Illinois: Days 1 & 2

Like I mentioned before, I will have to share pictures from our trip over a couple of posts because there are just SO MANY of them! And you will really only get to see a small fraction on them.

So we left our house at about 6am on Wednesday morning. Our flight left at 7:30 and was only an hour long. We had a 2 hour layover in Albequerque and then a 2 hour flight to St. Louis. Ryder did GREAT on both flights. Our 2nd flight was delayed by about half an hour and he was already overdue for a nap, but I was trying to keep him up so that I could nurse him during takeoff and then hoped he would sleep after that. If our plane had been on schedule it would have worked out perfectly. By the time we actually got to board the plane, he was getting a little cranky and impatient. It was stuffy and crowded (thankfully we got a row to ourselves though), so he started to throw a fit when we first got on, but as soon as we got situated and he was able to go to sleep, he was fine.

We picked up a rental car in St. Louis and then had a 2 hour drive to Pittsfield. That was a little rough. Ryder tends to hate the car as it is, so after all the traveling we had already done and then being stuck in a car that long, he was done. But we made it and once he was out of the car, all was well.

On the first flight, ready to go!

Mama, neurotically wiping everything down with antibacterial wipes. :) Planes are gross!

Layover in Albuquerque ... tired boy, relaxing with his feet up!

2nd flight .... we hauled the car seat on, partly so we wouldn't have someone try to sit in out row, but he only sat in it for a short time.

Thursday - Pittsfield

It was nice having Thursday to just hang out on the farm. My favorite place in the whole world! I was so excited to take Ryder there and I hope that he will get to spend much of his childhood there. I have so many wonderful memories at this place!

He sure loves his daddy!

Seeing cows for the first time!

My gpa's truck .... I miss him :(

SADDEST THING EVER! Someone dumped this dog at the farm. It's a really sweet old beagle, so starved she's nothing but skin and bones. Her nails were about 2 inches long. That combined with how malnourished she was and some clear joint problems, that poor thing could barely walk.

BREAKS MY <3

Look at her hip bone sticking out in the back.... :( I told my grandma that she either needed serious medical care or needed to be put down and my grandma said she couldn't put her down because the dog (she calls he Pup-Pup) looks at her like she likes her. I swore I was going to have it taken care of before I left. Well, sweet little Pup-Pup looked at me like she liked me too and it broke my heart. I did, however, feed her a TON, Rudy clipped her nails and we sprayed her with stuff for fleas. I gotta say she seemed to be doing a little better by the time we left. She was getting around better and probably even gained a little weight.

My dad tried to put Ryder in the grass (his first time) and he was not having it! Legs straight out to the sides .... haha.

I can't look at this picture without laughing. Rudy was trying to take a picture of the barn, and I sneak attacked him! Jumped in front of the camera at the perfect time - we laughed soo hard for soo long!

Beautiful country road

Watching my Uncle Kevin move bails of hay

Grandpa

Ryder was FASCINATED with the floor vents! Since we don't have them here, they were completely new to him. He played with them for sooo long and he loved to sit on them when the cool air was blowing out.

We happened to be there for the Fall Festival. Thursday night, Rudy, Ryder, my dad, my grandma and I went to eat there. By the time we got my dad and grandma out of the house, it was much later than we had hoped and Ryder was about ready for bed. I almost thought it wasn't worth it to go, but it was our only chance as we'd be in Iowa the rest of the days it was going on. We got there and finally decided what to eat (I come from the most indecisive family ever) and got our food. We sat down to eat, and it started raining - which quickly turned into pouring buckets! We took shelter under a huge tree (thankfully no lightning), while Rudy went to get the car. We soon realized that he couldn't get the car to where we were because the road was blocked off, so we had to run through the rain to get to him. This was the only picture we got before the rain. The "Miss Pittsfield" contest is going on in the background.

That's all for tonight! Hopefully Part II will be coming soon! :) I am sooooo sad to be home and have kind of been in a funk since we've been back. Today was a little better. Ryder and I at least got out of the house a little bit.