Monday, September 14, 2009

Trip to the USA - Austin, TX

Our trip to the United States consisted of two parts: Part 1 - before Shane arrived, and Part 2 - after Shane's arrival. Before he arrived, we visited all of our doctors for our "maintenance" visits, and one for a non-maintenance visit (Adam's podiatrist). I also worked to get all of our shopping done for our annual shipment to Sakhalin. While it is a nice perk, it is a lot of energy (and $$$) spent on buying for the year ahead. I don't know how much time I actually spent shopping, but I was definitely burned out on it after a week or so. By the time Shane arrived I had most of the shopping done - all that he had to participate in was going to Best Buy (poor thing) and some clothes shopping for him since he has lost weight since moving to Sakhalin.

Adam and I were also able to meet up with some friends in Austin, one of which I hadn't seen since our wedding 11 years ago! We stayed at Amy's house with Kim and her family, which was great! We went to the Austin Children's museum with Jennifer, and had a BBQ at Amy's that included a college friend, Dana, and an HEB buddy, Denise. It was great to see everyone and I hope to see them all again next year! Our trip to Austin also included a photo session with Kristen, whom I also went to high school with and haven't seen in many, many years. I will post the photos from that session in my next post.

The trip home was pretty uneventful, which is the way I like it. Both the Vlad Air and Continental flights were on-time and peaceful. Adam had two seats to himself on the Continental flight, so he was able to lay down and sleep. I learned that when booking economy tickets for a 3-3-3 configuration, always select the aisle and/or window seats, leaving the seat between you empty....and book the seats in the back of the plane. Those seats get filled up last, so the possibility of having 3 seats to yourself is greater. It is worth it when your little one can get some sleep, which means that I can sleep, too!

Here are a few pictures from the first part of our trip:

Adam being brave and eating on the Vlad Air flight...

Mr. Cool in his shades and Sakhalin fish t-shirt

Playing the drums at the Children's museum in Austin, TX

We met up with Dana in Austin

Adam with Mason and Karleigh

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