Keeping up with the Joneses.

For memorial day weekend, we took our very first family vacation. Although the woman who teaches my mom's class says that there is no such thing as a family vacation -- only a family trip. And what a "trip" it was!

We left on Friday after work and headed out 94 to Rockford, Illinois to see my aunts Judy and Jill and their families. Judy, Jill, and Jill's daughter Laura had all come up to Mpls for Jude's shower, so we wanted to introduce Jude to all of his fans. The car ride down was an eventful one -- we bought Jude a new mirror with lights and music. It entertained him...for a while. But definitely not for the entire 6 hour drive. So one of us rode in the back with him while the other one drove, and it seemed to work out pretty well.

Everything was going smoothly until about 40 miles outside of Rockford. We had the car checked before we left, and everything had seemed fine. But suddenly, the car started sounding like a motorcycle. Not in a cool way, either. In a "what-the-hell-is-happening-to-my-muffler" way. We tried to ignore it (this should be your first clue that we are in denial that our car is 14 years old). We got off of the interstate on Riverside in Rockford.

Then disaster struck. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUNCH! The car would not move any further. We pulled into the Road Ranger and called Judy. It was 11:00, we had a tired dog, and an even more tired baby. Judy met us at the gas station, where we called AAA for a tow. To make a long story short, the problem was that the previous mechanic had neglected to tighten a bolt. Yup, one bolt. Tightened bolt: $46. Safe trip to Rockford: Priceless.

We had a great time hanging out with the Jones side of the family. We made our requisite trip to Beef-a-Roo. That's right, the world's best fast food restaurant with the world's best cheese fries.

But most importantly, we got to spend a ton of time with the family.  We stayed in the Trader's basement, and  Jude also got to experience the beauty of sleeping in the Trader basement.  He had three great nights of sleep in the pitch black!  Judy was fantastic with the baby...it was definitely love at first sight!  He must know that their names are only one letter different.  

We also bought a baby pool for Jude to hang out in before the big pool at the Stoker's pool.  

He loved it so much, and he was in there for long enough to get his cute feet wrinkly!

Practice in the baby pool got him ready for the big pool the next day!  We had a great BBQ with the whole family, and Jude got to meet his little cousins Quinton and Layli.  All of the babies had a great time in various stages of swim.  Layli had her floatie suit on and was able to swim across the pool -- even though she kept her mouth open and then told us all that she had a tummy ache!  

Quinton fell in love with the baby pool, and kept sticking his chin in the sprinkler.  

And then there was Jude.  He took turns in both of the rafts that Jill and Kim had for him, and he loved both of them.  He would have stayed in there all day if his lips hadn't started to turn blue!!

We can't wait to see the Jones side of the family again when we are down there for Thanksgiving!