#northamericanroadtrip

If you follow us on Instagram, you will have noticed that lately all of our posts have been followed by the hashtag #northamericanroadtrip.  About a year ago a great friend from Korea asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding in Montreal, Quebec.  Everett and I (Bonnie) had never been to Canada so we were especially excited for the trip.  Throughout the school year Tom and I chatted about flying or driving to Canada and we ultimately decided that we wanted to go on a big family road trip through North America.  The whole trip will be a little under two weeks by the time we return to KC.  We are currently just over halfway through the trip, so I thought I would do a brief blog on our happenings.  We will make sure to follow up on some of the events in greater depth on the blog once we return home.  For now here is a run down of our trip and some photos: 

Day 1: Kansas City to Columbus, Ohio.  (10 Hours Driving) 

Day 2: Columbus to Canton, OH to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2 Hours Driving).  Canton to Niagara Falls--CANADA! (4 Hours Driving) 

Day 3: Niagara Falls to Ajax, Ontario, which is right outside of Toronto to visit the Leigh Family.  (2 Hours Driving)

Day 4: Ajax to Montreal, Quebec. (6 Hours Driving) 

Day 5-8: Hanging out in Montreal for my friend Laura's Wedding. 

Next stop tomorrow...back to Ajax. 

Now get ready for a big photo story bomb...here we go...!

 

 

 

Minnesota

The day after school got out we packed up our car and headed to Rochester, Minnesota, to visit some of our best friends.  The Jaeger's have lived in Rochester for a few years now because Chris is a resident at Mayo Clinic. We have always wanted to visit them but our crazy summer time schedules from previous years just made it too challenging.  So this summer we were determined to make it happen!  

It was so fun to spend time together with Chris, Sara, and their two kids, Lakin (almost 3) and Bennett (coolest baby ever).  We played hard, ate great meals, did some shopping, and enjoyed quality conversations.  Chris, Sara, and Tom have known each other since high school and we all went to Mizzou together.  There is something special about reuniting with friends that you have so much history with. 

Here are some pics of our time together.  If you follow us on Instagram you will recognize a lot of these photos.  We kind of blew up Instagram while we were together...! 

Headed to church.  Holding hands is a must. Lakin was such a good friend to Everett.  She was always so willing to help him out.  They were great little buddies! 

Maybe one of the highlights of the whole trip was going to the zoo!!! There is a free zoo close to the Jaeger's.  It isn't a very large zoo, which actually made it perfect for toddlers.  Everett and Lakin ran from one animal to the next.   They found it so exciting.  

Tom and I both enjoyed showing Everett so many of the animals he has seen on TV or read about in books.  Out of all the animals in the zoo guess which animal scared E?  It wasn't the bear...it wasn't the cougar...it was the pony.  That is our son for you. 

The Jaeger's have a park within a short walk.  How cool is that?!

The boys in their diapers. 

Pre-bedtime popsicles! 

Another highlight from the trip was seeing DJ, a friend of our's from GSIS.  He lives in St. Paul and made the drive to hang out with us for an evening.  It was awesome to reunite with him. 

The most tiring and epic part of the whole journey may have been our trip to Ikea.  Tom and I had never been to one and we found it AMAZING.  What was a bit less amazing was trying to take Ikea in while wrangling the kids--mostly our kid who was especially whiney during the trip through the store.  As you can see, the Jaeger kids were quite adaptable at the store.  Ben took his bottle on the go like a champ. 

I'm pretty sure Ikea dominated us rather than us dominating the store.  Totally worth it though. 

"Tom, will you read me a book?" Lakin and Tom became buddies too. 

It's always important to show your Costco ID card when you enter the store. 

Lakin loves to play dress up.  Everett wasn't that into it until this happened.  This picture cracks me up.  It was all done on his own accord. 

Rainy day pillow pit. 

All three kids paying hard together. 

Everett rarely lets us comb his hair, but he let Ms. Sara give him a post bath do after seeing Lakin getting her hair brushed.  Peer pressure is powerful. 

Before we knew it, it was time to put on our shades and head home.  This was a great little road trip to warm us up before we go on a two week trip to Canada at the beginning of July.  

Thanks Jaeger's for being such great hosts! 

Oklahoma

At the end of April we had a randomly scheduled three day weekend (which we were pumped about) so we decided to take a short trip to Lawton, Oklahoma, to visit Tom's parents.

Everett loved spending time with Grandma Jean and Grandpa Meyer! 

Grandma Jean and Grandpa Meyer wanted to get E some "Oklahoma clothes" so we did a bit of jean and boot shopping.  E walked away with some really cute stuff (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!). 

We also tried out a Korean restaurant in Lawton.  E loved it.  We do not have a good Korean restaurant near our house so it was fun to eat some Korean goodness.  We had bulgogi that reminded us a lot of the bulgogi served at GSIS! 

As these next few pictures show, the thing we probably enjoyed the most (aside from the great company) was just being able to play outside!!!  It was sunny and warm...perfect for a little boy to play around and get dirty. 

Hands down E's favorite thing was to play with the rocks in their water feature out back.  We ended up with a pretty good rhythm of Everett moving/throwing rocks and Tom going back to put the rocks back where they came from. I don't think Daddy enjoyed it as much as Everett. :)

Above you can see the lake that is practically in Tom's parents backyard.  We took E on a short hike to the lake where he got to do his favorite thing, play with rocks.  He was a tad grumpy for the walk back so he ended up cuddling with Grandma for the walk home.  Good thing it's a short hike--bubs is heavy!

After a full two days in Lawton we headed back home for the 7.5 hour drive.  For the most part E did a really good job on the drive, which is comforting since we are planning quite a few road trips this summer.  It was so fun to see Tom's folks, be in Oklahoma, and get away from KC for a while.  Since I have been struggling with morning sickness we had been feeling really cooped up at home and it was great to get out in the sunshine with people we love!