Road Trippin'

Last week, Kylie and I, along with Jon's dad and brother, Tony, and Ingrid, Elias, and Espen piled into an RV for a 40 hour round trip road trip to Virginia. Jon and his mom have tight work schedules, so they flew out and met us in VA for the weekend portion. We went out there to see Jon's younger brother, Greg, present his thesis for his master's degree in Athletic Training.

 Kylie enjoying the ride!

 This was our set up with the kids. 

Doug (our driver) and the RV!

The road trip went better than expected, especially with 3 children under the age of two! The kids were REALLY good, considering they were strapped into their car seats for 10ish hours each day! :) I guess the Barlow kiddos are some laid back people. I should add that we stayed in hotels each night, so that probably helped the mood (Except for Doug, Tony and Espen one of the nights). I can't imagine how we would have slept in there with 4 adults and 3 kids in cribs! I was probably the most high-strung person in the "big truck" but even I maintained my cool for the most part. No one had any huge outbursts, and we all survived to tell the tale!

The actual drive was scenic and beautiful, especially through the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia. John Denver's song, "Country Roads" (which is Kylie's favorite song), says it best, "Almost heaven, West Virginia!" :)

 

The Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia.

We spent about 60 hours in Charlottesville, VA where Greg did his master's program at the University of Virginia. The town and college have a lot of cool history behind them. The college was envisioned and designed by Thomas Jefferson! And it's easy to see that the entire place was structured long before most architectural master pieces in Minnesota. While there, we spent time swimming in the hotel, touring the town and college, eating at yummy restaurants including Chick Fil A and The Boathouse, and watching Greg present his thesis and complete his training! I HEARD that Greg did a great job, but I didn't actually get to see it because Kylie was being a pill that day. She needed to be quiet for about 12-15 minutes, but didn't even make it 2 minutes before I had to leave the auditorium with her. She is in this stage where she LOVES to hear herself talk. She says a word, and then repeats that word about 50 times before moving on to the next word. And this continues constantly. Most of the time it's really sweet, but I must say I was really disappointed to miss Greg's presentation. At least, everyone else made it through and got to see it! We are all very proud!

Greg posing for pictures after his thesis presentation!

 This is the pedestrian mall in Charlottesville.

It reminded me of State Street in Madison.

 An old building on campus.

 A door to a dorm room on campus.

 Inside the Rotunda, which was Thomas Jefferson's vision!

 A marble statue of TJ!

 The medical school at UVA.

 

 This is how Tony, Kylie and Elias traversed the campus! 

Who needs a double BOB?!?

After celebrating Greg on Saturday, we took off early Sunday morning for the 20 hour trek back to Minnesota! Again, it went well, but I was happy to be home and back in my own bed!

Summer Fun!

19 months old!

 

Kylie and I are having tons of fun hanging out together this summer. We like to go to the swimming pool, to the park, and for walks in the evening. On rainy days, we like to stay inside and read books, practice walking and climb around.

Playing in the pool!

Swinging at the park on a nice summer day!

One of Kylie's new favorite places to play.

Kylie is 19 months old and still growing like a weed. She had an appointment last week, and she weighed in at 26 pounds and measured 33 inches long. She's learning lots of new words and getting closer (I hope) to real walking...She can take up to about 15 steps unassisted! :) YAY!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer too!

Madison

The Capitol building.

Madison, WI is one of the Barlow family's favorite places. It's where Jon and I went to college, met, fell in love and made lots and LOTS of wonderful memories! And that's where Jon, Kylie and I went this past weekend to celebrate four years of wedded bliss!

The trip was short and sweet (about 24 hours), but we did all the things we wanted to do. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, unloaded at the hotel, and then headed to our all-time favorite burger joint for some much-needed hamburgers. The restaurant is called Dotty Dumpling's Dowry and if you are ever in Madison and craving a burger, you HAVE to go there! After supper, we headed to the Memorial Union Terrace to enjoy the warm weather and beautiful view of Lake Mendota. Jon and I spent many summer nights hanging out on the terrace with friends...It's one of the best places in Madison. Kylie started to get tired and restless, so we headed back up State Street to our hotel. We kind of meandered on State and stopped in a few shops to look for some fun Badger gear. One of my favorite memories about State Street involves Jon meeting me at my dorm on his bike, and then cruising to his apartment with me riding on his handlebars right down State Street, which is a Madison hot spot. I bet we were quite the site! Eventually, we made it back to the hotel...Kylie surprised me and slept like a champ!!!

Kylie enjoyed the burgers at Dotty Dumpling's as much as we did!

Jon at the Terrace...That's Lake Mendota behind him.

Kylie and I relaxing on the Terrace with the famous Terrace Chairs in the background.

Jon and I hope to own a set of those chairs someday! :)

 The Red Gym.

On Sunday we woke up, got ready, ate the free continental breakfast, packed up and headed out to the Henry Vilas Zoo. This is a free zoo, a little bigger than Oxbow Park, that has some pretty exotic animals including monkeys, lions, giraffes and a polar bear. Kylie loves animals and books about the zoo, so I thought it would be a great time to take her to one. She really seemed to notice the animals, although she thought every one said, "woof woof." I guess we'll keep working on those animal sounds! After the zoo, we drove around campus to check out our old stomping ground. We drove past the lake, the dorms, the classroom buildings and the medical center. At the medical center, Jon wanted to get out and walk around, which we did. We definitely got a little lost, but ended up crossing paths with Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy, and Jon was happy about that! :) Before we left town, we met our friends, Kirsten and Justin, for lunch at the Weary Traveler...It was great to see them and catch up. Sadly, our mini-Madison vacay had to come to end...But it was a fun 24 hours, and we can't wait to go back again!

Rhino.

Two giraffes. 

Pink flamingos!

 The grizzly bear looked right at us! Yikes!