USA Trip Top 10

At the end of July we took a two week trip back to the US, and it was such a fun trip that I wanted to make a top ten list for it.  Now this list will be a bit biased towards the Stone/ND side of the trip--not because we don't love the Sondas and Michigan, but because I left Paul and the kids in MI to head to MN to work and as a result, me and my phone capturing the fun times spent twice as much time in ND compared MI. 

#1 - The first favorite thing about the trip was that we spent time in four different states and had three different itineraries (mine, Paul's and the kids) that involved Paul and I both separately spending time in MN for work and maximizing the kids' time with both sets of grandparents and cousins--and nothing got messed up.  The setup was carefully orchestrated and just begging for a wrench to be thrown into it somewhere, but unbelievably went off without a hitch.  Paul wins Travel Agent of the Year for getting all of that arranged.  And Esme wins Airplane TV Zombie of the Year for staring mindlessly at cartoons for 12.5 hours from Hong Kong to Seattle with no nap and almost no blinking.  But then the Seattle layover meant falling dead asleep.

#2 - The day after arriving in MI we brunched with the Sonda's and then hit the road for state number two, Ohio, for some party time to celebrate Delia's being totally done with official medical training.  It was a fine night with family and friends and the kids whooped it up with their cousins.  Esme and Jemma made their karaoke debut with "Let It Go" (of course).

#3 - Estelle performs the Thong Song because she has dumps like a truck...

#4 - Daddy Paul took the kids to Disney Planes 2.  They make quite the bunch.  I have no idea where my kids get their personality from...

#5 - After high rise dense HK for months, the wide open space of ND felt good.  Look closely in the picture and the speck on the road is PE taking my 30+ year old banana seat bike for spin.

 

 

 #6 - My dad has this really old car and Aletta decided to take it for a ride around the yard, polishing up her really old stick shift skills. We decided to act like it really was 1950 and put six kids in the car for a lap, including the front seat, with no seat belts to be found (and the 1-year-old was facing forward, with no seat belt). Then the ladies decided we wanted in on the fun too, so the six of us took it into town for some afternoon coffee. We cruised all around sleepy Garrison, with Aletta running a couple stop signs and jerking us around with her stellar clutching.

 

 

#7 - A leftover case of glow sticks from a special event meant glowing superheroes after dark.

#8 - Esme and I got to visit Great Grandma Verna twice during the week.  Esme is good entertainment and brought many smiles to Grandma.

#9 - Dirt! The kids don't have easy access to plant life and good old dirt in the urban jungle so they spent plenty of time in it in ND.  Here they are all digging for worms, but even though they didn't find any, they more than made up for it with the frogs and one snake.

#10 - Pancakes at Aunty Aletta's!  And Esme has no idea how special her Statue of David apron is.