Lily Anne, Justin, and I just returned from our trip out to Kansas to visit with Justin's mom's side of the family. Here are a few highlights!
Lily Anne and the rest of the family had to grab breakfast in the car on the way to the airport.We found that Hartsfield Airport is actually a very "family friendly" airport when it comes to traveling with babies. We were allowed to bypass the regular security line and went straight to a "family line." The security agents were quite friendly and very patient. There were so many families with babies traveling and everyone was in a good mood and were not impatient at all (unlike another airport we will discuss later). Once through security, we learned where all the elevators are in the airport as we made our way to our gate. Ironically, my parents were traveling at the same time to St. Louis to visit my grandparents and their gate was in the same terminal, so we were able to visit before boarding our plane.
Unfortunately, we did not have seats next to each other (oh joy) but, thanks to some nice passengers, we were able to move around so that Justin and I could sit next to each other. Lily was very good on the plane. She sucked on her bottle on the ascent and descent to help her ears adjust to the changing pressure and she slept for most of the ride, making it more enjoyable for everyone. It is quite difficult to take pictures on a plane, but here is one of Lily on her first plane ride (she was more interested in sucking her fingers than taking in the view).
Once we landed, we finally found the way to the car rental terminal (oh, don't get us started on how well organized the Kansas City airport is...more on this later...let's just say, there are no signs to tell you where to go once you are outside the airport). Anyhow, once we were settled in the car, the ride over to Topeka was smooth and easy. Finally, we were at Great Grandma Rust's house!
Here are the four genereations in one picture (Grandma Suzan, Great Grandma Rust, Daddy and Lily Anne)
Lily Anne met her Great Grandma Rust, Grandma Suzan, Grandpa Joseph, Uncle William, Great Aunt Dianne, second cousins Vivianne. Lauren and Riley, and several of Justin's cousins (what would the "offical" relation to LA be for that?)
Great Aunt Dianne, Vivianne and Lily Anne.
Now, this is what we got when LA was tired...she was so over taking pictures by the time it was my turn...oh well. She does love her mommy, really she does! Speaking of being tired, our great little sleeper showed her little horns on this trip. Mix a new environment, a new bed, new people, lots of excitement and what do you get? A baby who does NOT want to go to bed. Talk about a major fuss-bucket! Luckily, once we finally were able to get her down, she did sleep good. Even better news...last night, I put her in her crib awake and she went back to her old habit of falling asleep without fussing! Guess the girl just missed her bed (and don't we all when we are away from home).
Another first! Lily Anne experienced her first rainbow. Unfortunately, she was once again too interested in sucking on her fingers, or her dad's fingers to notice.
We spent 4 1/2 days in Kansas and enjoyed meeting everyone! Off to the Kansas City airport we went...and that was when all the "fun" ended. For those of you not "fortunate" enough to have traveled through the KC airport, let me tell you...take our pleasant experience in ATL and think of the opposite! First off, the airport is TINY and there were hardly any people there so you would THINK that this would be even easier than ATL. WRONG!!!! We get to our gate, which is also where they do the security screening. Since there is not a family line, we go in with everyone else (and there are not that many people in line). This time, security was not so patient. The lady in charge was, well...let's just say not happy with her job in life. Rushing everyone through, yelling for people to get their bags off the conveyer, wanting to inspect every little thing. You got the feeling that because they are such a small airport, they wanted to compensate by being meticulous. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind the security, but there is a nice way of doing things (and then there is the KC way apparently). I think her attitude upset Lily Anne because our typically pleasant child began crying in the line (which I am sure just ticked the lady off even more).
Finally, we were on the plane, sitting next to each other, and on our way back home. Again, Lily did great on the plane and even slept through landing, not waking up until we were deboarding the plane.
So, where was Baxter during this big adventure? Baxter spent four fun days with Marcia and Bailey and has been sleeping since he arrived home! While we all enjoyed our time in Topeka and would have loved to visit longer, we are glad to be home.
Lily got a new bow...think she likes it? She hasn't stopped smiling all day long! Such a girly-girl!
