1st Trip to Minnesota

In early October Kinley made her first road trip to Minnesota. (Don’t worry, Kathy and I were with her to make sure she drove safely.) This road trip was around 11 hours long (not including stops) so we decided to drive through the night again, like Colorado. But to avoid the same incidents from our Colorado trip we scheduled a stop in Des Moines, to feed Kinley and visit some good friends. One of my good buddies, Brock from KSU baseball, lives in Urbandale with his wife, Liz, and their baby boy Hudson, a possible future boyfriend for Kinley. We planned the drive from KC to Des Moines to coincide with Kinley’s afternoon nap, but she didn’t sleep a single minute of the drive. The reason for her unwillingness to sleep during the drive is because Kathy and I had to turn her car seat to forward facing right before we left. Originally we worried that Kinley’s lack of sleep during the drive would make her fussy while visiting our friends. Fortunately, for everyone, she was not. Kinley ate as soon as we arrived in Urbandale and then spent the evening playing with Hudson. After Kinley’s “bedtime” feeding we loaded up the car and continued our drive. Thank you Brock, Liz and Hudson for allowing us to visit and use your home to feed Kinley. It really made our entire trip a lot easier.

Kinley’s new forward facing position continued to be an issue for her. She did sleep until around 1 am, but woke up when we stopped for gas and remained awake until we arrived at our destination at 5 am. We immediately broke out her pack & play and set it up in the guest room to try and let her get some sleep.

The main reason for this trip was to allow Kinley to meet her Minnesotan relatives, before it got too cold and too far into cold and flu season. Both sides of Kathy’s family live in Minnesota. We arrived early Friday morning (Kathy’s parents were already there), and soon after the house was full of family. In total: the three of us, Kathy’s parents, three of Kathy’s aunts, two of Kathy’s uncles and three of her cousins (all Kathy’s mom’s side of the family). Plus two dogs and one cat, we did bring Kobi. Kinley did great with the house full of people and pets. She wasn’t bothered by the crowd like she has been in the past. She was happy, played with everyone and even let family hold her.

The only rough spot of the entire trip was that Kinley had some MAJOR constipation. It was so bad we had to go out and buy her some suppositories and Miralax. Normally not a huge deal to buy, but we were in the cute, small town of Outing, Minnesota on a Friday night. The only store still open was a little grocery store that didn’t carry what we needed. We ended up driving to Brainerd, about an hour away to the nearest Walgreens to get what Kinley needed. Other than the constipation, Kinley had an absolute blast with everyone.

One of the highlights of the trip is that it snowed while we were there. That is not supposed to happen in early October, even in Minnesota.

For our drive home we were able to plan a similar driving schedule as the one we used coming up. Kathy’s aunt and uncle (on her dad’s side) live near the Twin Cities and we dropped by to say hello and also feed Kinley her bedtime meal. While Kinley was eating , Kathy’s uncle helped us find a Caribou Coffee that was still open. (We always make sure to get Caribou Coffee whenever we are in Minnesota.) Before hitting the road again, Kathy’s aunt and uncle packed us a bag of frozen venison and salmon. Kathy’s uncle is a big hunter and we LOVE venison. Kinley slept much more on the way home than on the way up. Luckily she stayed asleep when we stopped for gas. I also think that she was getting more comfortable with the forward facing position and she was probably worn out after meeting so many new people, discovering new places and traveling like a pro.