Visiting America

I'm behind. I know. We've been home for over one month now with no update on our trip to America, so here's an attempt to make up for that.

First, I need to start off this blog by admitting that we were AWFUL at taking pictures during our Midwestern tour of America. We spent a lot of time with people we love and have no photographic evidence of it. Please don't be offended, we were just soaking up our time with you and couldn't be bothered to pick up a camera and miss being it the now. The only time we were good at busting out the camera is when we were with kiddos. The good news is we have some super CUTE kids in our life!

Our trip started in Greeley, CO where we spent about one week with my sister and her family. It was our first time meeting her daughter, Dylan. Even though it was quite nice in Colorado while we were there, we were pretty much cold the whole time. Quite nice by Midwestern standards is still pretty cold by Thai standards. We spent most of our time resting and/or feeling like zombies due to the time difference, but we didn't let that stop us from doing as much playing and bonding as we could with Dylan. Amber had to work, so we stayed home and played babysitter. It was a pretty fabulous way to ease back in to life in America. Dylan is super cute and even though she's generally not a fan of male strangers, it didn't take her long to warm up to Uncle Neils! Amber and Ricky were great hosts who completely understood our need for sleep. They gave us a lot of down time and cooked us some really amazing meals. The only bad part is that it was just too short!

Uncle Neils is so silly!

And she's pooped! But look at those eyelashes!

 While we were visiting Amber, my grandpa ended up making a surprise trip to Colorado. Unfortunately, it was not to see us. He needed a stint put in his heart and sees a cardiologist in Denver. During his stay in the hospital we figured out that this is his 12^th stint, so by now these things are pretty routine. I have teased him for some time now about having a bionic heart. It was a nice opportunity to visit with him, my grandma and a couple of my uncles.

Photographic evidence that she does sometimes fall asleep, no matter what she says! Love you Grandma!

The best way to deal with a long wait in the hospital.

From Greeley, we headed to Pierre with my mom. Our time in Pierre was pretty much a blur. It was super hectic and neither of us felt like we spent any real time with anyone there. We tried our best to meet up with friends, but we were still sleep deprived and I caught a bad cold, which only made things worse. Nonetheless, we did catch up with a few, which was fabulous. We wish we could have spent more time with the folks we did get to see and gotten to see more of the people we missed. 

We were in Pierre for only a few days before we jumped in my dad's pickup and headed to Chadron to visit Neils' grandparents. On the way, we made a little detour to Lead, SD to see Neils' cousins' band play a show. It was a great show and we had a really great time. After the show we stayed with Neils' cousin Meredith and her husband in their newly built and absolutely gorgeous home. Then we headed to Chadron and spent a few days with Neils' grandparents. We had a really nice visit. They showed us all around their new living quarters and we got all caught up on happenings with family.

Once we were back in Pierre, Neils started working and I made a trip to Isabel, which is where a bunch of my mom's side of the family lives. Isabel is one of those places that I would normally visit several times a year when I was still living stateside, so it was nice to get up there and see some family. I stayed with my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jerome. We checked cows, ate the world’s best Indian tacos and had a super fabulous steak. I also visited with cousins Kenya and Alisa and their kids. Alisa’s son Grant and I even played transformers in her living room. I also had a chance to briefly catch up with my Aunt Jody.

Grant and Kara, a short pause from playing transformers.

New baby calf. My mom always said they were the first sign of Spring.

When I returned to Pierre, there was a baby shower hosted by my mom, my aunt Hazel and my sister, who was supposed to fly down but couldn't because Dylan got very sick. The shower was really lovely, a ton of fun and I was so grateful for everyone who came! It was a great opportunity to see people who I might not have otherwise gotten to see. Neils got some good male bonding time with in with friends during this time.

Cloth diaper cake, not the kind you eat!

Super cute bear blanket my mom and aunt Hazel made.

We also spent a night in Wood, SD with my dad and his wife Donna, at her country house. Her house doubles as a hunting a beautiful hunting lodge and it was our first time visiting. Dad and Donna made us a fabulous meal and we spent the evening chatting. The next morning Dad and Neils hunted prairie dogs while Donna and I lounged and visited.

Besides all this running around, we spent time with our family as much as we could. We stayed with my mom, visited my brother, sister-in-law and nieces and visited Neils' aunt, uncle and cousin when he and his family came to town. So you can see why our time in Pierre was a bit of blur. Next time we will plan more time there so we can relax and enjoy everyone a bit more.

From Pierre, we went to Fargo where we stayed with Neils' mom for about 10 days. The pace was a lot slower, which was welcomed as we were both pretty exhausted. Neils' sister came from Minneapolis for one week, so we got to spend plenty of time with her and her kids as well. We also visited Neils' cousins and their kids a few times. We even went to their school as show and tell, where we told three different classes about life in Thailand. Each class had different questions and different concerns. Neils and I were quite impressed with the level of some of the questions. Besides show and tell while in Fargo, we had a swimming party, did a little baby shopping, saw a movie, saw a play and ate some of Mary's fabulous cooking! 

Uncle Neils spending some time with new niece Vaydra

Oliver showing off his handstand skills.

Dance party!

After Fargo, we went to Minneapolis where we spent about one week. We stayed at my cousins' house. I actually lived with them for a bit in college so their house always feels like home to me. We visited with them, Neils' sister and her family some more, friends from college and Neils' cousins. My cousins planned a happy hour (where I only drank diet coke) where we were able to catch up with some old friends, we hit up the Mall of America with Emily and the kids and had an early Easter brunch with Neils' cousins. It was just the right amount of activity.

Gavin, too cool for shopping!

From Minneapolis we headed to Sioux Falls where we spent a few days. We stayed with our good friend Ondrea, who is usually willing to let us crash at her house whenever we make it to Sioux Falls. We spent Easter with my mom, brother and his family and the Horstmeyer clan. We spent a few hours in the afternoon with Zayshaw and Quanah, who look remarkably different. We also had a little happy hour get together of friends (where again, I only drank Diet Coke). And we ate Cold Stone ice cream on a regular basis.

The Easter kiddos, part Gloe, part Horstmeyer

Zayshaw turning to such a lovely young lady

Quanah and Carson trying to go for a ride on Neils's feet.

Neils had children hanging on him for most of Easter afternoon.

From Sioux Falls we met up with my dad and Donna in Vivian. We had been driving my dad's pickup this whole time and it was time to give it back. They drove us to Rapid City, where we had dinner with my older sister, her husband and my nephew. We spent about one and half days with our friends Jenn and Jake. We got caught up, played with their kids and got a tour of the restaurant they are opening. It is bound to be pretty amazing! We also had breakfast with one of Neils' aunts and a few of his cousins.

When it was time to leave to Rapid, my friend Sarah came up from Pierre to pick us up and take us back to Greeley. I had gotten into my mind that we had an extra day in Greeley, before leaving the country again, so I thought we were going to have an extra day to hang out with Sarah, Amber, Ricky and Dylan. Unfortunately, that was not the case. We got to Greeley, did some last minute baby shopping, hit the hay and had to be at the airport early the next morning. I am grateful for the car trip that I got to spend with Sarah though; at least we had that time to catch up a bit.

I was sad to leave, especially a day earlier than I thought we would have to. However, once we landed it felt pretty good to be back. It felt especially good once we got back home, in our own bed, with our own space. It was such a fun trip, but it's hard to be living in other people's houses for that long.

We had a really great time, and I gained the majority of my pregnancy weight while home. All in all, I would call it an extremely successful vacation! :)

Thanks to all of our friends and family who let us crash in your homes, chauffeured us around, lent us your personal property so that we might be comfortable, spent time with us, bought baby gifts and paid for meals. We love you all so much and miss you everyday! Until next time, please know you are in our thoughts often.

I hope you are well.