Memorial Day and beyond

So, we have settled back into our apartment after a week long tour of the country. The adventure started in trying to get to Des Moines on Northwest Airlines (I would recommend to NEVER fly them! It's a long story but trust me). Once in DM we drove over to Omaha to see my mom, brothers and their families. The eleven of us went out for dinner to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday. Six adults and five kids are bit for this newlywed couple to handle. All in all it was a good meal and everyone came out of it in one piece.

The next day Keith took the boys (Pete, Rob and Nick) for some paintball while mom, Wendi and I hung out with the younger kids. I think Keith recruited a few more people into the paintball army.

Again, everyone came out of the day in one piece so that was good. I received a phone call from Becca that afternoon that Caden Robert Helkowski had joined the world. Eric and Christy were so excited about the birth of their son and couldn't wait to take him home to meet Dakota (the dog, not my nephew - Dakoda).

Monday we drove back to DM to see Keith's side of the family. First was a nice get together at Denny and Linda's house with the Forgy's. Cameron has gotten so big since Christmas! He looks like a little man instead of a baby - it's so cute. I was able to capture male bonding at it's finest between Matt and Cam. Once I get pictures off the camera, I will figure out how to add them here.

After D&L's we went to Marv and Jo's for a Johnson cook out. Let me just say that I seem to eat my weight in food when I hang out with these people. It was fabulous. Brett and Tracy made a fine looking man in Cade. He was such a good baby, being passed around all afternoon with very little fuss. Mom is tired and in pain from the C-section and Dad is serious about every aspect of caring for his son and wife. It is adorable. As always, the time with them was short and went quickly. By the time we get back Cade will be thinking about sitting up and the Cyr's should have bought and settled into a new house (hopefully in Ankeny).

Tuesday Keith and I stopped to visit with Papa. He is doing well and looking forward to a quiet summer in Ankeny. We talked a bit about home movies and it appears that Papa has quite the collection and is getting them transferred to DVD's. So, we scheduled a movie night with him when we are back for Turkey day.

Keith then went to visit with Grandma Busby and stop by Grandpa Busby's resting place while I did a quick load of laundry and took a quick nap. The kids at Pete's were a little under the weather with fevers and I think I took some yuckiness with me.

All in all, a great visit to the midwest. We are looking forward to returning in November. After our time in IA, we headed to Vegas......that's another post :-)