Ruthie's many travels continued last week as she visited both Chicago and Minneapolis. Among her many adventures, Ruthie gazed and giggled at the colorful fish and other sea creatures at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, let her curls blow in the wind during a boat tour of the Chicago skyline, bobbed with the waves amid one Minnesota lake, and laughed at the chimps wrestling playfully at St. Paul's Como Park Zoo. Perhaps even more importantly, Ruthie had the great pleasure of visiting with many friends and family in both cities.
Ruthie enjoys some down time in Chicago.
Here we are standing next to a statue of Mary Tyler Moore in downtown Minneapolis, memorializing the exact spot of her famous hat toss from the opening scene of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
In Chicago, Ruthie spent time with her great-grandparents, her uncle and cousins, and even met up with her Denver friend, Adeline, for some afternoon tapas. Having the great fortune to be able to watch Ruthie with her great Grams and Gramps brings nothing but sheer joy. And, Ruthie had nothing short of a blast entertaining all the folks in their retirement community. In the dining hall she brought smiles and laughter to everyone as she crawled and walked (still holding on!) to greet everyone at their tables. Ruthie even met two more Ruth's along the way. In fact, one of them said to me, "You know, Ruth is not a very popular name." I looked at her and said, "Well, we love it." Her response? "Well, I do, too!" So there!
Ruthie takes great Gramps for a walk!
In Minneapolis, Ruthie was able to spend time with friends Wes, Maureen, and Eric and, of course, with grandma Kate and grandpa Charlie. Ruthie received the royal treatment from grandma who knew how to spoil her in all the right ways!! She also really enjoyed being around g & g's three whippets- Emma, Hilo, and Kona. Emma is Bridget's sister but looks the least like her. Kona could be Bridget's stunt double. Everytime Ruthie saw the dogs (which was about every other second) she would get very excited and joyfully say "DOG!" A couple of times, I caught her calling Kona "Bridget."
Ruthie watches Hilo and Kona.
While we absolutely love traveling and taking Ruthie to visit friends, family, and new places, we are definitely experiencing the exhaustion of traveling with a toddler. We have one more trip next month but then we're staying put for awhile. So, anyone who wants to visit us out here in Colorado, we will be here!
