A KC Thanksgiving

We went home for Thanksgiving this year!

Gammy was in town for a few days before our trip and flew back home on the same flight with us.  It's always nice to have an extra set of hands when traveling with kids.

Riding the train to our terminal.  He was only slightly nervous.

Old flying pros, hanging out before our flight. I love how they are all preoccupied with their favorite past time.

Oh hey Gammy! Even though we booked our flights separately we ended up in the same row.

Whenever I go home I go off grid. I barely check my phone and just enjoy the time with my family. So there's hardly any pictures of our trip and I have exactly ZERO pictures of our actual Thanksgiving dinner.  Whoops.  I did get pictures of some of our adventures with Tata!

We decided to visit Santa in KC so we could get a cousin photo.
 

We ate at Fritz's so Camden could see the trains in action. For those of you not familiar with KC, Fritz's is a restaurant where trains chug around on tracks above the tables and bring you your food.  It is cool, especially if you are a mega train lover like Camden.  He wouldn't even look at the camera because he was too busy watching the trains go around.

You also get to wear these adorable engineer hats.

Riley was the only child that wanted to ride the double decker carousel at the mall. Here's a peek back at her first ride on this carousel.  Oh how the years go by.

They had a few opportunities to "swim" in Gammy and Gampy's tub after their nightly circuit training with my Dad. I wish I had gotten a photo of it, but he would take all three kids and pull out three random pieces of exercise equipment like the push up bar, twisting circle, and free weights.  Then he would cycle them through the activities until they were worn out, seriously, this went on for thirty minutes at a time.  The man is a genius.

We did a standing rib roast dinner night at Aunt Tata's per tradition and the kiddos opened their Christmas gifts from the family early.  I know there are photos of that somewhere, but I think Tata must have them.  One of them was a priceless photo of my child opening a gift that she really wanted.

As always, the trip was over in a flash and it was time for us to leave.  I always look forward to seeing my family and I dread the goodbyes.  Gammy and Gampy took us to the airport and I did remember to get at least one photo of the four of them together before we left.


My poor, patient husband was consoling my heartbroken self for a while on the plane.  Once I mopped up the tears we both looked over and realized that for the first time ever our kids were in their own row, happily occupied, and QUIET.   They were not squeezed into our laps and TG dubbed us in "poor man's first class".
 

Miss Muscles

In case you didn't already know, my kid is strong, but not as strong as she thinks. While she does routinely heft things around the house, and loves moving her furniture here and there she cannot open locked doors.



Try as she might.


Not even her best weight lifting grunt and bared teeth will help.


You have to love the determination though.

Girls' Night Out

While we were in Kansas Riley's amazing Aunt Tata sent TG and I out to a fabulous anniversary meal on the Plaza and took Riley on her first Girls' Night Out. With the help of her friends Jess and Erin, Riley and Tata visited a local animal park and ate dinner at a Fritz's Railroad Restaurant complete with engineer hats and electric trains. Despite the high KS temps and humidity my girl was on cloud nine to be out with the girls. Thank you so much!

The Good "Witch" Of The Midwest

As if our first born and only child isn't spoiled enough, she got showered with love from her Kansas family when we were there this month. The best part about all the attention? More minds to come up with exciting games for her and extra hands to execute them.

So, while I was busy painting Aunt Tata's bathroom "Good Witch of the Midwest" was born with a vacuum, Tata's dirty carpet and Gampy.

Listening intently to the rules of the game.


Tentative at first.


Finding her groove.


Switching it up a bit.


Clearly delighted!

To Please My Blog Reading Masses Few

We followed the yellow brick road for 17 hours over two days and just over 1800 miles, but it was totally worth it to see this...

Riley's First Boat Ride

and this...


Running through Weston with Gampy

and this...

Riley's First Lake Swim

Two weeks just isn't enough time when you are having as much fun as we did. I have so much to blog about and so many pictures (courtesy of Tata) to post and I promise I'll get to them as soon as my new venture this year (more on that another day) settles into more of a routine. But for now I am one exhausted lady.

Who misses her family very much. And wishes we could have clicked our heels three times for the 18 hour and 3000 mile+ trip back home.

There's no place like home...

After clicking our ruby slippers, (braving DC morning rush hour, finding a parking spot in the "economy" lot, riding the shuttle with four bags, an infant and a boppy, and hopping a Midwest flight from Reagan) we arrived for Riley's first official trip to Kansas. She was technically there last summer, but the only sights she saw were inside my tummy. She was AMAZING on the plane, and slept most of the way in her carseat. I have to admit it helped that the flight was virtually empty and we got our own row! She slept most of the 2 1/2 hour flight and was up to smile and play for the last 30 minutes.

After a much needed diaper change that thankfully happened in the last 10 minutes of being on the plane, Aunt Tata met us at the gate and Riley was ready to explore! She played with Tata while her Daddy and I waited for the bags.

Leaving the airport we headed for the LV to meet up with Gammy and Gampy! For those of you who don't know, LV is most famous for...

We had a great week just visiting with the family. We did some shopping and ate out a lot! A highlight was Riley's first carousel ride at Oak Park Mall. I didn't really want to go on, but Gammy urged me to take her and I'm so glad that I did. She loved it and Daddy snapped some great pics!

Before we knew it, our trip was over and it was time to head back home. I swear time flies when I'm there and everytime I wish I could pack my family up to take back with me. We said goodbye to Gammy at her office and Gampy and Tata took us back to the airport.

Riley's second plane ride ever was not quite as smooth as the first. Apparently quite a bit more people are trying to get out of Kansas and over to the east coast (go figure)! Here's a pic that sums up our plane ride, shuttle back to the economy lot, and drive home through evening DC rush hour.

For more pics of our trip, you can check out her shutterfly page !