Ripleys First Wedding

On our second portion of our trip we began the trek to Scotts Dads Wedding. We said our byes to my brother and his fiance, got to the airport on time. I still did not follow my first tip because I'm still getting used to this mom thing and like I said before, time escapes me. However our flight was a bit delayed due to some mechanical issue that was fixed in an hour but that hour was crucial for us to get to our connecting flight on time.. 

Tip #4: Avoid connecting flights as much as possible when you travel with an infant. This might change as she gets older but it just becomes so much more stressful when you have a baby. If you do make sure you have more than an hour to reach your connecting flight in the event your first flight gets delayed. 

Scott knew this, he's a travel agent but we fly all the time (pre baby) and things have always gone so smoothly. Shit happens though. Its okay though, the Dallas Airport has Salt lick BBQ and its pretty decent. Ripley also enjoyed her new toys we bought to keep her preoccupied. She also really likes seeing new faces. Honestly I think all the traveling she did is what tuckered her out the majority of the time. She didn't have time to fuss really. She just had time to take everything in and then sleep it off. 

We waited 3 hours for the next flight arriving into San Antonio. Texas is an hour difference to North Carolina, still Ripley did better than we did. We were ready to just be where we would be staying for the next few days. 

Tip #5 Don't be a back seat driver. I'm a back seat driver. Its because I have to have control. I used to be the one driving and now I'm in the kid seat in the back. Sitting in the back seat feels faster for some reason. Am I the only one? It feels at least 10mph faster. Anyways I got to drive to our destination and I got to feel what it feels like to listen to a back seat driver. Just relax. 

We make it to the meet up. So I meet all of Scotts family. Family is a big deal for me. I think its because I grew up really close with my siblings and my cousins. To me it felt so nice having that, like I cant believe people dont get to have that luxury. I also really love stories. Everyones got their stories. They're sometimes the only things people have for memories and thats always been so interesting for me. I'm kinda sad we didnt have more time, there was a lot of people I really just wanted to sit with and get to know more. 

Having a baby has also made me more aware of time. I used to think days were long and now I feel like they are so short. I feel part of me just wanting to press on the breaks any way I know how. I think thats why photography is so important to me? Its one of the ways I feel like I can preserve time. 

We head back to the house we would be crashing at for the weekend. We got the basement which was awesome because who doesnt love basements? We had like an entire house to ourselves lol. Kim brough an extra Pack N Play for Ripley which also lightened our load. 

Tip #6 Pack light. We took a medium carryon suitcase (that we checked) 2 backpacks and Ripleys stroller and car seat (which we also checked) We carried Ripley in the Ergo Carrier we have through the airport. I have these awesome bottles called MIXIE bottles that have the formula encased at the bottom and water on the top. When your baby is hungry all you have to do is pop the bottom and shake. We took enough diapers for 2 days but bought a pack when we landed just in case. Most of the people we plan to visit already have an extra pack n play so that gives us space. We also didnt need to pack much clothes because we knew we could just do laundry where we were staying. 

The next day was the wedding for Robert and Nancy. I can't get over how nice her dress was. They both looked great and we were so happy to be apart of it and be around so many amazing people. Scott made Ripley belly laugh for the first time at the wedding so that was absolute pure joy. It was just so nice that we all got to meet so many different family members and say hello. It was awesome playing late night jenga and watching cartoons in the morning. It was nice to have these amazing biscuits that Jennifer made. The jacuzzi cheese plate with champagne Kim prepared lol...  It feels really nice to be apart of this family and it made me want to be around family so much more. So there will definitely be more trips in the future. 

Tip #6 check your flight status just to be sure youre running on time. 

Yeah we missed our flight out of san antonio. Scott was under the impression that the flight left later, but it didnt. So we wait a good portion of the day in the airport for the last flight only to be told they can only take one of us. Scott immediately said "No" thankfully his Dad was awesome enough to come pick us up. It was pretty embarrassing but I'm not complaining. We worked it out and got to spend more time with them. I got to hear really really really great stories about his dad and scott when he was little. Which I always cherish soooo much. 

Still though coming home... feeling your beautiful bed. Seeing your little fur babies. I also missed home so much.