Marquette, Kansas TrIp

We took Anders to see my extended family in Kansas. He was a real trooper for the 1,400 mile round trip. Anders had a couple of really funny moments. First, we picked up my mom in Clear Lake, IA then we were about half an hour down the road when Anna and I coined a new game: "Iowa or Anders?" where we decide whether the smell wafting through the car was Iowa or Anders. We decided it was Anders not Iowa, so we stopped at the Boondocks. In order the change Anders, we had to see the cashier at the changing table to get the key to Billy J. Royal Memorial Shower #3 at the truck stop. We put Anders on the changing table, pulled down the pants, and found....nothing. Anders started cracking up. He was almost convulsing with laughter. He had played a practical joke on us and he understood that he had done so on some level. Even a couple days later, he was still laughing about it when we told the story.

On Saturday, we took Anders to my first barber, Kenny. Anders didn't take it as well as the first haircut. It started well enough, but then when the he heard the scissors next to his ears, he started crying. He didn't fight Kenny and he did calm down, but it wasn't his favorite experience. Then when I hopped into the chair, Anders got worried for me. Mom and Anna took him outside. Anders had his surfer hair chopped off. It's close cropped, but looks really good. I learned that my grandpa, Dick Peterson, used to complain that Kenny's dad Dewey cut his hair so close that it took two weeks for his hair to look decent. It's fun to have those sort of generational family connections, and one of the reasons Marquette is so appealing to me.

Anders also went to the grocery store, Piper's, where they had kid-sized green carts. He took one and drove it around the store. Anders was pretty handy with the cart. He quickly learned not to crash into the displays. By the third time at the store, we put a number of goods in the cart and he learned to maneuver the cart with groceries in them.

He went to the Marquette pool, his first trip to a swimming pool. He didn't like the baby pool because no one else was in there. I took him out to the basketball hoop. He enjoyed dunking the balls. By the end of our time, he figured out how to kick in the water. I even took a turn off the high dive. I used to be afraid to go off the boards. As I came to the top of the board, I realized why. The wind was whipping. The kids in the pool looked small down below. I could not back down since I saw Anders watching. Anna said Anders looked worried for me. I jumped in, with little splash, which would have benefitted me were I an olympic diver.

On our way back, we ran out of gas within sight of the Clear Lake water tower, where Mom's friend Paul was picking her up. It was a surprise as the gas gauge went down in a hurry. It went from two bars to a blinking half bar in a blink, then it only blinked for 7 miles. I thought the rule of thumb was one had 20 miles on E, especially in a PRIUS!!!

Oh well.

This weekend we fly to Colorado for our friend Marie's wedding in Fort Collins. We are leaving Anders with the grandparents. I'm excited to go back to CO for the first time in 24 years. Moreover, I hope to find out whether "Lloyd" from Dumb and Dumber was correct about "Colorado" in saying "that John Denver's full of shit." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80lM8ukLDns

By the way, as Anders learns words, he is inadvertently and advertently swearing a fair amount.

By by the way, Dan Seeley's dad looks just like John Denver. We have said that line more times than I could even begin to count over the years...