A 10 day whirlwind

10 days is actually a really long vacation, in the grand scheme of vacations. Mia and I weren't even gone that long when it involved a 10 hour plane right to get to Paris and back. And yet, our little summer trip to Chicago had us away from home from 10 days.

This is basically how I felt the entire time we were away!

We spent a lot of good family time with both my brother and B's family, and I think Mia really got to know that side of the family. I always lived far away from my extended family, but my parents always made an effort to have us spend plenty of time with them when we did travel back to their respective home countries, and I think B and I are doing a good job so far making sure Mia bonds with her far away family members.

We had 2 reasons to make the trip this time. First, for B's younger sister's second baby's Baptism, for whom we were the Godparents. It was a really nice event, and the grandparents really went all out and got their little granddaughter a limo for her grand entrance, much to Mia and her cousin Tyler's delight. Apparently, no car seats are necessary for the 5 minute limo ride!

The rest of the time was basically packed with family activities. Aquarium, tons of restaurant visits (B's idea, not mine since... I am still not keeping all my meals down), and much cousin bonding time. B's family even threw a little early birthday party for Mia (for which we are very grateful, since she now has a full summer wardrobe!!)

Then, B and I drove (yes, DROVE) from Chicago to Charleston, South Carolina for one of my college roommate's weddings. The drive there was pretty miserable, since we were under a time crunch to get there in time for the welcome dinner. We ended up leaving at 1am, for a variety of reasons including bad weather, and its lucky we did, because the drive took about 2 hours longer than google maps said it would. My first trimester sickness gets worse if I don't get enough sleep, so poor B was stuck driving the whole way while I... was just miserable. But! We did manage to get a very good night's sleep, a great day of Charleston sight-seeing, and pulled ourselves together to look dapper at this very fancy, very beautiful wedding.

The only picture we managed to get of our carriage tour. Highly recommended if you go to Charleston!

My most telltale sign of pregnancy: swollen face.

Beautiful Charleston double house

The drive back was significantly better, since we got a full night's rest before embarking on the drive, and made it back in the scheduled google maps time (including 3 hours driven by yours truly). We got back to Chicago with enough time to sleep another full night, pack our bags, drive around to say our goodbyes, load onto our last airplane ride for the foreseeable future, and pull into our driveway by 10pm.

All in all, an excellent trip, with not much drama or controversy to report, and a happy almost 3 year old!