5000 miles, 80+ hours in the car, 10 states, countless roadside diaper changes, 3 weeks on the go, 2 optimistic parents and 1 clueless newborn.
(Elise at almost one month old right before we went on our adventure. Seems so long ago.)
It’s never too early to start traveling the world and seeing exotic places….like Kansas.
Who ever thought we would’ve survived three weeks of traveling with a newborn? I’m sure most people thought we were crazy, and I don’t think that’s an unfair assessment. But we knew way before she was even born that we’d be embarking on a trip back to Kansas City for my dear friend Kaddie’s wedding, so we figured–why not make a longer visit out of it since Todd gets a month of paternity leave anyways (thank you for that awesome benefit, Big Software Company)?
When we left, she was a tiny 4 week old baby, and when we returned, she was a well-traveled 7 week old. At the end of our trip, we realized that she had almost been away from home just as long as she’d been at home. And that’s when we knew it was time to get her back to ‘normal’ life.
The beginning of our trip took us to visit Grandpa & Grandma H in Idaho for a couple days, and somehow we managed to leave our camera packed away in the trunk of the car. 
Onward through Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and finally to Kansas City where she met her uncle Ben & aunt Kim!
(aunt Kim was 8 months pregnant, and baby Barrett decided to make his arrival the week we left to drive back to Seattle)
I think Elise was pretty enamored by Uncle Ben, and he now thinks that he’s the only one who can get her to stop crying…I’ll let him keep thinking that.
You know, for being out and about for several weeks, we really failed to capture many pictures. I guess that’s what happens when you have your hands full and are more concerned with tending to a baby’s needs.
Once Todd gives me some he took on his phone, I’ll post those, but for now all I have are these we took while we were relaxing on my parents’ farm.
Uncle Ben flew his plane up on Saturday morning to spend a couple more hours with us.
Somewhere in there, she also got to meet her great aunts & uncles and numerous relatives. I’m excited for Elise to get to spend many more summers back on the farm. It’s a great place to be.
The kids will be happy.