America!!

Cora and I had such a wonderful time this last month that I'm not even sure where to begin! We spent the end of April and the first couple weeks of May in the states on a whirlwind tour seeing family and friends. The entire trip was fabulous and although the flight back and forth with Cora on my lap was brutal, it was worth every second!

First, we landed in Denver for a three-day jet-lag zombie retreat with my parents. Mom and Dad took care of us these days while we tried hard to help Cora adjust to the completely different time zones and while I tried hard to get my body back in working order after the exhausting flight!  It took a bit but we finally got there!

Once recovered, we headed up to Ketchum to see our beloved friends for a week. It was bitter-sweet "visiting" a place that will always actually be "home" to me.  Most of the time I actually forgot I was just visiting, but from time to time reality would strike and I would sadly remember I couldn't go back to my adorable little home in Hailey and had to once again head back to my difficult life in Europe. But, besides dealing with that reality in the back of my mind, I was so happy to have had a few days catching up with all my best dear friends, eating my favorite food, going on a few favorite hikes and generally just savoring the fresh crisp air and beauty of Sun Valley. Don't worry dear Ketchum, I will be back for good someday, even if it is to live in a retirement commune compound with all our friends.

The next week-and-a-half we enjoyed a wonderful time back in Fort Collins. Marisa, Cindy, Terry, Laura and Michael also came to visit, which was great. A highlight of the visit was when we all went to the zoo to celebrate mom's birthday. Cora LOVED all the animals and soaked in every single detail. She especially enjoyed the monkeys, the carousal ride, and the birds.

I was so happy to spend some time with my family. We had some great trips to the park where Cora couldn't get enough of the swings!! We also had fun rocking on the porch swing, blowing bubbles, playing with Hamish and cuddling while reading stories.  The time passed too fast and we were not ready to go at all and are already looking forward to our next visit.

Before we headed back to Europe though, we were able to head down to Florida to see Buddy and Pooh Bah (and all the fishes!), which was so fun!! They are temporarily living in Florida, having sold their home in Kentucky, and Cora and I were able to stay with them for the week. Cora met her Great Grandma Buddy, which was very special, and she also met a lot of other Hardee relatives too. She had so much fun with everyone and she even tried to steal her second-cousin Baker's brand new bike :)  

I think the highlight of this week was the few days we spent in Boca Grande at Jimmy and Sally's house. Cora was able to play in the ocean for the first time there and she loved it!! (She saw the ocean when we were in Italy, but it was too cold there to play in the waves.) In Boca, Cora loved digging in the sand and playing in the waves, but she wasn't so sure about walking around in the tide because it tried to knock her down when it went in and out. She also loved watching the fish from the doc in the evenings, riding in the General Lee (the golf cart) and chasing turtles down the street.

Before we had to go back to Europe, we spent a day at the aquarium in Tampa and Cora was enthralled with everything. It was so cool to see her taking everything in with such awesome enthusiasm. She would run from one aquarium to the next at full speed oohing and ahhing at everything. Pretty amazing and so exciting to see how cool the world is through her little eyes!

Our visit to Florida seemed to zoom by and before we knew it, it was already time to say goodbye.  Once again, we had to say a very sad goodbye (Cora is unfortunately very good at saying "bye-bye" now) and get back on the long dreaded flight back to Europe. This flight was a bit easier because she slept a little, but it was still hard with her on my lap the entire time. When Nat picked us up though we are all so so so happy to be back together again. Three weeks away from Daddy was too long, but it was such a wonderful trip and Cora and I loved seeing everyone so much!

For more Colorado pictures click here!
For more Idaho pictures click here!
For more Florida pictures click here!