15 days, 9 states, 2875 miles, 52 hours in the car, one baptism, one high school reunion and many good memories later we have finally arrived back in GA! Katelyn took her first official road trip, our style-we stop for gas, potty breaks and drive thru food and keep on truckin'. I must say she did MARVELOUS! I think she is going to fit into our family perfectly!! :)
On the first day we drove from GA to Memphis (12 hours total). This was the longest car ride of the trip and she did great. She even adjusted really well with the change to Central time.
We stopped in AR to see a friend of Jack's from high school. He lives near Mt. Magazine State Park. It was such a pretty park and a surprise for me. I didn't know any part of Arkansas looked like this!
We spent some time in Wichita with my parents. While we were there Katelyn was baptized.
Katelyn and her godparent, Tanya, meeting for the first time!
This picture just had to be added. She did great through her baptism and all through church, but started to get a little squirmy at the very end so Jack decided to take her out and give her a bottle. She didn't eat much of the bottle, but this face just kills me. I think she's saying..."haha, it worked I got out of there!!"
With the Grandparents
After her baptism, my mom had a dinner for all the family. This was the first time that anyone other than the grandparents had met her. It was such a great time getting to see my grandma and all my aunts, uncles, and cousins again..it had been awhile.
4 Generations!!
Peek a boo!! The weather was amazing while we were back in the midwest. I don't think I can remember a July where the temp were in the 70s!! We spent a lot of time outside enjoying it!!
Grandma and Grandpa W
Thanks for making our time in Wichita wonderful!!! We can't wait to see you soon!!
After we left Wichita, we went to Manhattan, KS. We had a great time seeing Christy and the kids and having dinner with Paul and Amanda. We drove around the area and even drove past our first house, memories, memories, memories! I would love to get stationed back in that area again!!
Next we drove to Fort Leonard Wood, MO. We met up with Wade, Stephanie, and Whitney and Jerry and Maria. We had fun catching up with them and getting to meet little Whitney. It seems like our time just isn't ever long enough at any of these places!
Katelyn and Whitney...friends already!! Whitney is only 5 days older than Katelyn. Hopefully the army brings us back together with Wade and Stephanie again because I'm sure the girls would be great friends and find plenty of trouble together!!
We drove to St. Louis after having dinner in Fort Leonard Wood and stayed with Rachel and Jeff (Jack's sister and brother in law). This was their first time meeting Katelyn as well!! We left the next day and headed to Jackson but made a pit stop at a family friend's house.
Katelyn and Opal
Jack's mom had a dinner and invited all the family over to meet Katelyn and just get together. It was so nice to see everyone and the food was great, as always!!
Rachel holding her daughter Sadie, Olivia holding Katelyn, and Emilie holding Gus. Babies, Babies everywhere!!
Katelyn telling Grandpa J all about it!! Where's Grandma J at?? She's probably cooking up a storm :)
Katelyn and Sadie had their pictures taken together in their matching dresses! When Katelyn was littler she looked a lot like Sadie but as she has gotten older, I don't see the resemblance as much anymore. I'll post the pictures once we get them back.
Waiting for picture time!
Our niece Sadie
Another big reason for our trip back to KS and MO was for Jack's 10 year high school reunion. It was fun seeing friends and I'm sure interesting for Jack to see and hear where some of his classmates have ended up.
We stopped at Ft. Campbell and saw Preston and Dong Mi and then made our way to Fort Benning and spent the night with Dan and Heather.
Finally our trip came to and end. We all had such a great time catching up with all our friends and family and can't wait to see you all again!! Thanks to those who opened up your house to us, we really appreciated it!!
(I know this is such a long post but it was so hard to sum up all our travels in such a short post!!)
