Kansas Thanksgiving

We've just returned from our trip to Kansas for Thanksgiving. This trip was the end of an era because it will be the last thanksgiving we spend in Paola Kansas. Ryan and his family have been eating turkey dinner in Paola for over 36 years (Ryan's entire life) at his grandparents house. But now the house will be sold and Ryan's grandparents are living in a retirement home. So we will have to find another venue.



This of course was Fay's very first visit to Paola, so it seemed like the beginning of an era to us. Fay has such a WONDERFUL time playing with her best bud Sparky (I can't believe we don't have any photos of Spark!), and her favorite cousin Sam. It seems within minutes of arriving at the house, Sam was playing cards with Fay and it was her new favorite activity.



Grandma and Grandpa Janssen were kind enough to take Fay off mommy's hands (literally), several times throughout the weekend. This was no small feat as Fay has taken to being very opinionated about what she does or rather DOES NOT want. She seems to have learned her own form of baby sign language which is frantically shaking her head side to side when she DOES NOT want something. This works for feeding time, holding time, changing time, when someone tries to touch her...pretty much everything. And it seems the affirmative is just a blank stare. Perhaps we can get her to nod her head in the future.

Fay got to visit with her great grandma Jane and Grandpa Bud several times throughout the trip. We visited them at their new home and also Bud came for dinners at the house. Its pretty amazing to see 4 generations in one room.

And we looked through a ton of old photos of Jane's and Bud's. There were several of Ryan at the exact age of Fay (13 months). Boy if they aren't spitting images of one another. The stick straight hair is a match, as are the quizzical expressions.



We had what we are calling Fay's "first steps" at the Paola house. Granted Fay has stood on her own, and she has taken some wobbly steps between her mom and dad after much prompting and pushing. :) BUT, on Friday evening Fay stood at the coffee table and I asked her to walk to me. She turned her little body, let go of the table, stablized herself, AND took TWO steps towards me. The fact that she let go and did not immediately sink to crawling position was a big deal. There was much cheering and hand clapping and a proud look on Fay's face.

The flights overall, OK. The trip to Paola was difficult. The flight was at 11:20 in the morning which meant we left the house before Fay's 1st nap (she takes two). Fay was too excited to sleep in the airport or on the plane, so we didn't get any naps in all day except for about 20 min in the car when we arrived. So the flight was really taxing -- Fay was cranky and mom was out of ideas. But surpringly she was a good girl when we arrived in Kansas and had fun meeting everyone. The flight back was a bit better as Fay slept in her daddy's arms for at least an hour. I actually read a book on the flight home, which seemed like such a luxury.