Trip to see the bamfas

After we moved up here we ended up having a few days before Daddy started his new job, so we went to the Quad Cities to see Grandma and Grandpa (or as I refer to them, Bamfa and Bamfa). It's about a 9 hour drive, made longer by me potty-training and wanting to stop constantly to use the bathroom, a tactic I use whenever I'm bored.

We stopped through Cedar Rapids to go to dinner with Mommy's friend Liz and some friends of hers. I used the potty at least 6 times during the hour and a half we were at the restaurant!

Of course we went to breakfast with Great-Grandma (or Great-Bamfa, as I call her). And Bamfa wore his picture shirt. Mommy thought this was very funny, especially because she didn't point it out to him beforehand.
We went to a museum too, where I dressed in costumes and rode a firetruck. And then threw a massive tantrum because I had to leave the museum and said firetruck.

We had dinner at Bamfa's house one night, yummy pizza from Benny's. I noticed that Bamfa has a guitar, so he showed me how to play it. Kind of.
We went to the zoo, of course. I love zoos. In one of my favorite Barney videos, BJ goes to a zoo and takes lots of pictures of all the animals. Last year Aunt Debbie got me a camera for my birthday, so whenever I go to the zoo I have to take lots of pictures. And like BJ's, mine don't really turn out either. I think I was aiming for a turtle in these shots.
While we were there, we also went to Sunset Resorts campground, where Bamfa and Bamfa Don have a membership. Mommy used to go there a lot as a kid, and she said not much has changed since she was there. Bamfa and Bamfa Don have a RV that they keep out there. It was so cool! I would've loved to have just sat in it all day, pretending to drive and climbing in and out of the bunk above the cab (well, having someone lift me in and out of it).

We went paddleboating - it was so much fun! I got to wear a life jacket, and since I was in the middle I got to be the one steering! I had two directions: all the way right and all the way left. We went in a tight circle, then almost ran into a tree hanging over the water (the only thing that saved us was ducking). Mommy and Bamfa tried to steer sometimes, which of course led to lots of tears on my part. When I wasn't crying, I sang my sailing song: "SAIL-ing, SAIL-ing," over and over and over.
We also went swimming. We waited until after lunch to try to give the water a chance to warm up, but it refused to cooperate. Did that stop us? No! Not me, at least. And I dragged Daddy into the water with me. Mommy just sat on the side and took pictures. My kind-of-but-not-really step-cousins went swimming too, with my kind-of-but-not-really step-uncle. We men can handle it!