We Went Dancin Across the USA. . .

I've been homesick for quite awhile so when the opportunity came up for me to spend several weeks back home in the midwest, I literally jumped at it.  Because of the heat embargo on pets in airplanes (and our refusal to kennel Oskar), my wonderful sister-in-law graciously agreed to fly out to Vegas and make the three day journey by car back with me, a wiener dog, and a 10-month old.  Bless. Her. Heart.  

So, in less than 3 days time, I went from sulking around in the Vegas heat to picking her up from the airport, loading up the car, and heading East.  My son was a ROCK STAR.  Not kidding.  The first day, the only  angry peep he made was once we were high up in the Rockies, and I honestly think that was more from the pressure on his ears than frustration at having been in a car seat for 10 hours.  Anyway, after the first day's journey, we stopped at a little town just west of Denver for the night.  MJ decided the pack and play was not a comfortable alternative to a bed and promptly conked out in the middle of MY bed.  We are NOT co-sleeping types of parents, and I got ZERO sleep that night, but he was way too cute to wake up.

The next morning, we said farewell to the very beautiful but, sadly, very dry Colorado landscape and headed into what I think might actually be hell on earth. . .

. . . Kansas.  If you've ever driven through Kansas, you know what I'm talking about.  And if you haven't . . . well, don't.  It is the longest, flattest, most boring state in the entire country.  I have a preference for rural landscapes, and I still hate Kansas.  And it didn't help that Kansas (and most of the country) is going through a monster heat wave.  In fact, the hottest place in the country at the moment is not Death Valley.  It's a little town in Kansas.  I'm telling ya--hell.

Even Matty was bored.

"We're STILL in Kansas?!  Well, I guess I'll brush up on my farm animals.  Never know what I might see back home."

We made it all the way to Kansas City, MO the next day which meant our third day was a short 6 hour jaunt over to Paris, IL, where we stopped to see Jonathan's parents for a few days.  But more on that in a later post.  All you really need to know right now is that, somehow, miraculously, we are here in the midwest with our minds, bodies, and sanities (is that a word?) intact.

And the total amount of time combined that my son cried during the entire 3 day trip across half a continent?  Less than 1 hour.

Seriously.  Rock star.