Is this heaven? No... it's Iowa.

So... on Thursday 8 day old Max packed up his Mommy and me, and loaded up the car for a trip to Iowa. He has no thing for Illinois, I guess he's just an Iowa boy. So we headed off to the corn fields of Iowa for a busy weekend to meet several friends and family members and even go to the wedding for Lauren Petersen and Jordan Hecox. We left about 3:45pm and arrived a bit after midnight at Grandma Elsie's (aka Gigi = Great Grandma... as called by my niece Savannah).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER - I know its it's tough for you Grandma and Grandpa Erdmann to have so many people meet Max before you, but it will come soon enough. Max loves you guys very much and can't wait to see you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday we slept in a little bit and then woke up to meet Gigi and play some games. She was sooo excited to meet and hold Max. She was proud as can be, and noted how little he was as it was a few months after their birth before she got to meet her other Great Grand kids. She loved holding Max several times during the weekend and even fed him his bottle a couple times. She mentioned a few times how she wished Grandpa Roy could have met him as we all do, but that day will come soon enough.

Max and Gigi (Great Grandma Elsie)

Friday afternoon we went to the Petersen's to introduce Max amongst the chaos of final preparations for Lauren's wedding. I think the technical relationship to the Petersen's is 2nd or 3rd cousins, but we consider them family and grant honorary titles of Grandma Joanne, Grandpa Gene, Aunts Lindsey, Lauren, Heather, and Cassie and Uncles Ryan, Jeff, Eric, and Jordan. We didn't stay too long as they all needed to head off to church for rehearsal, but we did come back again Sunday night to hang out when things were calmed down. (we unfortunatley did not get a photo of Max with Jeff, Cassie, Eric, or Jordan but will add one real soon.)

Max and Grandma Joanne and Grandpa Gene


Max meets Aunts Lindsay and Lauren


Max and Grandma Joanne


Max and Aunt Heather and Uncle Ryan


Max meets his Cousin's Vivi and Noel


Friday night Uncle Drew came by for an introduction. He seemed to like Max an awful lot, as he was always holding him and even fed him a bottle. While Max and Mommy took a nap that evening, Uncle Drew and I went to play golf.

Max meets uncle Drew


Max and Uncle Drew


On Saturday, we had a relaxing morning with Gigi and then got dressed up for Lauren and Jordan's beautiful wedding. Lauren's brother Ryan, performed the ceremony, and I informed him afterwards that he was so boring he put Max to sleep. At the reception Max got to meet many wonderful friends and family members at Oakdale. Everyone was thrilled to see Max and could not believe how wonderful Becky looked and felt for having a c-section just 10 days earlier. She truly has been amazing and strong as can be through this whole process and Max and I are so blessed to have her as a Mommy and Wife.

On Sunday we woke up and Uncle Chris (aka Uncle Bubba) stopped to see us. He just got back from a week long fishing trip down south. After he left we had to get washed up and went to church. We are hoping Max gets the hint... at just 11 days old, he has been to church twice and 1 wedding ceremony. We hope and pray that his time hearing the the Word of God preached even at this age will begin to sink in so when the day comes he can better understand it, he will choose Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior.

Max meets Uncle Bubba


After church, we went to Uncle Gerald and Aunt Carol's house for dinner. Aunt Carol made an amazing meal for us with Iowa grilled steaks, cheesy potatoes, peas, fresh fruit, and a delicious chocolate pudding desert. I LOVE IOWA FOOD!!! My cousin Leighton, his wife Sarah, and their son Henry were also back for the weekend. (you can click on the picture in the left column of Henry to link to their blog). It was great to see them all and a lot of fun to see Max and Henry together. It is amazing the difference between the two at just 9 months apart.

Max and Aunt Carol


Max and Mommy with Sarah and Henry


Max and Daddy with Leighton and Henry


On Monday we woke up and got things packed up in the car. Then we played one last game of Upwords with Gigi and headed on down the road. It is a bit disappointing how much longer the trip takes now that Max is with us, but we like him enough to keep him and we accept it as part of the adventure. He really did travel amazingly well. We really only made 2 stops each way to feed and change him, and the entire time he was in the car he was a happy and quiet little sleeper. We love him so much and are so glad he took us to Iowa this weekend.