Going to Pennsylvania!

Soo... our previous travel experiences have all been positively idyllic compared to what we experienced today! It's definitely more challenging traveling with a toddler! We left our house at 4am to drive to Chicago to catch our plane to Philadelphia. The car ride was fairly uneventful and checkin at the airport was actually easier this time since we're becoming old "pros" at it... but by the time we got on the plane, Carolyn was hungry, overtired, and overstimulated- a killer combination for an enclosed space with a couple hundred of our closest friends!

We knew what she really needed was a nap, but instead, she did a lot of this...
And this... lately she's been very interested in Mouths... perhaps a future dentist?!
But eventually, we landed in Philadelphia and our friend Carolyn and her daughter Emma picked us up at the airport... The car ride started out okay, but turned south about 20 minutes before we arrived at their house when their 2-year-old suddenly and violently blew chunks all over herself, her car seat, and Me! Poor Emma! Bless her poor little heart, she was so miserable all covered in puke- and we just had to sop it up as best we could with a blanket and I read stories to her over and over again to distract her until we could get home and get the dear child cleaned up. I felt so sorry for her! Apparently, the flu bug she had last weekend (it seemed to be done...) wanted to have one final word- or maybe she was just motion sick- we can always hope, since those faithful readers of 3 months ago will remember our prior bout with the flu and will certainly understand why I have no longing for a repeat performance. Pray with us for healthy tummies and strong immune systems!! :)

My favorite part of the day was after lunch when Carolyn was finally liberated from the confines of airplanes, laps, car seats, or high chairs and revelled in her newfound freedom to explore an entirely new territory! She was just tickled with all the great places to hide... like behind Emma's high chair...

She also found some really fun refrigerator magnets on their fridge and actually amused herself for several minutes (out of sight of Mommy) playing with them! Later she carried them around as she crawled everywhere. :)

Then, of course, the highlight of the day! I've been feeling like Carolyn was close to taking her first steps for a couple weeks now and today she just did it! It was a big step for her to let go of her support, even for just a few seconds, and risk falling- and she really had to consider before she was willing to try (she's got more than just my looks, I'm afraid...), but she did it! And I was so proud! She had a couple other "episodes" of taking a few steps and I was too busy celebrating with her to take any pictures. Maybe tomorrow...

Emma seemed to feel much better after a nap and dinner and the two girls got to play a little bit together- though we're trying to be careful not to allow any close contact, just in case.
I leave you, for tonight, with this video. Carolyn's starting to recognize what is off limits and in this little clip, she says "No, No, No, No" as she struts around the toilet- as if reminding herself that she shouldn't be there.