It's fair to say that June has been a very big month for us, which has largely revolved around a big trip to the US. This rather long blog documents the four main stops along our way and some of the stories and images from our time with friends and family.
Stop 1: Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Our first port of call was Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I attended the NABS-ASLO joint meeting (I'll spare you what the acronyms mean!) and Eli entertained three of his grandparents. I'd been to Santa Fe on previous visits (as had Eli although he can't remember his last trip to the US), but the Adobe architecture and all of the art galleries and statues are always impressive.
Here's a photo of downtown Santa Fe, complete with the classic adobe style. And then here's one of Eli availing himself of a statue in the park near the cathedral.
Known as a major centre for art (second biggest art city, behind New York, in the US), you could be forgiven for thinking that there may not have been much for a three year old (and his three grandparents) to do in Santa Fe. Fortunately, we were able to find plenty of activities and a few local parks for Eli to conquer. These photos show Eli demonstrating his prowess on the climbing structures at the local park (no need for those nervous grandparents/spotters to hover so close was there Eli?).
We also caught up with Steve (Grandma Susan's brother) and Pauline who had made a thoughtfully-timed trip to Santa Fe. The photo of Eli and I was taken at a fancy hotel where we dined during their stay. Eli was looking particularly dashing in his new shorts and shirt...
The other photo shows the Hadwen cohort that had travelled all the way to Santa Fe...
Just to round-out our images from Santa Fe, here are a couple of videos of Eli, doing what Eli does best. The first shows his flare for percussion - he took a liking to a rather delicate looking piece of pottery in our apartment, much to the chagrin of his grandma who feared that his overzealous style might end in an expensive disaster (fortunately, that was not the case). The second video documents Eli's newfound love affair with chocolate gelati. He starts off with a blissful representation of what his tastebuds are experiencing, before talking about his gelati and reminding us that he loves chocolate.
Stop 2: Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Our second stop was in Albuquerque, where we were able to spend some relaxing time with friends. For Eli, the heady combination of kids, pets and loads of toys meant that he had a great time. We had a wonderful meal with all of our friends at Cliff's home in Placitas, which is a beautiful place in the foothills of the Sandias. Here are a few photos from our evening...
Notwithstanding the amazing scenery, Eli was pretty keen to get stuck into dessert...he actually thought that all of the berries were his and was a little disappointed that he had to share them with all of us...
The next day we stopped by the Rio Grande Bosque Nature Centre, where we saw the river and the handiwork of beavers...
The rest of our stay in Albuquerque revolved around our great friends the Fleigs...Kenna and Addie were great with Eli, sharing their toys and joining in with his silly games and inventive sayings - I'm not sure where it came from, but Eli started saying "Hello Eli Didgeridoo!" and "Goodbye Eli Didgeridoo!" and the girls rose to the challenge. More gibberish, but harmless enough. One of the games Eli took to immediately was one which required the participants to jump a rotating green stick as it swung around along the floor. Here are some photos of Kenna, Addie and Eli in action.
There were also some great outdoors toys to play with, including a scooter that Eli quickly took to and a jeep that Eli and the girls drove around the backyard.
Here's a short video that captures both Addie's wild driving and Eli's absolute joy of being a passenger subjected to Addie's wild driving...
In addition to toys, there were lots of pets to play with...here Eli and the girls are patting Max the bunny...
Three monkeys on a rock at the botanic gardens...and three dogs (Griffin, Toby and Reesey) and a boy waiting for some after-dinner scraps (salmon skin on this occasion!).
Stop 3: Alexandria-Warrenton, Virginia
The US is a very big place, which meant our flight to the next destination was a long one. We flew from Albuquerque to Dulles International Airport (near Washington DC) and not only did it take a long time, but it also required us to use a wide variety of transportation modes. In chronological order, we went car, bus, plane, train (Eli's first train ride ever!), bus, car. Eli reinforced his reputation as an excellent traveller on this journey by not only sleeping on the flight, but also handling all of the modes of transport with great patience and excellent behaviour...more than I think could be reasonably expected of a three year old. Needless to say, I'm very proud of the way he travelled. Despite the relative ease of the trip, it was a welcome relief to arrive at Paul, Rachael and Jules' house (thanks again for letting us stay with you!). Eli certainly made himself at home and availed himself of all of Jules' toys, especially the train track.
Eli also enjoyed a game or two of skittles outside. His competitive nature meant that he wasn't satisfied with his game until he struck a few strikes in a row. Fortunately (for all of us), he was quite good and we didn't have to wait too long (or witness a meltdown) before he met his goals.
The following day we went for a walk to Old Town. Although Eli started the trip next to Jules in a sporty looking bike trailer/stroller (which we talked up as much as possible), he wasn't entirely sold on the idea and he soon grew tired of his perceived lack of freedom and wanted out. This worked out fine (for the most part), especially when Eli was happy to run and walk on his own. Unfortunately, there were extended periods of the walk, especially on the way home, where he wanted to be carried, so Paul and I shouldered the burden (literally).
I've always had a soft spot for Canada geese (hence the photo)...and here's a photo of Eli on Paul's shoulders just before he (Eli, not Paul) nodded off to sleep!
The next day we headed out to Warrenton, where we visited Grandad Jim, Uncle Charlie and Tanya. Eli wowed everyone with his acrobatics at Grandad Jim's place, before he was treated to dinner and more outdoor fun and games at Charlie and Tanya's place. It's not every day that you have access to your own jumping castle and jeep (and that is probably a good thing)! Eli's driving skills are pretty good, although steering is apparently optional. After some minor corrections from myself and Uncle Charlie, he really took to it. You can see from the smile on his face that he loved it (which makes me wonder what I'm in for in about 13 years time when he's learing to drive on the roads!).
The following day we came back to Paul, Rachael and Jules' place. Eli enjoyed some more stories...
...and I think he really enjoyed telling our friend Christina (who had come up from North Carolina to spend some time with us) that no matter what she did on 'his' train track, it was wrong.
On US Father's Day we cut some moves on a video dancing game that Paul and Rachael have in their basement...
... before going over to Paul's parents place in the afternoon. As you can see from this photo, it was a bit of a squeeze in the back seat of the car, but we all survived, even though the trip back home featured an over-tired Eli that had discovered that if he cried his new friend Jules would start crying too. Eli thought that that was hysterically funny...none of the rest of us really thought so, especially poor Jules.
Eli loved the toys, the cats (there were at least 4 of them) and the dogs (2 of them) at Paul's parent's place. He helped construct an impressive train track (complete with some significant obstacles for the train to overcome).
Finally, and I'm really not sure how it came to pass, I got a great photo of Eli wearing my glasses. I'm sure you'll agree that it makes him look a lot older than he actually is (which makes me wonder/worry if the same is true for me!).
All in all we had a great time with our friends and relatives in Virginia, but we soon had to jet off to our final destination on our busy itinerary.
Stop 4: Fort Robinson, Nebraska.
Getting from Alexandria to Fort Robinson was no mean feat, but after about 14 hours of car, bus, bus, plane, plane, car travel, we finally pulled into the historic Fort. Once again I'm happy to declare that Eli travelled incredibly well - what a trooper! One of the ways we entertained ourselves (on one of the flights) was to pull the camera out and take some photos...which included Eli's first ever self-portrait...not a bad first up effort I'd say.
Our last part of the trip had us driving from Rapid City (South Dakota) down into western Nebraska. It was a really pretty drive, especially as we closed in on our destination, with rolling grassy hills and butte's of sedimentary rock making the region look like classic 'wild west' terrain (which, of course, it is). Here's the view from just out the back of our lodgings, complete with afternoon thunderstorm build up...
Keen for a run around after our long journey, Eli quickly took a liking to the plentiful dandilions. His first efforts were to blow them to oblivion, but on the following days he resorted, with great delight, to pulling and kicking the seedheads too - he's quite the agent of dispersal. I fear that there will be millions of dandilions popping up around Fort Robinson next year...
The next morning, after Uncle Mike and Aunty Rita had arrived, Eli met Tara, a beautiful young golden retriever puppy that now belongs to his Great Grandma and Grandma Susan. Eli and Tara hit it off immediately, although Tara did occassionally retreat to her favourite spot to get away from Eli's overzealous pats and cuddles. If only Eli could be as placid as Tara every now and then...
After breakfast some of us ventured into the nearby township of Crawford. It struck me as being a classic small mid-western American town. Well worth a visit if you're in the area, especially the shop that sells both antiques and ice-creams (the latter being more to my taste)...
After visiting Crawford, Eli, Grandma Susan and I went for a Jeep Ride up into some of the Buttes near Fort Robinson. It was pretty bumpy, but well worth it. We saw pronghorned antelope (second fastest land animal in the world), lots of wildflowers and some distant bison, not to mention getting some great views of Fort Robinson and beyond.
Once back from the jeep ride Eli was keen to ride Snowball, the ironically named pony at the Fort Robinson stables. With a minimum of fuss and Eli's classic confidence for physical challenges, I just whacked him up onto the saddle and told him to hold on and off he went for a few laps of the yard. It was almost like he'd done it a million times before.
One of the surprises of our trip was the Museum at Fort Robinson which displays the fossil remains of two fighting Mammoths, whose tusks had become locked together. Here's a photo of the remains, plus an artist's reconstruction. Eli was absolutely fascinated - he kept asking 'Why were the Mammoths fighting?", "Did they fall in the mud?" and "What happened next?". Given the difficulties associated with explaining any passage of time that lasts longer than about 5 minutes, I think he grasped the picture of what happened really well. He still asks about the Mammoths even now we're back at home, so maybe we have a budding palaeontologist in the family?
The next day Eli and I woke early and let Tara out to chase some scents, like that of this cute little rabbit - there were stacks of them in the morning and evenings. No real story attached to the photo of Eli and Tara here, aside from telling you that Eli saw it as his job to feed her lots of small sticks, I just like the composition.
Later that morning we went for a stagecoach ride. Eli wasn't too fussed about having to wait our turn (I think all of the airport travelling and security lines has gotten to him a bit), but Grandma Susan was happy to give him a cuddle while we waited...
Before long the stagecoach was back it was our turn to climb onboard. Eli easily climbed up into the carriage and enjoyed the ride (it was actually less bumpy than yesterday's jeep ride). We went through the nearby creek twice which simultaneously amused and concerned Eli - for those of you that are familiar with Eli's obsessive compulsive tendencies when it comes to dirt and water, you'll not be surprised that he wanted to know if the horses feet were getting wet and dirty... I told him that they were, but like most creatures on this planet, that didn't represent a problem for them. I'm not sure that he believed me and he certainly inspected the horses hooves once our ride was over... Incidentally, Eli thrilled the next group of visitors wanting a stagecoach ride with his dramatic exit from the stagecoach - he pretty much just waited for me to get down and then launched himself out into the air for me to catch him. It must have looked pretty impressive given the oohs and ahhs he got from the assembled crowd, but it was really just business as usual for us.
After lunch, we headed to a nearby lake where Tara was going to take her first ever swim. The plan was to walk (Uncle Mike had said it was just a mile down the road), but knowing that Eli would demand to be carried most of the way, I figured that I'd drive and we could at least have the car as a backup plan for the return trip. It turned out that Eli wanted to be carried all the way, first by Grandma Susan and then by me, when I jumped out of the car and swapped spots with Susan. Coupled with the fact that the lake was closer to three miles away, Eli gave me a great workout. Fortunately it was a pretty scenic walk and we even saw some Texas Longhorn cattle on the way.
We finally reached the lake, where Eli threw rocks and Tara had a swim. We were also entertained by a few kids that were fishing (with some success - although they never caught the big bass that we could all see darting in and out of the cattails).
None of us walked back home and we all piled into the car - one dog and 6 people. Someone mentioned that it was like a clown car (one where the goal was to see how many could fit in) and Eli liked the term (and repeated it a lot), even though he didn't really know what we were talking about.
Our final day in Fort Robinson was subdued in the morning, but in the afternoon we went into Crawford and enjoyed the awesome city park facilities. I was a bit blown away with the size and scale of the park given that the town is so small (the population is around 1000 and shrinking), but Eli certainly wasn't complaining. He climbed, slid, jumped and crawled through all of the obstacles in front of him - he even had a couple of local kids trailing him at times...
After dinner in Crawford, we headed back to Fort Robinson for the rodeo, which started just as the sun was setting...
Eli was absolutely transfixed by what he saw - he loved the horses and the riding and the wrangling of cattle (especially if the 'cowboy' was wearing blue).
Towards the end of the rodeo I finally managed to snap a photo of all of us - so here's Eli, Uncle Mike, Aunty Rita, Grandma Susan, Great Great Aunty Colleen, Eli's Great Grandma and Cousin Jeannie. I also really like this photo of Eli and Jeannie on the rails...doesn't Eli look focussed on the action?
And that's it. That was our mammoth trip to the US in June 2010. Just add in the delirium of a 2.5 hour car drive, a 2.25 hour flight, a short train ride, a 3.25 hour flight, 4.5 hours in LAX airport and a 13 hour flight and we were back home.
