Tubing and other fun stuff

Yesterday Hannah went on her first tubing trip down the Upper Iowa River. Every year Lincoln, Rachel and I always go tubing. Sometimes other people join us and sometimes we go by ourselves. This year Dad and Hannah joined us. Hannah was very excited as this was the first year that she was old enough. Unfortunately it was a less then optimal year. The river was very low and we ended up scraping our butts a lot and actually had to walk certain parts of the river. Then once we got past the College Ave. bridge the water came to a virtual stand still. We ended up having to paddle most of the way through the stretch from College Ave. to just past the high school. Unfortunately that is also when the sun went behind the clouds and it started to get very chilly. I think Hannah enjoyed the first part of the trip - and I have great pictures to prove it - but she lost her love of the river towards the end. I asked her if she wanted to go next year and her answer was "I'll have to think about it".

After our four and a half hour tubing trip (which usually takes us about three hours) we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up. Mom had been babysitting Jake all day and they had a great day touring all the local parks and even went to the public swimming pool. After we all showered Mom and Dad took the kids back to the park and out to dinner while Lincoln and I went out for a "grown-up" dinner at La Rana with Rachel. After that Lincoln and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at the local theater. I swear, the smell of that place hasn't changed one bit since I moved away in 1988 (in a good way).

This morning Lincoln and the kids went down to the hotel pool while I took a nice long hot bath. I took Jake for a hair cut at 11 a.m. but it wasn't at the usual place that we go to while in Decorah. I couldn't get him into the usual place so I randomly chose another place that I remember having existed here in Decorah since my childhood but was a little panicked for Jake when we walked in and the place was full of old ladies getting their hair set for the week. Luckily the lady who cut his hair - the youngest one working there - did a great job with his hair and he looks wicked cute.

After Jake's haircut Lincoln and the kids and I met up with Grandma and Grandpa at Mabe's for lunch. I believe that is the fourth meal we've had there since Sunday. Right after that we headed out to pick up some flowers and do the "graveyard tour". Whenever we're in Decorah I always buy flowers for Gretchen's grave. Gretchen was the old lady that lived next door to us in Decorah and she was totally like a grandmother to me and Rachel. We loved visiting her and she always had crackers for us. Graham crackers for Rachel and Saltines for me. This year, unfortunately, I've had to add Grandma Lentz and Uncle Linus to the graveyard circuit. We drove out to Elma and I put flowers on both of their graves before driving out to Linus's accident site to show Lincoln. Whenever I visit Gretchen I'm sad but I don't cry. She has been dead for 12 years and we moved away 21 years ago. With Linus and Grandma, however, I was bawling like a baby. It was so sad. After driving out to the accident site we went over to my Uncle John's and Aunt Sandy's for a quick visit before heading back to Decorah.

Once back in Decorah I headed over to the spa for some steam therapy and a hot stone massage. It was pure heaven. I got a 15 minute steam treatment, an 85 minute hot stone massage and purchased three things of bath salts for less than I would pay out in Boston for just the massage. It was a nice break for me and it felt great after the tubing trip yesterday not to mention all the time we've spent in the car the past few days.

Once I was done at the spa we headed over to the Urgent Care Center at the hospital. No one was seriously ill or hurt but it was the only way to get Jake in to see the doctor. He started out with some scaly skin on his elbows last week which has turned into a itchy, nasty rash all the way up and down both arms. We got a prescription ointment for him before heading out to dinner and then back to the hotel room to pack up. Mom and Dad are coming up to play cards tonight so that the grown-ups can have some time to visit without the kids. We're staying in a suite at the hotel which has a separate room for the kids so once we put them down to bed we can stay up in the main room and hang out.

I promise to have pictures of our trip up eventually but unfortunately I've had trouble loading them on the blog using Lincoln's computer. Tomorrow morning we head up to Lin and Jim's at Lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota which will be another 5 hours in the car. Hannah told me the other day that if she has to get in the car again she's going "to blow up" but they did okay on the 45-minutes to and from Elma today so hopefully she's past the explosion stage.