Violet's a Travelin' Gal

Violet is now back from her first trip involving air travel. For those of you who don't already know, we recently took a trip to CT to visit Mike's family and introduce Violet to the Wojcik and Dawson sides of the family. We left last Saturday and returned Tuesday (yesterday). The only trouble we had was delayed flights out of SLC and Chicago on Saturday, but in the end we still made it in around 4am on Sunday morning - a total delay of only a few hours.

Nothing really tripped up our little traveler, however. Violet slept through 90% of both flights on Saturday, and while we waited in the airports in SLC and Chicago, we just spread out a blanket for her and she played and played and played. Vi loved all of the people watching as well. She loves little more than looking around for smiling faces, and then reciprocating that smile with her own. As you might imagine, a good portion of the people whose eye she caught did, in fact, smile back. That made for a generally happy baby, and generally happy parents!

Although our trip was rather short, we did have a wonderful time visiting all of the family. There was a huge turnout at Mike's parents' home on Sunday, with a good 25 or 30 people in attendance. Thanks to everyone who took the time to join us - we were so happy to see everyone and get to introduce Violet!

Vi took it all in stride, getting passed around several times to almost everyone in attendance. I think she was a little overwhelmed by day's end, but it was nothing that a nap and some play time couldn't conquer. Mike's goal for the day was to get a picture of Violet being held by each family member (at very least the adults), and I think he succeeded! I'm working on uploading half of the pictures from the trip right now, but it will take some time to upload them, sort them all out, and decide what gets posted. So for now, you'll just get a preview:

Vi and I asleep on the plane.
Great-Grandma Dawson, Great-Baci Wojcik, and Violet
Cioci Jennifer, Violet, and Cioci Kate

The first half of the Wojcik family picture...

...and the second half of the Wojcik family picture

Monday was a more relaxed day for everyone. Mike, David, Violet, and I all went to lunch with the Great Grandmas, Baci and Grandma Dawson. Violet also had her first trip, and surely not her last, to Friendly's in Enfield, CT. Nothing spectacular, but lots of history at that place as Mike and his sister, Kate, both worked there during high school and college summers.

Later in the day, Mike, Violet, and I went on a mini shopping trip to South Windsor, CT. Nothing special really, but we did get to visit LLBean, Ann Taylor, and my personal favorite (and maybe Vi's some day?), Anthropologie. Yay! While at LLBean, Violet found herself two new pairs of pants (on clearance at that), and while at Anthropologie, we found Vi's new favorite stuffed animal, a pinkish giraffe.

Our flight on Tuesday morning left quite early, particularly because we tried hard to keep Violet on her regular (MST) schedule and we had also straddled the daylight savings time shift. At any rate, we made it on our 8:30 (ish) am flight to Chicago, and then had a 2-hour (or so) layover. That was a good break for all of us, as Vi had a harder time staying happy on that leg of the trip. But with some play time and a lunch break (during which Vi grabbed one of my french fries and tried to stuff it in her mouth, and tried to drink my Diet Coke as well...) all was well. From Chicago back to SLC Vi took a good nap, and once we arrived back in Utah, we collected our carry-ons and headed home to about eight or ten inches of fresh snow.

Incidentally, I believe we were on the same flight from Chicago to SLC as Ga Ga (or Jerry Ann, I believe). I thought I vaguely recognized a woman at our gate in Chicago, and she was on the plane with us to SLC. When I took a look at Amy and Tim's blog yesterday evening, I realized that I did, in fact, recognize her, but only from their blog! How funny, and what a small world we really do live in.

On a different note, Mike's dog Kora has been having a lot of health problems lately. Long story short, she cannot get up or stand on her own any longer. Once we arrived at home yesterday, we changed Vi's diaper, put Kora in the car, and headed to the vet's office. Today Kora is no better, but no worse. We spoke with the vet (Dr. Israelsen at Mtn View Veterinary Center) today to discuss some blood work, and Kora may have had a stroke. Or maybe not. We're hoping for some improvement in the next day or two. If there is none, we will have some hard decisions to make regarding her comfort and continued well-being. Everyone please keep your fingers crossed for our good friend.