other kids working on their paper mache, since Kate just wanted to stir the paste. Oh well ;) Then, as usual, we headed to the Laurel for lunch.

Saturday we went to Kate's favorite park in Sun Prairie, and that night, Dan & I went out to my favorite restaurant, the Ocean Grill. It was delicious, as always, and because of this absolutely gorgeous weather we have been having, we got to sit outside. Downtown Madison is so beautiful anyway, and it was extra nice to be sitting outside enjoying it in March in Wisconsin.

Sunday we had our St. Patrick's Day meal (a day late, but that's ok). Dan made the most delicious corned beef and cabbage, and I baked these awesome sharp cheddar Irish soda biscuits with raisins. And of course, we managed to convince Gail (not that it was hard!) to babysit Kate so we could go to a movie (we saw Safe House; it was pretty good, but I almost wish we'd seen 21 Jump Street instead.)

Tuesday was my birthday, so Tracy took us all to lunch at Cafe la Bellaitalia, which was wonderful as always, and that night we went to Outback. Wednesday, Gail had to leave, but luckily not until the afternoon, so she was able to go to Toddler Tales with us. We were laughing so hard; there was this point in the storytime where the kids were shaking their shakers and singing the ABC song. Kate decided that was time to stand in the middle of the circle (it's fine if kids don't sit still during storytime; the teacher even encourages movement/dancing/etc.) and shake and dance wildly as she "sang" along. It was so cute (and so funny; everyone was laughing); the teacher even said, "That was absolutely beautiful, Kate." Ha! I love my little spunky toddler.

Then Gail watched Kate at the park while I finished up some editing (this has been an extremely busy time at work for me, so it was nice to have someone to help with Kate!) and we headed to lunch in Middleton with Dan so he could say goodbye to his mom. Then we dropped Gail off at the airport (poor little Kate had a fit that Grandma Gail was going bye-bye!), which ended a wonderful visit. Hopefully she will be back to visit soon!

Here are some of the pictures I got with my new camera. Dan actually gave it to me on Friday so that I could use it over the weekend. Since I knew what I was getting, it would have been torture to wait until Tuesday! I'm having so much fun playing with it; poor Kate probably thinks Mama's taking even more pictures than normal!


Silly girl (with chalk on her dress; luckily it all came out!)








A close-up of the first bouquet of flowers I got from my mom! They were sent on Friday (so obviously way early) and weren't exactly what she ordered, so I got a replacement bouquet on my birthday. Nice!


Gail & I were laughing as I was playing the "Draw Something" game on my phone. An artist I am not!


Hanging out in her PJs on Saturday morning.


Love those curls!


I love this face so much


"Really, Mama? More pictures?"


"You! Stop taking pictures."


Oops, didn't focus properly! Still a cute pic though...