A Homer Weekend Part 2

After the lake and rose viewing it was decided we would park one car and take one to Cleveland to visit the museum. Rebekah truly enjoyed her new duties of keeping aunt Courtney busy.

The museum, which besides parking was free, was amazing! So many things to see. I was too busy enjoying to take pictures. However I did get this one:

Rebekah on the other hand was less than enthusiastic. So Don took her downstairs to a children's section and spent a good amount of time there while I could explore.

I could have stayed there a lot longer but I knew Rebekah's schedule and it was about time for her to eat. Got to feed the lion before she melts. Turns out I wasn't the only one having a great time exploring.

She even did some art work of her own:

Actually love this one:

Then we left in search of food. Courtney found this wonderful little brewery for lunch / dinner. It was really crowded and I almost backed into someone taking this but it was worth it. 

The place was packed and food took a while to come. Rebe entertained herself by taking pictures.

After taking the previous Rebekah looked at it and tried to rub Courtney's face away. She was not happy with the outcome. Very politely she asked aunt Courtney to try again.

Much better.

Food still wasn't here and Rebekah was getting pretty weary. The waitress came by and offered bread. I said yes please. She soon brought the bread and Rebekah's meal. Bless her. The rest of the food came soon and it was wonderful!

It was raining a little on the way back and we left Rebe's umbrella in the car but never fear, Courtney had her covered.

Once back in the hotel it was time for brownies. Oh yeah, and that's Don's finger print in the lower left hand corner. And no I still haven't truly forgiven him. Don't mess with my Courtney brownies, man!

After eating brownies with some ice cream that Don bought, Rebekah was finally able to play doctor. Courtney made a great patient.

Dustin got to play nurse to Rebekah's doctor.

Rebekah checked out Courtney and apparently she had a bird stuck in her ear. Rebekah went off to get some bugs to lure the bird out with. The following ensued:

Rebekah didn't get much sleep the night before so she was more than ready to go down, and I heard there was a BYU game to prepare for, so we broke up the party around 8.

Rebe slept about 12 hours. It was a record. Happy birthday to me!

The next morning we went down to meet the Homers for breakfast. Rebekah entertained us with new ways to eat cereal.

Who needs a spoon when there's a straw present?

We met at church (the Walkers were late as usual...). Once there Rebekah placed herself between Courtney and Dustin and Don and I got to listen to church. I feel a little guilty. Just a little though...

Then we drove to the lake for me to say goodbye.

This little squirrel greeted us, then ran with a big apple in his mouth.

The lake was as beautiful as the day before but more windy and a little more chilly. A man at church mentioned they had about 30 days of warm weather. Yikes! Rebekah headed straight for the playground.

But it wasn't quite the same. Rebekah was worried Dustin would get hurt again.

The sand seemed a safer bet.

Courtney joined in like the trooper she is.

Don spent some one on one with the lake.

But it was time to get going. Courtney took this family picture on the way back. Rebekah is being a penguin, I'm being a shark, and Don is being the man who laughs at - I mean with - us....

We got back to the car and said our goodbyes. It was hard for Rebekah however Courtney distracted her by sharing more  M&M's with her. 

Once in a lifetime you meet someone who changes your life. I met Courtney about 8 years ago. I wish I had the words to explain my feelings but they are too tender. I will say this: Courtney, my friend, I am so grateful for you. Thanks so much for not going away!

A Homer Weekend

Months and months ago I talked to Don about my upcoming birthday. I'm turning 40 I said. I continued: I want to do something big, maybe involving a beach. It was then he pointed out that my birthday was on labor day and beaches would be overly crowded so no. I was bummed but I understood. 

A little while later someone got in trouble. So, in the hopes of making things better, someone mentioned I should maybe talk to my good friend Courtney and see if she and her husband wanted to meet us somewhere. I of course jumped on it. 

A few weeks before my big day Courtney got back to me with a plan. It included them, brownies, and a beach the weekend after my birthday. Sold!

Finally the big day arrived. Rebekah was all ready and waiting.

We had to wait until Don got home from work and then I was running behind my schedule. Long story short, we finally got off around 7pm. But we had to make a few stops: first gas; then I realized I didn't bring Rebekah's go-to healthy snack or juice boxes so Don stopped at Miejer's and let me run in; about an hour into it Don decided he was tired and wanted to rest a little before the late night shift drive comes so we switched places; and finally somewhere about two hours into it I realized we left without any cash so we stopped at a couple stores until we found a store that would let us get cash back off a discover card so we could pay the tolls. Mind you, ever time we took a different road, slow down, or stop Rebekah asked, "Are we here....?"

Around midnight we pull in. Rebekah, who has continually said she was tired for the last hour and a half, was still awake. And apparently very interested in the hotel ceiling....

We get everything inside and about an hour later Rebekah is asleep. (Courtney and Dustin are still on the road at this point. Come to find out they didn't leave until 9 or so which brought them in somewhere around 3. During the drive I texted I was concerned about their late night drive and getting together early the next morning. I suggested they sleep in to which Courtney texted back, "We'll sleep when we are dead." Ah to be young again....)

The next morning Rebekah woke up at her normal 7 am. I played on the iPad with her a little while the rest of the group woke, then we got cleaned up and went down to breakfast in the hopes of meeting Courtney and Dustin. While she was waiting in great anticipation, Rebekah entertained herself with dad.

Finally the Homers showed up. Rebekah was all about Courtney. Don and I could have left and she wouldn't even have noticed. Got to love that. Courtney brought me her world famous brownies, which I showed great restraint by not eating them for breakfast. (Don, however, had other ideas but I'll come back to that.)

First order of business, get the newly 40 year old to the beach. Second order of business, give aunt Courtney M & M's Rebekah wanted to buy for her in the hopes that aunt Courtney is of course in a sharing mood.

It was windy. Very windy. Rebekah almost didn't make it. Good thing dad was there.

I wanted to touch the water. It said no swimming but this wasn't swimming this was touching. It felt so warm! Expected it to be cold.

Don wanted to walk out a bit. Despite the size of the waves, I was brave and went with him.

Soon, Rebekah discovered the play ground. Dustin told her they would take her there however Rebekah's answer was, "I need to wait for mommy and daddy." 

And wait she did. Don soon joined her in a walk to the play ground. 

It was here Rebekah discovered a new friend. His name was Mr. Dustin. He had this new game he called Hide and Seek. Rebekah was very good at it...

...and it seemed Mr. Dustin was very very bad at it. Rebekah kept yelling, "Over here! I'm here! Look over here! By the slide!" Dustin kept searching and searching....

Every so often he would find her.

Somewhere somehow during this game Mr. Dustin hurt his head. Rebekah spent the rest of the trip worried about uncle Dustin (yes, during the game he was upgraded from Mr. to uncle). While he recovered we enjoyed more of the scenery:

Bird prints. So cool!

It was so windy the birds in the sky would simply glide with the wind. So beautiful to watch!

A few selfies:

Courtney seems to have the selfie perfected. Of course, in our defense, I think Courtney has that cool reverse screen option....

But without uncle Dustin and his hide and seek game, Rebekah soon became restless. The wind (which had never gone away) seemed to be back and Rebekah had enough (as you can see from the selfie picture). So we went to check out the rose garden. Rebekah hardly left Courtney's side. It was so fun to see.

Rebekah decided she was in the mood for pictures. I think it was because aunt Courtney was doing the photographing. But I got some in too. This one for example.

And this one:

This is the picture Courtney was taking:

Courtney's:

Courtney's:

Another Courtney:

A Rebekah original:

Rebekah:

Me:

Finally the photo shoot was done and we headed back to the cars. But not before we noticed a really colorful (oddly blue) fountain. At this point I was worried about Rebekah jumping in. But Don said he had things under control so I took a picture instead.

More to come.