St. Louis and Michigan Trip

What a fun family vacation Delaney and I had to St. Louis and Michigan this month! We travelled to St. Louis to attend a reunion picnic given by Children’s Hope, the adoption agency I used to bring to Delaney home. There were children from all over the world from all parts of the US. Delaney was so excited to get on the airplane and when we took off she put her hands up in the air! When we landed in St. Louis, she was yelling, “I’m here, Mommy, St. Louis, I’m here!” I had been talking to her about the trip for some time now, so she was so happy to finally get there!

We meet up with the three families we tavelled with to Russia, as well as some other families whose children are from Baby House #2 in Novokuznetsk. It was wonderful to see all the kids and how well they are doing and how happy and healthy they are! I just wanted to hug and hold them all so tight!

St. Louis is a really nice town! We spent a couple days with the Earls ~ Jeff, Jane, Joseph and Svetlana and visited the CHI office, the zoo, and Grant’s Farm (where the famous Clydesdales live!) The kids loved swimming in the pool at the hotel and Delaney discovered the “Hot~Tub Tub!” A lot of attractions in St. Louis are free, so that was nice! It was fun spending time with our friends from Tennessee that we haven’t seen since coming home last August! At the hotel, we visited with the Blalocks from Flordia, the Marshalls, also from Tenn., and the Kubes from Illinois. Delaney saw several other children who were adopted last year that she had been with in Russia: Alina, Tatyana and Lauren!

A long time family friend, Pam, flew down to meet us from Chicago and Delaney loved “Ham!” Pam went to the picnic with us and we visited the arch and walked along the river one evening. The picnic was fun, and we saw even more families from our on-line groups. The kids got to play in packing peanuts, do arts and crafts and get their faces painted. We all had fun visiting and seeing the kids and catching up!

After St. Louis, Delaney and I flew to upper Michigan to visit Aunt Gail and Uncle Earl and their gang! We flew into Green Bay, Wisconsin and visited Lambeau Field, which was really fun. My uncle has Delaney running around saying, “Go Packers!” The other day I told her to say “Go Niners!” and she said no! Well, Little Missy could just do no wrong with my aunt and uncle and had a blast on their small farm riding tractors, playing in the sand, having water fights with her cousins….we went to swim in Lake Michigan and had a bon fire while the kids roasted marshmallows. They day we were going home I asked her if she was ready to fly home and see grandma and she said, “No, another house!” Guess she enjoys being a world traveller like her Mommy!

Delaney keeps asking about EVERYBODY she saw in St. Louis and Michigan and wants to know where they are now and where they live! I can’t believe she is remembering all those names and faces. She looks at the pictures and can tell you who it is and where they live now! Well, I am hoping this is just one of many trips we can share together, as we plan to get together with our friends in the future so the kids can all see each other as they grow up. I now need to go “de-program” my child so she doesn’t get beat up here in San Francisco by screaming, “Go Packers!”

You can see all the trip photos by clicking on the photo gallery link to the left!