the end to our USA trip trilogy...

It's the last set of pictures from our America trip!  And there are lots of them.  So lets get to it.

One of the best parts about the trip was how much time we had just to relax and hang out with my family.  My Dad was able to take loads of time off from work, and my Mom was able to rearrange quite a few days free as well. And my brother came all the way from Pittsburgh to stay with us for a while.  It was excellent.
I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but it was also very HOT.  So the very first thing we did when we arrived, was a trip to the very cool park near where my Mom works. 

It was excellent to see Finn connect with his American Grandparents after so much time chatting over the computer.


The last day before we came home was also a trip to the park, but this time with his cousins.  It was great fun.

I love this picture - trying to get a group shot and NONE of the kids are looking at the camera :)

He LOVED this yellow car

Except when it was Caitlin's turn to drive...

 

(PS - new haircut!  It's short!)

We were so happy that Matt was able to spend so much time with us.  Finn especially.  He decided that Matt was one of his favourite people in the whole world.  Which is saying something, because Finn doesn't warm to new people very quickly.  But Matt was his best friend within minutes.  Part of this might have been because Matt also brought his dog.  The poor thing was terrorised by Finn's love every second he was around.  I can't figure out how to post the videos from Matt's phone but they are quite funny ones of Finn crawling around after the dog every time he moved and getting in his face with a "hello" every time he tried to sleep.  Funny for us, of course.  Not so funny for the dog!  But he is so relaxed and low key he took it all in stride.

One of Finn's favourite things to do with Matt and my parents was to watch videos of cars and things. For a LONG time.    

It's not something he's used to, just lounging about.  But he took to it like a duck to water!  And I loved it as well - especially because it meant that I could relax and do other stuff as well, while my Dad and Finn had some quality time together.

But it wasn't all about hanging around eating crisps and watching Thomas the Tank Engine.  We did get out and about in our local town.  We went downtown and got some coffee.

Then took a trip to see the new children's section at the local library.

And there was a super special treat.  We went to the fire station to have a peek through the window and they had all the huge doors open!  They let us come inside and showed Finn the fire engines.  One firefighter even switched on the siren lights much to Finn's delight :)
He was so brilliantly gleeful and happy.  It was so lovely that I don't have too many pictures - we were just enjoying the time. But here are a couple good ones:

We also saw many many more people in my extended family during a trip to my Grandparent's house.  It has long been tradition to all gather together for the Fredericktown Tomato Festival - a great big fair and parade and fun time all about the good ole tomato.  Finn and I didn't head down to the fair - we were mostly there to see all the family that I hadn't seen in a while.  It's so nice to have them all in one place.  And also so nice to carry on with the traditions that hold such a strong part in my childhood memories by introducing them to Finn.  Watching his delight at the parade reminded me of my own delight many years ago.  We pulled out the same box of old toys that I remember playing with myself.  Of course he chose the cars instead of the blocks.  But he was so excited by just how many cars there were!

And then we headed down to watch the parade.  I've long out-grown parades and find them dull and repetitive.  But I had a great time watching it with Finn.  And Finn had a great time waving at everyone going past (in Nee-Naws! and Cars! and TRACTORS!  AND HORSESSSSS!!!!).  And they were throwing out candy and necklaces - both of which Finn was super pleased with. Especially as he'd never really had candy before... so he was insistent on having as much as he could. (Though I was able to restrain him mostly - it helped that it was so hot all the chocolate ones were melted and all the gummy ones were too chewy).

But again, the most important thing was the family that were there.  Getting to be with his Great-Grandparents most of all.

We did so many lovely and amazing excellent things.  But most of them were quite normal and therefore I don't have pictures.  But I have the memories and that is the most important thing.  So take a moment and just imagine all the other great stuff we did...
Yeah. It was good.

On to our final night in America.  We went out to dinner for my Brother-in-Law's birthday.  My sister and nieces came and it was a fabulous meal.  Finn was well behaved and actually ate and let me eat as well.  And we got to see my Aunt Tricia and Cousin Aubrey one more time, as they stopped by to drop off the bag that I'd left behind at my Grandparents' house.  And we were all on a big round table and we had lots of laughs and fun and it was a good finish to a great trip.  But it didn't end there.  We left the restaurant and there was a fountain outside.  One of those ones that kids can run around in if they want.  Even though it was evening, it was very very warm and the kids were interested in looking at it... and then interested in getting in.  It was warm enough that we could let them, but I was certain that Finn wouldn't want to.  We've been to places like that and he gets frightened and nervous and won't go in.  Not this time!  He and Caitlin were running around ,sticking their feet in the water, getting soaked, and loving every minute.  I've never seen him like that.  I wouldn't say he was fearless (Caitlin certainly was!) but he was happy and pushing his limits and when he got a facefull of water he laughed instead of cried.  It's hard to know what a big deal this was if you don't know Finn - but it was a pretty big deal.  And I was so much enjoying watching him that I don't have pictures. Luckily my Dad took some with his phone, so I do have some to share.  But I am happy that I wasn't distracted by documenting it.  Instead I was in the fountain with them and having so much fun. I really didn't intend to actually get wet, but Dakota managed to change my mind.  Though, in truth, she didn't really give me much of an option - just soaked me.  But then there was no turning back.  Luckily Jaimie had spent the night with us at my parents house the night before and still had her overnight bag with her.  So I could go back into the restaurant and change into a pair of dry pyjamas.  Walking back through the nice restaurant and out to the cars in a pair of pyjamas was certainly a bit embarrassing - but there couldn't be anything that could tarnish the pure pure good feeling I have from that final night in America.  It was a memory to last a very long time.  And on that note I will leave you with the final pictures from my Dad's phone. :)

Until next time!

next up - the Zoo!

There are so many good pictures from this trip to the zoo!
It was an amazing amazing trip.  This was the first time Finn had been to a big proper zoo and it was so much fun watching his amazement and fascination with some of the animals.  Of course, he was quite unpredictable in what he actually found amazing (ie: the biggest hits were the goats and the fish.  The lions did not impress) but it was still a joy to experience with him.  Part of the reason it was so much fun was because we were there with my sister and her two kids and my Aunt Tricia.  I've already mentioned many times how much fun Finn has with Dakota and Caitlin.  But Dakota and Caitlin at the ZOO?!  This was a whole new level.  It was great to be able to let them all just run around and scream and chase each other and have as much raucous fun as they liked. And because Tricia was there, Jaimie and I actually got some time to hang out together as well.  You know how you sometimes have those trips that are meant to be "fun" but are actually really stressful and exhausting and you start to wish you hadn't agreed to it?  That's what I expected of the zoo.  But it was not that at all.  It was so relaxed and laid back and easy that it was actually truly enjoyable all around.  Brilliant.

So anyway.  I have LOADS of pictures and I've cut them down quite a bit.  But I still have quite a few.  So here comes the mega picture post.  Enjoy!

Walking around the zoo is hard work!  Luckily Jaimie had a pushchair that could fit three kids!  I don't think it was designed to do that... but it worked :)

As always, the best way to Finn's heart is a ride on a train.  And this one was actually on tracks and had bells and choo choos and everything.  And we were trying to see who could spot the animals... And Dakota was doing an excellent job taking pictures on Tricia's camera!

There wasn't just a train, there was a BOAT!  We floated down a 'river' that had animatronic dinosaurs all along it (no- I'm not certain why there were dinosaurs at the zoo either).

Finn was rather distracted by it all because he had just bought a car from the shop.  But then the boat started floating and he was fascinated!  

So trains, and boats - what else could a place have to make Finn love it?

ANIMALS!

And of all the animals, Finn had two favourites.  Two places we spent ages and ages at.  One was the aquarium...

 

And the other bit that sent him over the edge in joy was the petting area for the goats.  We go to the city farm pretty often so he knows goats and loves to look at them. So he got excited when we went up to have a look.  And then we opened the door and went in.  The surprise and glee on his face was incredible.  He was running up to the goats and trying to hug them, getting in their face to say 'hello' and trying to crawl under their legs like a 'tunnel.'  It was hilarious.  He had absolutely zero fear of these animals that were mostly bigger than he was.  He just wanted to talk to and see and touch as many of them as he could.  Who would have expected that in a zoo full of amazing animals, this boy would go nuts for goats?  But he did.

They had brushes out so that kids could brush the goats if they wanted to.  Caitlin was slightly worried about the goats so she didn't really want to brush them, but was quite excited to have the brush and wanted to join in somehow... so she and Finn found their own solution...

So out of all the trains and boats and fish and goats, what was his absolute favourite thing of all?  Without a doubt the best thing about the whole trip was spending time with family.  Finn loves his aunt Jaimie.  Finn loves his great-aunt Tricia.  He even seems to like me a bit as well.  But mostly, Finn loves his cousins.  A lot.