Ava's First Trip to Iowa

Last month, the three of us ventured back to Iowa so Ava could meet all of her family and friends.  Of our families, only my parents and Sarah had met her so far.  We were really excited to come back for a visit but also very nervous to see how Ava would handle the plane ride.  As it turned out, she handled it like a champ!  For the most part, she ate and slept and was only fussy after we had already landed [although who isn't cranky at the end of a plane ride while waiting to get out of there!]  The first half of our trip was spent up in Decorah with my family and the 2nd half down in Fairfield with Alex's family.

The first morning in Iowa, Ava's cousins were extremely anxious to meet her! :) We all spent time hanging out at Mom & Dad's house that first morning. Grace, Olivia and Nora liked taking turns holding her and 'playing' with her.  While in Decorah, Ava also had the chance to meet her maternal great-grandparents.  I feel so fortunate that she still has 4 great grandparents between the two sides.  We went down to Eastern Star to see Grandpa & Grandma Darrington and Grandma Benning drove up for lunch.  They were all so excited to hold her and get in some snuggles.  One afternoon, we also went on the bike trail ending with a mandatory trip to the Whippy Dip! We also made sure to get in an adult only evening - Sarah arranged to have a baby sitter watch all 4 of the girls.  I wasn't sure how I would do but it was refreshing to have a couple hours of adult conversation :) The entire Darrington side came out one evening for a barbeque too.

The first half of the trip went by so quickly and then we were on our way south to Fairfield.  Gary, Marj, Alex's siblings and Great Grandma Carol came over to the house right away to see us.  The first night in Fairfield, we went to the town square to listen to the municipal band play in which Gary plays the clarinet.  The next day the whole family went to Rathbun Lake to enjoy some sun on the boat.  Ava did great on the boat and we even let her float in the water for a few minutes [she wasn't too sure of that part - it was either too cold or else the lifejacket was too restricting...] One of the evenings, we had a family party and another night a party with Alex's high school friends.

It was great spending time with our families and I'm happy Ava traveled so well.  I found that the good-byes were even harder this time around... although we will be back in Iowa for good in less than a year and we still have plenty of adventures up in Alaska!