We're Outta Here!!

Pack it up Everett, we're going HOME!

Our amazing California agency approved us to come home today! Between our attorney, his paralegal, and our agencies here in WI and back home in CA, we have a tremendous team of people that helped make this entire journey possible.

I promise before this blog ends, I'll post pics of Everett and Amanda, so check back. Thanks for all of your support during this incredible ride. Can't wait to see you all!

Chippewa

Today was all about Chippewa Falls. We had lunch with Amanda -- the last time we'll see her. She brought her boyfriend and seems to be doing very well. She was the most talkative she's ever been and shared several of her plans for the future -- looking for a new job, dental hygienist school, exercise, etc. She's in a good place and seems so at peace with everything. We are thankful for her beyond words and have so much hope for her future.

Downtown Chippewa Falls -- much smaller than Eau Claire, but full of old charm.

Local post office.

Small town treats.

Beautiful country roads and open spaces.

We couldn't leave without a visit to the Leinenkugel Brewery, established in 1867. Who knew it was the 4th largest microbrewery in the United States and right there in this small town of Chippewa Falls!

Everett's first brewery (he didn't drink much).

I gravitated to everything copper (and there was a lot of copper!)

The lady giving out samples was a kick and made us take this picture.

I made her take this one.

We took the tour, which was 45 minutes and incredible! They only allow photography outside the building (darn!) Inside was very cool and we saw everything from fermenting grains to bottling. They do some serious production here and the beer wasn't half bad either!

Here they are separating out something from something else. Yes, I realize that sounds like I wasn't paying attention on the tour, but not so. I was only one in the group to correctly answer the post-tour trivia question correctly. I won a car ice scraper. Great. When we told the tour guide that we were from California, he said I could use it as a lottery ticket scratcher.

After beer sampling, we drove through the major park in Chippewa Falls, Irvine Park. It is massive with scenic drives, a mini zoo, river look outs, historic buildings and major open space.

It was a full day and we are glad to have spent time here in Everett's birthplace. It really is a cool little pocket of the world and without him, a place we would easily have overlooked. That being said, we are looking forward now and more ready than ever to bring this little guy home. Plus, he's got a big sister waiting for him. We miss our Amanda terribly and can't wait to introduce her to her little brother!

Strengthening those neck muscles.

Thinking of San Diego.

Speaking of home, we received wonderful news -- hurdle 2 of 3 (Wisconsin's approval for us to leave the state) was cleared today. That leaves California's approval and we are very hopeful that they will give their okay Friday after receiving the physical paperwork via Fedex Friday morning. We currently have plane tickets for Saturday, but if all goes well, you can bet that we'll be on a plane Friday night. Will let you know....

Cheese

We planned our entire day around cheese curds. These are "the thing" to eat here, so we're told, yet none of the restaurants we've frequented serve them. At dinner the other night over chicken wings, our waiter (who closely resembled Cameron from Modern family), made us a list of the restaurants to try before we leave the area. Regarding cheese curds, he did not steer us wrong. We spent the day around the hotel doing laundry, working and watching bad daytime TV and then it was off to downtown Eau Claire for dinner. Dooley's Pub had good beer, tasty burgers and these amazing bites of goodness they call fried cheese curds. We're hooked!

And look what we passed on the way to dinner...so applicable.

Everett is spending more time with his eyes open these days, although still sleeps practically on cue. He brings us more joy than we could have ever imagined.

Full and sleepy.

Eating is what Everett does best. Here he is attempting to devour the blanket.

Full tummy = happy baby.

Good news from our attorney this morning - we officially have a court date of May 13 for the termination of the birthmother's and birthfather's parental rights. It is not clear yet whether one of us will have to come back for the court date, or if we will both be able to do it via teleconference. Regardless, step 1 of 3 is complete! We had pretty much given up hope on getting home this weekend, but it looks like that possibility is still on the table!

1 Week

Everett was 1 week old today! We've been here for 8 days and it has flown by. Today, however, not so much. We stayed in and got some work done and literally watched Everett's cycle of hiccups and yawns. We finally ventured out for dinner to Manny's for Mexican food. This is our 3rd and probably final Mexican food adventure in Wisconsin. I know it's no surprise that Mexican food is not a strong point of the Midwest, but we're running out of food options and fast. One can only eat so much red meat and chicken wings). There is one last place to try - Taco John's. They boast West-Mex food, but surely John cannot do a carne asada burrito justice.

Snuggled up with my little guy.

Everett slept away most of his 1-week birthday.

But did manage to wake up this evening for a bit.

Here he is straining to see American Idol. Sadly it wasn't worth his effort.

We were hoping to hear today about our court date, but didn't, so we'll check in with our attorney first thing in the morning. At this point, there are three more steps to bringing us home early. Getting a court date is step one. Our optimistic travel home day of this Saturday is not looking great, so we're planning our next move. If we're still here this weekend, we'll probably move to a bigger city -- maybe Milwaukee or Madison, just for a change of pace. We could use a faster one.

By the way, thanks to everyone for saying hello now and again! Love all your comments, Facebook messages, emails and calls. We miss you all!!

Exploring

Today was our first with nothing on the agenda. We ventured to downtown Eau Claire, which according to the locals is "clear across town". Actually, it was only 4.5 miles away, but Eau Claire is big by Wisconsin standards. It's also quite clear that none of these folks have any idea what San Diego is like. I shocked some people yesterday when I said we had fences around our yards (nobody here does). And, when I asked the nurse at the hospital if we should use bottled or tap water with Everett's formula, she asked me if we lived in town. I told her it was pretty much all town.

Anyway, downtown Eau Claire was very quaint with cute shops and cafes, and worth the trek across town.

Walking bridge over the Eau Claire River.

Spring has sprung here and these trees are in full bloom everywhere!

Downtown.

Everett in the "desk turned changing table" in our room. Dennis said he'd never seen someone move so much furniture in a hotel room before. I'm now referring to this place as our apartment.

We are constantly commenting on how long Everett is. I think it's because Amanda stayed balled up with bent knees for at least a month. This little guy constantly has one leg straight out.

Our baby burrito in his crib for the night...well until Dennis realized that 20 minutes later he was still awake and swooped him up.

Family Day

Today we tested out the new ride and wheeled Everett through Target and Kohl's. We've also located the local movie rental store, Family Video. Joining there is literally like becoming part of the family. As a new customer, we were offered a tour of the store (Dennis declined the walk around tour, but was still given a pointing tour from the checkout counter -- seriously). We also received a follow up call today welcoming us to their store. I feel like we should tell them we're not staying long before this relationship progresses much further.

We spent the afternoon at Amanda's mom's house with the family members we'd already met at the hospital, plus some extras. It's an interesting (for lack of a better word) dynamic -- mostly small talk and lots of passing around a very sleepy Everett, who only showed his eyeballs for about 5 minutes of our 3-hour stay. Thank goodness for Amanda's funny and sarcastic cousin who helped keep things light. Everyone was very nice and wished us well on our trip back home. Amanda and her mom both wrote letters to the baby and several people gave him gifts. We're only expecting to see Amanda one more time before we leave, but this was our final goodbye to the rest of them.

Amanda and her mom.

Amanda and her Dad (he's our favorite family member!)

Autumn, Amanda's 20-month old daughter.

Taken from their back porch.

Most people here hunt and there were several "trophies" on the wall -- Dennis requested this picture.

We were happy to get back to the hotel tonight for some downtime with just the three of us. We grabbed Barracho's (knock-off and not-as-good Chipotle) and watched Men Who Stare At Goats (odd, but slightly entertaining). Waiting for the little man to wake up to eat so we can synchronize sleep patterns!