At under 4 months old, our little one has traveled through 7 different states and two 13 hour long car rides. We broke our driving up into 3 days each way so it was a tad bit easier on Pen, but wow. For those of you who don't know, Michael had to go to Kansas City, MO for some electrical training with BNSF. We stayed about 20 miles out of Kansas City in a suberb called Overland Park, KS. The classes are two weeks at a time and he didn't want to be away from us for that long while Penelope is this little, so we tagged along :) On the weekend we took another 5 hour car ride to Oklahoma City to see our good friends Ryan & Chelsea Rickett and their little guy, Cole. I must say, Penelope was SUCH a good traveler. She had her moments and I did jump in the back seat a few times to keep her company but I was pretty impressed! I should have taken more pictures but I will share the ones I did get!
Penelope was ready for vacation!
Grandma & Grandpa didn't want us to go!
We stayed in Fargo, ND the first night. Council Bluffs, Iowa the next and arrived in Kansas on Sunday.
First fun stop,The Omaha Zoo. We stayed right out of Omaha in Council Bluffs, Iowa this night.
On the Skyfari ride. Basically a chair lift, where you get to travel over the zoo. Pretty neat!
That was a pretty neat zoo. We had fun and can't wait to take her when she is a little older! The fun didn't stop at the zoo though. After checking into the hotel and having dinner, we took Pen swimming for the first time. She LOVED it!
Back to the car for our final car ride to Kansas.
She was excited to finally be there and we did lots of eating, shopping, and exploring.
After Michael's first week of school, we went to Oklahoma City for the weekend. I really meant to get more pictures with the Ricketts' but obviously failed. Here's a couple at the Oklahoma Zoo and a cute one of Penelope and Cole. Cole is such a cutie! I have met the little guy 3 or 4 times before but I totally fell in love with his little personality on this trip. So happy we got to see them!
Here's Penelope checking out the gorilla...I think he thought she was lunch. Creepy!
Me and Cole playing with P
Ok, when I said I meant to get more pictures... I really did! It just didn't happen...oops :(
Back to Kansas we go!
When we got back..something pretty exciting happened. Penelope got her ears pierced! She cried for about 20 seconds and was smiling again by the time we walked up to check out. Tough girl! Shots are much harder on us..I haven't told her, but she gets another round of them on Monday. Yucky :(
I made dad do the dirty work
And it was worth it! Look how sweet...
Actually, she was more interested in her feet than her ears
So we had another fun filled week of eating, shopping, getting lost and trying to deal with crazy traffic in downtown Kansas City. On our last night there, we really partied. Here is a picture of that!
Haha... Just kidding.. But we wouldn't trade nights like that with our little girl for anything.
And so, we started making our trek back home. Sioux Falls, SD the first night and Bismark, ND the next.
Ready to go out for lunch in Sioux Falls
Hanging out with dad at our hotel
At the park in Sioux Falls
Off to Bismark to visit Grandma Helen
Time for a dip in the pool to celebrate our last night of our travels!
Ohhh, what a fun filled two weeks! But as you can see, she was excited to be back home, in her chair!
And our dogs were happy to find out that even after all of our threats...they had not been given away after all!
We had a great 15 day long "vacation" and I am happy Michael insisted we come along. But it also felt great to be back home! Big thanks to Dick and Nancy for being on animal control while we were gone!
