July 6, 2014

It has been a busy past month! Since our last post, we spent about a week cleaning our apartment, packing and getting ready for our road trip! We had some fun play dates to the beach and the zoo to help keep James entertained, but it was starting to get very hot so we were happy to escape to the west where the weather is much more bearable!

Watching golf like poppy! 

Play day outside

Reading with poppy on Father's Day 

Playing in the fountains at the zoo! 

Zoo with Mimi, E, Aunt Kathleen, cousins Henry and Ella! 




Beach day with Harper Karanzalis

Milestones for mom and James!



ROAD TRIP
So far our travels have taken us as far west as Stevensville, Montana where we are currently until July 10. It's been a good trip thus far..James has done well in the car overall and I have been feeling okay. Each day we have tried to only have 5-6 hours of driving time and plenty of stops. Here's a glimpse of our trip so far!

June 19
Depart Annapolis and drive to Pittsburgh, PA 



June 20
Exploring the city of Pittsburgh in the morning
Drove to Troy, Ohio to stay with Katie, Aubrey and Eli Ernst at Katie's parent's house (James LOVED playing with the other kids!!)






June 21 (Our six year anniversary!)
Drove to Chicago
Went to a Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field, but unfortunately had a two hour rain delay and had to go back so James could go to bed... we still had fun seeing the stadium and riding the train to get there! 





June 22
Spent the morning exploring Chicago
Drove to Aurora (about 45 minutes away) to have dinner and spend the night with Brandon's cousins, Amy and Benjie Hughes





June 23-27
Drove to Minneapolis to spend a few days with our dear friends, Erik, Lacey and Grete Iverson!
James and Grete loved playing in the pool in the backyard, dancing at "Toddler Tuesday" at the Mall of America, going on water slides at their local pool, reading books and just playing together! 
Mom and dad enjoyed their time with Erik and Lacey and even had an adults night out!! 










(James is really into fist-bumping everyone these days)




June 27
Drove to Grand Forks, North Dakota to spend the evening with Janelle Burleigh's family 
James got a black eye on a water slide in Minneapolis 

Dancing in the rain in Grand Forks! Excited to be out of the car!

June 28
Short tour of Grand Forks before a drive to Dickinson, ND (our only hotel!) Not a great town but James enjoyed the water slide with mommy 


Special treat of custard at lunch! 



June 29
Drove to Billings, MT to stay with the Routsons, good friends of the Clouds (James enjoyed playing with their grandkids and running around outside)
Stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park to view the Badlands, but it was very windy!




June 30
Drove to Bozeman, MT to meet Aunt Amanda and cousin Ari for lunch and running around a playground
Drove to Stevensville, MT to be with Brandon's family!! (Rebekah, Charles and Landon were already here too!)




July 1-6
We drove to Kallispell and Whitefish, MT (about 3.5 hrs away) to visit our friends the Lillards and Petersons on July 1....Since then, we have spent our days hanging out at the Cloud house with grandma, grandpa,  great grandma Alma, great grandpa Bob, Amanda, Kelly, Ari, Mimi, Poppy, Aunt E, Rebekah, Charles and Landon. It's been really fun to have everyone here together! We have spent lots of time outside in the pool, riding little airplanes around the house, eating delicious food, playing games, roasting s'mores over the fire and more! Everyone left today, so we are looking forward to having a couple of days to relax with grandma and grandpa before we head to Idaho on July 10!



















1 comment:

  1. wow! looks like you've already had such fun adventures and that James has had so many friends to play with! sorry about his black eye :( I'm so impressed that you went down that slide, Rachel, you're so committed! and those pictures at the national park look professional--definite framers!! glad to see an update and that it's all going so well!

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