We recently completed our first major trip as a family of four.  Major trip = requiring air travel.  We traveled from Gainesville, FL to Atlanta, GA to Kansas City, MO by air.  Then we rented a minivan (I never thought I would drive one, but it was better than expected) and drove to Beatrice, NE to spend a couple of nights at my parent’s place.

After a couple of days in Beatrice we drove to Omaha, NE to spend a couple of days and attend ceremonies for my sister-in-law’s hooding and graduation.  Congratulations to Alicyn on completing her Master’s in Occupational Therapy from College of Saint Mary!  After attending her graduation ceremony and having lunch with some extended family members that I hadn’t seen in a while, we loaded up and drove down to Lawrence, KS for the last leg of our journey.  We got to Nana’s house in Lawrence just before a nice thunderstorm came through.

Grant turned 5 during this trip so he got to experience two birthday parties with family.  This was the first time that we have celebrated his birthday while traveling.  We celebrated once in Omaha at Chuck-E-Cheese with my side of the family and then a second time at Nana’s house where Grant got to have birthday pie.  On Nana’s last visit through Gainesville, Grant had told her he wanted apple pie for his birthday, so that is exactly what he got.  It was a great choice!

Jenna didn’t seem at all fazed by the entire travel experience.  She was a bit fussy on the first flight but eventually fell asleep right before we landed in Atlanta.  She was much better on the second flight and fell asleep on my lap at the beginning of the flight and slept almost all the way to Kansas City.  She didn’t seem to mind all of the rides in the minivan and didn’t seem at all frustrated by being fed or sleeping in all kinds of new places.  Boy, were we lucky!

We enjoyed seeing everyone on our trip.  I got to see my Grandma Bonnie and a couple of my Aunts and Uncles (and a cousin) that I hadn’t seen in a couple of years.  It was also nice to meet some of Alicyn’s family and be reintroduced to some of her family that I hadn’t seen since she and Andrew got married almost 9 years ago.  It was great to see Nana and Grant had a great time playing with all her “pull down handles”.  We also had fun seeing and playing with Uncle Chuck, Aunt Laura, Alyssa and Mason (Grant’s cousins). Here are some pictures from our trip (click on the images to open them larger in a new window)…

Celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary on an airplane:

Andrew, Alicyn and I with the kids outside of my parents house in Beatrice:

From our time in Omaha:

From our time in Lawrence: