Travels

I once walked 20 miles in one day, up mountainsides and through valleys from sunup to sundown. It was exhausting--the most exhausting thing possible, I thought. That was before I tried traveling with a 9 month old. A couple weeks ago we flew to Salt Lake City for a week long vacation with our families in Idaho and Utah, and making the trek with Esmé was like traveling with a herd of cats. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit; however, there's no question that by the time our vacation was finished, I was ready for a vacation.

We flew out on Saturday afternoon. Two hours in the airport and three hours on the plane, about fifty Baby Mum mum snacks, two bottles, many handfuls of puffs, a 20 minute nap, at least thirty times reading "Bobby Bunny", a few minutes of Baby Einstein on the iphone, lots of shrieks and arched backs, and three fellow passengers who were charmed by Esmé's coy smiles by the end of the trip.

After an interminable wait for the rental car and a two and a half hour drive to Inkom, we were so happy to arrive at the Phillips! We were reacquainted with snow as well as our three beloved pets. The dogs wagged their tail-less bums and barked in excitement. Esmé was thrilled by all the pets. She giggled at their wet noses and laughed at loud when they barked. I think the barking reminded her of being in the womb...

We enjoyed our soft beds, plenty of space to play, yummy food and lots of very willing babysitters. Here's baby with Papa Tutu.

And grandma Tutu

Feeding time with Tutu and Aunt Natalee.

Esmé's first trip to Elmer's for breakfast.

A few days later, we packed up and headed down south, stopping on our way to visit family in Salt Lake.

At my parents' house we got to visit with all the cousins, attend cousin Peter's blessing, play at the park, eat more yummy food, and (Roo's favorite part) take our family portrait.

While all the packing up and moving around from place to place to visit everyone took a bit of effort, it was so worth it to see so many people we've missed so much! You know what else was worth it? The utter fatigue from going to bed around 1 am for a few nights in a row after going to late movies. To compensate for months of not seeing any movies, we saw five.

After another crazy plane ride home, we were ready to collapse. But, I guess that's how you know you've had a good vacation--you're worn out from all the good times. We sure do miss our families! And the theater...