Roadtrip 2011: IL, KY, & TN

The past week and a half has been road trip time for the Dixons. On our way out to North Carolina--our chosen destination for family vacation--we stopped for lunch in Champaign, IL. Paca, Teresa, and Forest's old lab mate Mark met us on the U of I quad.



Summer is the best time to visit the quad if you like having it almost all to yourself. It has none of the hustle and bustle of graduation season, when we were there a few weeks ago.

After several more miles on the road, we stopped for dinner in Louisville, KY with my before-high-school friend Jessica. She organized an ice cream sandwich eating competition for us after dinner. It was supposed to be a competition for speed, but perhaps it should have been a competition for messiest eater?
Ramona and Greta would have taken the prize.

The next day we tagged along with Jessica's family for church, then continued driving southeast, but stopped in the Great Smoky Mountains before crossing the North Carolina border. Ramona was thrilled to get out of the car and do some hiking to see Grotto Falls.
(and snails along the way)




The remainder of the drive through the national park had some breathtaking views--we had to park and take some of them in.

Oishii oishii

The past couple of weeks Ramona has been exposed to a large dose of Japanese banter with a couple of visits from my parents who stopped by on their way to and from Utah this month. It was enjoyable to hear her mix Japanese phrases like "oishii oishii (yummy)" "oshimai (all done)" or "sugoi sugoi! (wow!)" into her own speech.

Although there isn't much to "do" in Cedar Rapids, we did manage to get out of the house a few times while we had our visitors. For example, we went to a pancake breakfast fundraiser for a local scout troop (mainly because Forest was helping out):
We also made it to Bever Park to see the farm animals:
(and riding animals)
(and farm equipment)


We went for a walk or two and played in the yard when it was pleasant
And we tried to find some flowers at Noelridge, although it may have been too early to see most varieties of blooms.

For our last meal together, Baachan made some fried rice placed on plates in little mounds and Jii created a little Japanese flag to stick in Ramona's rice mound, as is traditionally done in many kids' meals or "okosama lunches" in Japan.
I know Ramona's exposure to Japanese culture is nothing like mine was growing up, but we still try to give her a taste here and there. Hopefully she appreciates these doses and finds them for the most part "oishii."

Thanks for visiting, Jii and Baachan!

Graduation

This past weekend we drove back to Illinois to participate in the 2011 Commencement ceremony at our old Alma mater, U of I. Although it felt a little strange to be celebrating our graduation so many months after receiving our diplomas, it was a good opportunity for us to visit with family,

another opportunity for Ramona to get more presents,

an opportunity to visit with old friends and colleagues,


and of course an opportunity to put on some graduation regalia and gain a sense of accomplishment.

Degree candidates from both my department and Forest's participated in the same campus-wide ceremony at 2pm on Sunday, so we sat in our respective sections on the main floor of Assembly Hall and made faces at each other through the long and tedious event. I tried to snap a few pictures of Forest from my chair--here he is in line to go on stage:
And here he is actually being hooded by his adviser, although the photo is too blurry to really show what is going on:
Thank goodness Ramona caught a nap on Paca's lap at some point while all of this was going on. I think she was thoroughly tired of having her routine wrecked by all this graduation business.
That night we celebrated in a truly appropriate way: with Papa Del's deep dish pizza. We missed you, Papa Dels, and we'll always remember you, Champaign-Urbana!

"I'm not one, I'm two!"

Dear Ramona,
Since you probably won't remember much of your second birthday, I took some pictures for you.

In the morning, we had five of your little friends over to decorate cookies.
After cookie time, it was balloon time.

And then it was egg hunt time.

It wasn't a terribly elaborate party, but I think you genuinely enjoyed yourself.
Did you get a birthday cake? Well, yes, you did. My cakes are put to shame by many mothers who create edible works of art in the shapes of cars, animals, princesses--whatever the birthday child requests. The best I can do is something like this (Daddy's birthday cake this year):
I decided since I wasn't going to make you a tremendously fancy cake, I would at least make you one that is pink. So, here it is, next to your pink flowers from Paca.

It was quite adorable to watch you try and blow the candles out . . .
. . . and dive right in soon after.

All day when I asked you how old you were, you would give me varying answers. The first time you answered correctly, but once you said "Six," and another time you said "Ten." I think you were probably being a smart aleck. The last time I asked you, you said, "One!" then shook your head, and exclaimed "I'm not one, I'm two!"

I hope it's a good year for you, Mona-Pie. We love you.