Tuckered out

 This picture of Darby captures how all of us feel at the end of this weekend.  Too tired to care where we land, just as long as it's at home.

Rick travels quite a bit in the summer for work, but this week it was my turn.  In four days my car of colleagues covered three different remote locations in Minnesota and Manitoba for a total of about 1500 miles.  The drive was much longer than the amount of work we had to do at each station, but that much driving is also tiring.  All in all it was a great trip, but I was glad to be home on Thursday.

Friday Rick and I decided to take a half day off of work and head to the Iowa State Fair.  For those of you who don't know (or have somehow forgotten), I love the Fair.  I grew up going to the fair and have either volunteered or have been paid staff at every fair since 1999.  There's something magical about working there every day, being behind the scenes, and knowing others working there as though they were long-lost family members.  Luckily, Rick shares my love of the fair.  The weather on Friday was phenomenal, and we were not the only ones who thought it would be good to get there early in the day.  Parking was hard to find, but the lines for food were not terrible so we were happy.  We saw many fair highlights, but we will be back next weekend (if not before) as we're volunteering selling water on Saturday.  I was a little disappointed that I had to slow down a bit this year... apparently hauling an extra 10-15 pounds around the state fairgrounds didn't agree with me as well as I had hoped.  Still, I can't complain about how easy my pregnancy has been thus far.

Saturday we headed north to my parent's house.  Darby and Macie were excited to be reunited, but Darby did put the puppy in her place a little more than their last visit.  Again I was impressed with her patience; I know I had little patience for Macie's appetite for my exposed flesh.  After they ran around all morning, we hopped in the car with my parents to head to a wedding in the Twin Cities.  It was a beautiful wedding and a reunion of sorts as I saw many classmates and people from my hometown.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the attention my belly was getting.  Luckily a few of my dresses are stretchy and could accommodate the extra load so I didn't need to buy new (or at least not yet).  It was a wonderful evening--congratulations Melissa and Kent!

This morning we didn't stick around my parents' too long, but we did get in a hunting lesson with the puppy.  Dad and Rick shot some pigeons that had overtaken the barn, and then tested Macie's interest in the birds.  For being 10 weeks old and it being her first hunting lesson, I was pretty impressed.  She was excited to bring the bird back to Dad when he tossed it 10 or 15 feet and after the birds were taken away from her she was smelling the ground where the birds had been, looking for feathers.  Looks like Rick may be bird hunting as well as bird hunting in the future.

 Thought I would throw in a few updated belly shots.  I'm bound to get better at taking these!  Still feeling great, but no longer fitting in my normal clothes (except a few larger or stretchy selections).  Maternity clothes it is from here on out!  I bought a few new items, scored some great garage sale finds, and had many lent to me by a very generous friend.  As far as I can tell, all the weight is heading to my belly, and since I have a fairly short torso it's becoming more prominent.  My sister, by comparison, does not stick out quite as far, but she is taller with a long torso so it has somewhere to go.  I attempted swimming while at a hotel this past week and was surprised how hard it was, though there was a slide that was kicking off a lot of water at one end so it was difficult to swim against the "current".  My belly button looks as though it's strained and trying to stay in place; it will be interesting to watch its migration as the days pass.  Baby is definitely on the move, some days more than others, and after a week of me calling Rick over to feel my belly the baby finally cooperated and he felt the kicks as well.  I loved the surprised and excited look on his face!

I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather and the Iowa State Fair if you live in the state!