Wedding weekend in Kansas

This past weekend we went to Kansas for our friend Jared's wedding. it was DELIGHTFUL! Of course, if you and I are facebook friends, you've likely already seen my collection of photos from the weekend. Anyhow, to give you some idea of what our trip was like, I should first show you this:This is what Kansas looks like. Most of it anyhow. Kansas is FLAT. I thought Nebraska was flat, turns out Kansas is flatter still. We left for our 5+ hour trip on Friday morning, just in time for Levi's nap. The first couple hours were quite pleasant as Levi played and then slept for those. We stopped for lunch at Subway to break things up and he also quite enjoyed that - but when we got back in that car for the last leg the waterworks began. I'd say, all told, we endured a little over an hour and a half of tears. Tears, with intermissions for graham crackers and sips of water.

We arrived at our friend Jared's home in Wichita to find college friends Chelsie and Chris, and their 17 month old son Rowan (whom we'd never met, having not seen them for over 3 years). What a wonderful experience to see everyone.

Although I spent a TON of time worrying that my 11 month old wouldn't sleep through the night in a strange place, my worrying was in vain. He slept 11 hours each night - with two solid naps (albeit at very odd hours) each day. Bravo Levi, Bravo!

After a wonderful wedding ceremony and reception it was time to bid Kansas adieu. We tried to time things similarly with Levi's nap and were mostly successful. Since I haven't been able to take a picture of my child sleeping in - say - 10 months, I figured I should include this one (which I snuck from the front seat, capturing his distorted face in the carseat-mirror):


Again we stopped at a Subway on the ride home. This time, however, we brought our own food, so we just took up residence on their lawn. True, we looked a little corney with our sun-shade-umbrella and travel booster seat, but it worked for us and isn't that what matters?

So I'd call our first long-distance drive a huge success. Major congratulations to friends Jared and Emily, and a big Thank-you to Chelsie, Chris, and Rowan for making our stay so enjoyable. While I'd like to say "lets do it again soon", I think I have a fair amount of dishes, laundry, diapers, shopping, and many other things to keep my a tad busy for a bit. So lets just say "lets do it again before another three years are up".

For many more pictures, see my facebook page - they are FAR easier to upload there.
- Melissa