Murphysboro

For July 4th weekend Alex and I drove down to Murphysboro to visit Olivia. It was Alex's first trip down. Based on the amount of fun that was had, I'd say there will be more such trips in the future. We somehow managed to cram in a lot of fun AND a lot of relaxation. It's hard to get that balance right, but we did well. We went boating and swimming, ate at one of the best BBQ joints in the US, watched movies in our mini-movie theater, ran in the rain, went to a July 4th BBQ, visited Schlafly brewery, and went to the St. Louis Zoo. Of course, Olivia and I had to split the blogging material up equally, so you'll only see parts of our trip here. The other parts will at some point appear here.

First things first. Olivia hasn't seen Abby since she was a month old. That was a long time ago in baby development. Back then, Abby was nothing but an eating, pooping, crying machine that wanted nothing more than to bounce on the Yoga ball. Now she's an eating, pooping, crying machine that smiles, giggles, spits, sits, and is in general pretty entertaining. I was slightly worried that Abby's recent bout of clinginess would interfere with Olivia's enjoyment of Abby, but it turns out that Olivia is a perfect substitute mommy. We suspect it may be because we look so similar or smell similar, but maybe Olivia is just a natural mommy. In any case, Abby took to her like a Diadasia to a Sphaeralcea, or I guess a bee to honey.