Did It

"Day by day" is what I keep telling myself when dealing with Mom being gone, and today I decided was going to be the day that I will tackle the blog. I've had many reminders lately that I haven't posted for a very, very long time and to be completely honest, I've felt horrible about it. But, every attempt I have made to get on here has resulted in a quivering lip and tears as soon as Jacob's page popped up. Even now, it's all I can do to keep them in.

The blog and email were my daily connection to Mom - we were terrible about calling each other, but when we did we talked literally for hours at a time and usually more than once in a day. Then that was it, a month or more would pass before we would get around to calling one another again, and usually it was because I needed a recipe or she would call and say, "Somebody asked me today how you were doing and I thought "Oh, I guess I haven't even talked to Kim for awhile, I should probably call her and see.'", which always made me laugh because that was just the way it worked between us.

Since she didn't live near us, she kept up to date with Jacob and myself through reading the blog and emailing me. The blogs were part of her morning ritual with Karen's girls as they got off the bus at school and stopped by her office to say "Good Morning" and to ask if there was anything new on any of the blogs. She reminded me of that whenever I slacked on my posting for awhile. "The girls are getting upset because there haven't been any new pictures of Jacob for them to see lately. You'd better get some on there." she'd say, as though telling me that the girls were upset would maybe give me an extra push to get some posted. Then, I could usually count on Mom being the first to post a comment and in that comment, reminding me of some story or situation from when I was younger and relating it to what Jacob was doing in the post!

The last time I talked to Mom on the phone was for my birthday. She wished me a happy birthday and then we talked about Jacob, of course. I had told her that he was going to wear the suit that she had bought him to Easter church services and she reminded me that she hadn't even seen a picture of him in his suit yet, then insisted that I post pictures of him in his suit. So, a few of the following pictures are solely per Mom's request.

The rest of the pictures are from our family vacation we took a few weeks ago. Scott had a break in the field and suggested that we go back to Illinois to spend some time with my family. I have to admit, and not because I don't love my family, but I didn't jump up and down about the opportunity. Knowing that Mom wouldn't be there to greet us when we arrived at Karen and Chris's or that I wouldn't be able to take Jacob to the school for her to show off to all of her friends made it difficult to go, but we did, making a few stops on the way.

We first ventured to the Twin Cities. There we spent the morning at the Minnesota Zoo where Jacob was mostly amused with all of the fish and the monkeys. After a nap back at the hotel, we trotted across the street to the Mall of America where, again, Jacob was mostly amused with all of the fish. We encouraged him to go on rides at the Nickelodeon Park, but he insisted on seeing the fish in the Underwater Adventure instead. He loved it! How many fish can a three year old look at and enjoy in one day? Apparently, hundreds!

After leaving the Twin Cities, we made a stop in the Quad Cities, Moline to be exact. Scott had thought of taking Jacob to the John Deere Pavilion to see the display of tractors. Jacob loved it and to top it all off, Grandpa Anderson's new tractor was on display with a baler! I mean, what more could Jacob have asked for? Maybe some fish there as well, actually! Ha!

Thank you for checking in! God bless! Scott, Kim, and Jacob

The ornery child in his snazzy suit!

Jon organized a very fun Easter egg hunt!

Khelin!!!

He even found some eggs in the bucket of the tractor!

Proud of his findings!

Cute calf! I couldn't resist a picture.

This animal was not at the Anderson Farm, it was a moose at the Minnesota Zoo. They are so odd looking when you see them up close!

The lazy Timberwolf. They are so big, though you can't really tell in the picture.

Another odd-looking animal when you see it up close.

Speaking of odd-looking animals - Scott's favorite, the Takin.

Apparently Scott's favorite animal when he was Jacob's age.

He had imaginary Tigers that were penned in the electric company's substations in the area.



The crazy monkey that practically flew from branch to branch. One of our favorites!

My favorite picture even though it didn't turn out too well. This was the first fish that Jacob saw of the day and he was thrilled. He didn't want to leave it, not knowing that there were hundreds more to see!

Seahorses, another favorite.

And, more seahorses.

And an odd leafy, dragon sort of a fish. I can't remember what it was called.

And some more odd dragon horsey type of fish. Again, can't remember what they're called.

Jacob probably spent twenty minutes watching this dolphin play with a ball. It was great entertainment!

A gigantic turtle.

The tunnel in the Underwater Adventure at the MOA. I'm not going to lie, I might have to think three times before jumping into a lake again. I'm not a big fan to begin with, but when I saw in the freshwater display how the fish just kind of all linger around, I told Scott I didn't know if I could ever get in a lake again.

A sawfish laying on the glass.

A seaturtle swimming over us.

Looking, looking, looking for Dory...

...THERE she is!!

I was excited about Woody made out of Lego's, but this was just before we were leaving and nothing was entertaining to Jacob anymore!

The big tractor!

So excited!

Grandpa's tractor with a baler! This made his day! I think he told me about it at least ten times...at least!

Huge!