The flight to Boston is a lot more humane than the flight to Houston and we were there in an easy 7 hours. Evie was a star traveler as usual, and also was easily manipulated by Jack Black dressed in an orange outfit on Yo Gabba Gabba. I assure you that at home Evie barely watches TV, much less gets hooked up to headphones. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Upon arrival in Boston, Danny picked us up from the airport and we had a reunion at their house. Jim met Ani for the first time and she charmed him into petting her white dog and allowing her to put a 'Dinner at 8' sign on his head, despite his jet lag.
Then she body slammed him and he had to go back to the hotel and pass out.
The next morning, Evie joined Lucas (who we also met for the first time this trip) for a hearty breakfast. Lucas was kind enough to share his Cheerios and now Evie is a Cheerio addict.
Avery and Jess came over to play, too! At first, Avery wasn't too psyched about being woken up and then held by me.
But later, she calmed down and although she still regarded us suspiciously, she seemed to accept us.
Then she got really relaxed and showed us her belly.
Reunion!
It was pretty rainy, but that couldn't keep Lucas down. He went out and played in it. Then he came home and stripped down.
One last hang out with Daddy before he went off to sleep and then back home. We missed him for the rest of the week!
Evie spends a lot of time looking out the window at our house. She finds watching people pass and Finchley and his rival Mouse (the cat next door) in the front garden very exciting. So the opportunity to look out of the window with Lucas in another country was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!
We said goodbye to Tia, Tio and Lucas and headed off with Jessie and Ani (and don't forget BANJO the Wonderdog!) to Vermont.
We stopped at a Leed Certified rest area, which I thought would impress Jim. I took lots of pictures of the toilet and the septic system (or whatever), but he did not show the enthusiasm I was looking for, so I won't bore everyone else with those pictures. Instead, here is Evie sprouting out of Banjo's head.
And a happy Vermont picnic with Jessie, Ani and Banjo (at the end of the leash).
This was seriously the most beautiful rest area we've ever been to (well, Evie hasn't been to many at all...it may have been her first! But I was very impressed.) Usually I don't want to hang out at a rest area for any period of time, but this one was scenic!
At the farmhouse in Vermont, there were lots of new challenges.
Stairs:
...and mastered that:
Embarrassing hats:
A bialy:
We were introduced to Steve's motorcycle (Ani, wisely, has not yet embraced it):
And we went for a slightly traumatizing hike. The first trauma involved getting into the backpack AND having to ride on Steve's back. He is SO SCARY.
Eventually we realized that the whole backpack thing wasn't going to work, so we resorted to the sling. Still too close to Steve, though. He's SO SCARY!
We paused for a serene picture on a beautiful log.
Jessie demonstrated her best Karate Kid/dance to rile up the yellow jacket nest that was INSIDE the beautiful log.
And we ran. A few minutes later, Evie burst into tears for no reason. A few minutes after that, we discovered that she had been stung. And 20 minutes later, when we got back to the car, we discovered that the yellow jacket was still in her pants. Fortunately it only stung her once, but then we started getting dive bombed by other yellow jackets, seemingly out of nowhere. After locking ourselves into the car and Google-ing yellow jackets on Steve's ipod, we found out that injured yellow jackets give off a pheremone that calls other yellow jackets in to attack. Sheesh. Needless to say I am now more than a little paranoid about bees and their proximity to Evie (although yellow jackets are especially evil, I think).
Hair envy:
And a REALLY good show:
We met Spirit, the family horse. Jessie coaxed him over with apples and carrots.
A horse head is really big...especially when you are a baby.
After all the country excitement, we decided to get urban and go into Burlington for pizza. There is no doubt that Evie loves pizza.
Ani was a pizza peeker:
And I got lots of Bagley snuggles (and good pizza):
Unfortunately, due to our pizza exploits, we didn't make it back to the farm in time for Banjo's first agility training course (HAH!) I hope someone takes some video footage when Banjo DOES make it to his course.
At the end of the week, Jessie, Evie and I headed back to Boston. Our flight back to London was on Saturday so instead of making a REALLY long day of it, we decided to split it into two days. We stayed at the Hyatt in Burlington, MA and were delighted to find this in the parking lot when we got there:
They were wanted by the front desk:
Whohoo! Girls Gone Wild!!!!!!!!
The next day, after an epic shop at Marshall's (which sadly ended in my getting not much because I couldn't fit anything into my already overstuffed suitcase) we headed to Logan and can report that there is not much to do at Logan in terms of hanging out and waiting for your flight. So we decided to whoop it up at Hoolihan's.
Whoop!
Whoop!
Poop!
On the flight, we were unfortunately seated next to the area where all the flight attendants hang out, so things were pretty busy and loud. Evie slept a little bit, but not much. Jessie and I slept about an hour. Despite our red eye flight, Evie managed to keep the plane happy by crawling up and down the aisles in her pink monkey pjs.
Thus ends the American adventures. Stay tuned for a detailed account of Jessie's brief visit to London.
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