Baby Cheesehead!

Around this time last year my parents, who own and operate an organic dairy farm (yes, the same dairy farm on which I grew up), were taking a trip to Wisconsin to accept a National Quality Award from Organic Valley at the company's annual convention. The family dairy had had the highest quality milk as measured by Organic Valley in all the states West of the Mississippi. I am very proud to say that they have learned they have received this honor once again this year. (Congratulations to my parents, and also to my brother Ron, who together run the dairy!)

Anyway, Mrs. LIAYF was pregnant with Lukas at that time. Once I learned that Dad and Mom were taking a trip to Wisconsin, I thought it might be nice for them to bring back something for their unborn grandchild, as they did for us as kids when we were young and they went on trips (mostly these were trips to Hawaii or cruises to the Caribbean, so I would get a colorful t-shirt saying something like "Maui" in stylized letter with a flower on it). Well, I thought of Wisconsin and joked "Bring us back a baby cheesehead." I didn't think they would actually do it, or that there would even exist such a thing as a baby cheesehead, although I knew there were plenty of grownup cheeseheads in that area.

I forgot all about the request, until we visited the farm several weeks later and my mother proudly brought down a bag and wanted me to open it. I laughed hard when out came the infant sized cheesehead complete with chin strap. "I was only joking!" I said. But they then began to explain what an ordeal it had been to actually find a baby cheesehead and how they enlisted several of the people they had met at the conference to actually find this cheesehead for their unborn grandson. If I remember correctly it involved something like a last minute frantic search before their plane left Green Bay, time which they could have been enjoying some Brats with a couple of cold 'Milwaukee's Best' to wash them down and send them home fat, happy, and needing a salad!

So, Dad and Mom, this post is for you! Thanks for getting Lukas the cheesehead! It now fits and I am sure he will be wearing it on all our outings around Seattle this Spring. Well, maybe just a few mornings in the house to start with!