The group arrived ahead of schedule. Meredith, despite her shortened nap in the car, was ready to go. She was on the beach in her swimsuit within the hour. (She loves her swimsuit.)

The next morning, most the family went on an 12-14 mile ride on the Sparta-Elroy trail. Meredith accompanied her big 5 year-old cousin, Lauren, in a Burlee, ably towed by Uncle Jeff. The trail claims to be the first "rail-to-trail" bike path in the country. As an added benefit, we went through a 1/4 mile old railroad tunnel with no artificial light. Let me tell you, it's dark in the middle. Some of us had flashlights, but it was still pretty creepy to navigate. There was a flashlight in the Burlee and the two girls did great in the tunnel. The tunnel was a good 20 degrees cooler--pretty nice after biking a few miles on a 90 degree day.

Everyone had much fun catching up and goofing off. Meredith loved being around some more of "her peoples." The last morning, Meredith went swiming, which is always a blast. She is so comfortable in the water. She loves her "floaties" on her arms and kicks and splashes to much delight. (Her grandparents also think it's pretty exciting to swim with Meredith.)

At noon the final day, we all (including Dave) packed up and raced back to Minneapolis. Meredith didn't sleep much and was pretty cranky during the last part of the drive. Her uncle did a fairly impressive job of distracting her and entertaining this strong-willed, tired toddler. Once getting home, Jen and Derek hurridly got showered and dressed for a work event of Jen's. Got Meredith to take a belated nap, welcomed the babysitter (thanks Laura!) and dropped Dave off at the train station to get to the airport. Everyone was all tired out after the fun weekend, just in time for Monday!