"Where all the women are strong..."

Good ol' Lake Wobegon, [might as well be] my hometown. It's easy to feel such Keillor-esque affection for it now that I've been away for 20 years. And even easier since my mom left my small childhood hometown to return to her own childhood hometown: Minneapolis.

This was the last time I'll be able to fly with Maisy without having to buy her a ticket. While traveling with a "lap child" has financial and cuddling benefits, I think it might be kind of nice to have a little bit of personal space the next time we fly.

Maisy and I visited Minneapolis in mid-May, and had a lovely time. Maisy got to spend a lot of time with Grandma: reading books, talking, taking walks, having snacks. It's safe to say Maisy is taken with her Grandma. Each day during our visit, when Maisy woke in the morning or from her nap, one of the first things she said was "See Grandma?" I share Maisy's sentiments. No matter how old I am, it's always so nice to see my mom. I appreciate all she did to make our visit comfortable and special.

The bathtub at Grandma's is HUGE.

It was hot -- 90-something -- so we fled the playground to the mall.
Maisy made a friend.

We also were lucky to visit with most of the rest of my family, and to see our dear friend Rebecca, otherwise known during her last visit to San Francisco as Pasta to Maisy.

Maisy exploring a sculpture called Casa de Carbonero at Silverwood Park, where we visited with Grandpa. 

Maisy trying to fill Rebecca's shoes ;-)

No trip would be complete without at least one adventure. Unfortunately ours was having our return connecting flight from Denver to San Francisco cancelled, leading to us spend the night in Denver. Under these circumstances, I learned a lot from Maisy. Other than her understandable irritation with being confined in one way or another in airplanes or in lines in airports, she handled the whole thing with sunny good cheer:

A hotel with a king-sized bed? Awesome.

And it has a glass elevator? That will take me to a restaurant where a man will bring me pizza? Even better.

As for me, I was pretty happy that the man in the restaurant brought me a glass of wine.

We made it home safe and sound. Maisy was so excited to see Dave, kicking and wriggling to get away from me and run to him. We were all happy to be reunited, and are also happy that we will soon see Grandma. She is coming to San Francisco in June to help us celebrate Maisy's second birthday!