St. Louis Trip: Day 1

My dad and his brothers.  From left: Doug, Dan, Dennis, David (my dad)

We have a lot of family in the St. Louis area.  My dad's parents and his three brothers along with Ty's mom's sister and one of my best friends all live in the area.  None of my dad's family had met Carter yet, so Ty and I decided to make a trip out to St. Louis to see everyone. 

People want to meet me?

Ty took Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off work and we left yesterday to meet my parents at their house.  Today we left from my parents' house and drove the 5 hours to St. Louis.  I was a little bit worried about how Carter would do, but my mom came up with the idea of stopping after 2 hours to get Carter out of the car and letting him stretch out for a bit.  It worked perfectly.  He got fussy a little bit before we stopped and then made it the 3 hours after our stop with no problem!

Snuggles with great grandma

Tonight Carter got to meet his Great Uncles Dan, Doug, and Dennis along with his Great Aunt Monica.  He had met his great grandparents very briefly so he actually got to spend some time with them tonight.  We met at my Uncle Dan and Aunt Monica's house and they had dinner for everyone.  Their house is beautiful with a fabulous deck and a pond behind their house.  We ate outside and enjoyed the view.

Playing with great grandpa

Carter did such a great job.  We bathed him and got him ready for bed at my aunt and uncles house.  Then we laid him on a blanket on the floor and he slept for about 2 hours there.  We had to put him in the car seat to head to my grandparents' house to spend the night.  I figured he would fuss and cry in the car, but he went right to sleep.  When we got to my grandparents' house he cried for a while (who wouldn't being woken up twice in the middle of the night, I know I want to when it happens to me) and then went back to sleep.  I can't say enough times how lucky we are to have such an easy going baby!

My handsome husband!

It's so much fun to see family interact with Carter and to watch him smile at familiar and even unfamiliar faces.  He is just such a joy to be around!  We had a great start to our trip enjoying good food and family.  Tomorrow we get to visit my friend, Steph, who Carter will meet for the first time.  I haven't seen her since she was a bridesmaid at our wedding.  I'm super excited to say the least!

The clouds looked so gorgeous as the sun was beginning to set.