Adventuring Abroad: North American Tour, Part 1

In late April, we travelled back to the States for the first time since we moved to the UK. We might have waited a little longer, but we wouldn't miss Paul's brother's wedding! Once we'd paid the cost of an overseas flight, it makes sense to make some additional trips while we were stateside to see other friends & family as well. Here's a recap/highlight reel!

[Sidenote: Great bonus of traveling at this time of the year: we had the pleasure of getting to experience spring 3 separate times! Once in England/Wales, once in St Louis and Cincinnati, and once in New Hampshire. And it felt like summer to us in Tennessee!]

Our flight over wasn't a lot of fun (8 hours + messy diaper blowout + Charlotte couldn't get comfy). We arrived in Detroit to find out that our plane had been significantly delayed, by about 4 hours. Jet-lagged as we were, we weren't thrilled... and then after waiting for almost 3 of those hours, they informed us the flight had been cancelled. Ugh. We spent a short night in a Detroit hotel with C sleeping between us on the king bed. She was a trooper. The next morning we were routed through Atlanta to St Louis (ugh, who needs a surprise extra flight with a 15 month old?!) but finally arrived!

We're sleeping here? (Detroit)

We enjoyed a couple of days in St Louis before heading to Cincinnati for Chris & Colleen's wedding. Charlotte and Annie the dog were slightly wary of each other, but C quickly warmed up to giving Annie pats and lots of cookies.

Giving cookies with Grammy

We got to meet up with the Kendricks & Ellerbusches (minus Dan) at the zoo, then back at the Hennekes' house for dinner and more fun. We were a little worried it would be chilly, but it was plenty warm enough in the sun.

Sea Lion Sound at the zo

Playing with Evie and Elliot while waiting for the sea lion feeding

Playing with Evie, Zoe, and Elliot... so fun to see these little ones together!

We headed to Cincinnati for 4 nights to celebrate Chris and Colleen's wedding! I didn't get many pictures of my own, but it was a gorgeous wedding and so wonderful to see these two tie the knot. It was a bit rainy, but the day was still a ton of fun. Charlotte frustrated me a bit by refusing an afternoon nap between the ceremony & reception. She lasted until about 8 pm at the reception and then started to melt down. I took her back to the hotel room, resigned to stay the evening with her, but Paul's parents' wonderful friends volunteered to come watch her (while she slept) so I could get back to the reception for almost an hour. I quickly pulled my party clothes back on and had a blast dancing and chatting with family.

Paul, Chris, and Dad (note the lavender socks!)

Charlotte and Grandpa on the party bus

We also went to a Reds/Cubs game while in Cincinnati. We were happy to watch some live baseball!

After driving back to St Louis, we departed for a week in New Hampshire to visit with my family! We had a great time, especially since my mom was off work for the week and dad was able to take several days off as well. My sister & brother-in-law also made the trip up from New York to visit, which was awesome. I don't have any pictures with them..?!

We visited the Seacoast Science Center, where Charlotte looked too cute standing on the stepstools to watch the fish in the aquariums. She also enjoyed the "touch tank," although we suspect she just thought it was a cold bath for her arms to splash in. Not too much engagement with the starfish and hermit crabs we were trying to show her!

We also got some good playground time in at four separate playgrounds! Still loves to swing and slide, and a new favorite was the sand pit. She took quickly to pouring the sand into the buckets with a little shovel.

We headed down to Massachusetts one day to visit the national park at Lexington & Concord. We all enjoyed being outside and having a picnic!

Looking across the bridge (since replaced) where the first shots were fired in the Revolutionary War

We had some sweet moments at home with Grandmom and Granddad as well. It was fun to see how much different Charlotte was compared to when we were last there in December.