3 Weeks in a Nutshell

Now that we are back from our 3 week vacation to the US (vacation for Gretchen and I, not so much for Jon), and done with the inevitable illnesses that seem to follow us after vacation, I finally have a moment to sit and reflect on our trip.  The trip was fantastic, all about seeing family and friends, and stocking up our closets for the coming year.  With this in mind, it was also incredibly busy, and thankfully, our well-traveled little girl took it all in stride.

Here is a quick look at our last three weeks...

We started off in Lexington, where we got to spend time with some of our favorites:

Look at those beautiful baby blues!  Evan is a heartbreaker!

The highlight for Gretchen was when Gran and Poppa babysat for the weekend while Jon and I attended the German Club 120th reunion at Virginia Tech.  Thanks Gran and Poppa!

While Gretchen was busy inventing new games and chasing puppies, we got all gussied up and spent some time in Blacksburg.  It was so great to see everyone, and Blacksburg weather didn't disappoint.

 Before leaving Lexington, we tried out Poppa's new pizza oven.  It holds in heat like nothing you've ever seen, and after a few testers, we were eating pizza that both Chicago and New York would be jealous of. Bravo, Poppa!!

Next, we headed up to Northern Virginia to spend time with Grammy and Papa.  Gretchen and Grammy were twins this day in the park:

We even had time for a visit with Grammy's horse, Casey.  We brought our cousin Julia's Flat Stanley along for the visit, he was a well travled little man!

Gretchen had lots of giggles with Papa, that is, when she wasn't chasing poor kitty Frodo....

Our next stop was Wisconsin, where Gretchen met a whole side of our family that she had never met before!  It was so nice to see everyone, it has been far, far too long!

Gretchen, me and my Grandma Ellen

My "little" cousin Patrick

The late-nighters on our last evening in WI

A very serious two little girls.  So great to meet you Lilly!

 Though our trip to Wisconsin was quite short, our trip home was incredibly long.  We got to know the airports in Appleton and in Chicago quite well. Gretchen was a trooper, and kept everyone entertained in the terminals -

 After spending a few days in Northern Virginia recovering from our endless day of travel, we packed up again and headed back down to Lexington for a quick dinner on our way to my brother Robbie's college graduation from Virginia Tech.

The graduation deserves a post all it's own, so I'll leave that for another day.  It was a whirlwind trip, but a wonderful way to see people that we don't get to see often enough.  Thank you Grammy, Papa, Gran and Poppa for having wonderful, welcoming houses that literally revolve around Gretchen, and for making it as easy as possible for us to travel with a little one.  She (and we) absolutely loves seeing her family, and we count the days until we can be together again!