End of Vacation, Back to Life

I realized I hadn't finished blogging about our vacation yet.  There's truly not much to tell about Sunday, but I thought I'd write a little anyways.  The trip from LeClaire to Wichita is 8.5 hours.  We knew we would take it slower on the way home, but didn't know exactly how much time we would end up adding to our trip.

Avery slept in until 8, which was nice because we were all pretty exhausted.  When she got up we all got around and went downstairs for breakfast.  Avery loves orange juice!  She will drink and drink and drink from her sippy cup until the stuff is running down all over her.  ;)  After breakfast we packed things up and hit the road.  We had noticed the day before that Nathan and Chelsey had packed Avery's hat into their toy bag, so along the way we stopped at a gas station for gas, coffee, and to get the hat back.  That stop added about half an hour to our trip.  Nathan and Chelsey couldn't find the hat once they finally caught up with us, so we ended up sitting around for a while.

Finally, we got on the road again and made pretty good time.  We only stopped 2 other times on our way home.  Once for lunch where we actually went into Panera in Des Moines, sat down, and ate, and once again to get gas.  Avery did pretty well on the ride.  It was had for her to sleep in the car, so when nap time came around she got extra fussy.  She was a much happier camper when Michael or I was in the back seat with her feeding her or playing with her.  Overall, the trip home went really well.  We ended up adding an hour to our trip and made it home in 9.5 hours.

When we got back home, life started again.  Dayton came over on Monday, Michael went to work, and I went back to work Monday evening.  It was good to be home again.  It felt like we were gone much longer than 4 days.

So now our attention turns to Avery.  In just a month and a half she'll be turning 1!!  Unfortunately, we'll be in Manhattan for a wedding on her birthday, so we'll have her party on Sunday, the day after.  I have invitations bought and a few things planned, but now that Tugfest is over I'll be in full party planning mode!  :)  Can't wait to celebrate my little girl!!

Then, after the cake is gone and the house has been cleaned, Michael and I will prepare to head to Vegas!  At the end of October Michael has a conference in Vegas for 4 days and I get to go with him!!  It will be the first time there for both of us.  We're very excited!!  Then, when we get back we'll have entered my favorite time of the year!  October to January, fall and just a hint of winter, 4 great holidays in 3 short months.  :)  I can't wait!  Lots of exciting stuff coming up!  Stay tuned, especially as fall approaches for many of my excited updates.  :)  Happy Tuesday, everyone!!