Wolverines and Waterfalls

It has been a whirlwind of fun activities in the Coppola household these past few weeks. Two weekends ago, Cary and I, along with his brothers and his sister-in-law, Holly, went to Iowa City for the Iowa vs. Michigan game. Although Holly and I were both born and raised Hawkeyes, we have converted to being Wolverine fans. I guess our husbands are pretty convincing. So we got all decked out in our Michigan gear, dropped Carter, Joey and Maddox off at Bobbi and Joe's, and made our way to Iowa City. Despite the fact that it was October 10, we drove through snow that day. After some serious begging and guilt-tripping, we talked our boys into stopping at the Williamsburg outlet mall for a short 15 minutes. And before you knew it, it was 11:30 and we were pulling into Iowa City. I met two of my closest friends, Laina and Katie, for lunch at Quinton's while the rest of the Coppola crew had lunch at another bar. It was so much fun to catch up with both girls and to hear about their lives. I have to say, it was one of the best parts of the day!

The rest of the afternoon progressed pretty quickly, having a few drinks at the bar, stopping by a family friends' house for some more drinks, piling on seven shirts, two pairs of jeans and leggings, walking to the Fin and Feather in search of Uggs (with no luck), meeting up with Joe's coworkers at a tailgate, running into some of Cary's frat brothers, trying to sneak my massive purse into the stadium (it took 4 tries, but we eventually got in!), and finally making our way to our front row seats right behind the Michigan players. I know it was a very memorable day for Cary and I know he loved every second of it. But honestly, the things I remember most are being FREEZING cold, trying to warm up my body temperature with two little hand warmers, craving a pop but not wanting to walk all the way up to the concession stand, and wishing that people would sit down so I wouldn't feel like a loser sitting by myself. All in all, I had a great day with Cary, Holly, and the rest of the boys, but as you all know, I'm not a real sports fanatic and I feel so guilty that the expensive ticket was wasted on me!





This past weekend Cary, Carter and I went to Decorah, Iowa to spend time with Tony, Kelly, Davis and Bennett. All I can say is that we had a wonderful time! We arrived in Decorah around 9:15 on Friday night and Carter was still wide awake. This turned out to be a problem for Saturday since he was exhausted and crabby all day. Saturday morning Kelly made a great egg casserole and we all sat and had breakfast together. Then we toured Decorah and they showed us all of their favorite spots - Phelps Park, Luther College, the Whippy Dip, the Oneota Golf Course, the house they almost bought, St. Ben's church, the Farmer's Market, the movie theater, the elementary, the football field, and all of the shops on the main street. We stopped at a really cool waterfall and the boys hiked up a little ways. Carter threw a huge fit as we were about to leave and we could not figure out what his problem was. Finally we realized that he wanted to throw "monies" into the creek. So we threw some pennies in and then loaded up the car and went to the Co-op for lunch. Davis and Carter sat at their own little table and were so cute together. When Davis went to the bathroom, Carter yelled "Davis, where are you?" over and over again. That was maybe Carter's ONLY cute moment from the entire weekend. Have I mentioned yet that he was in a terrible mood? We took naps Saturday afternoon, Kelly and I walked through the shops in town, and then the adults went out for sushi while the boys stayed with a babysitter.

On Sunday, we had Tony's awesome french toast for breakfast, toured Tony's clinic, walked on Decorah's new bike path, took numerous family photos, drove out to see the campgrounds and a cool pizza place, and then went to Phelp's Park to play. Kelly made a great lunch for all of us and packed a to-go bag for Carter, and then we hit the road again.

Although we did so many fun things, the best part of the weekend was hanging out with Tony, Kelly, Davis and Bennett. Bennett is getting so big and is the sweetest thing. He smiles all of the time, looks at his hands, likes to stand up holding on to your hands, played with Cary and the slinky, never cries, and is so happy and content. Davis is almost three and is so well-mannered and polite. He shares his toys so nicely and tried his hardest to cheer up a crying Carter. He loves to play and wrestle and dance and sing and dress himself and show you how smart he is. They are two very sweet boys and seeing them this weekend only made me miss them even more. It was a wonderful weekend and we can't wait to go back for Davis's birthday in November!