The Frisch Family: Coast to Coast (Part 1)

So... these pictures are about a month late. What can I say? Little squiggle-buns has been keeping me busy! She's working on three top teeth, loves munching on her Cheerios, and is very curious about anything within reach. It makes me grateful she's still trying to figure out that crawling thing (wait as long as you want on that). Elena and I are staying with my parents, and just keeping busy with unpacking (always unpacking...) and spring cleaning. This weekend we're going up to Victoria, and Elena will officially be an international traveler!

I think she might set a record for most states visited in the first year of life! We definitely helped her out on this trip. As you can see, to say we took an indirect route would still be an understatement. :) But we weren't in a hurry. We had the vacation time and we wanted to see as many people as possible!

So, without further adieu... Roadtrip 2009.

First stop: Wilmington, DE
Our friend Genevieve graciously put us up for the night. She's doing this really cool graduate program through Notre Dame called Echo. They live in a parish community throughout the year doing service and ministry, and go to summer classes at Notre Dame to finish with a Masters in Theology. Pretty cool! So we got to stay in a former convent. :)

I'm an angry polar bear.

Just kidding!

Next stop: Norfolk, VA
We had the honor of being the godparents to Kenneth Michael Sault. His parents, Karl and Margaret, were Elena's godparents! It was fun to complete the godfamily circle. :) Here's Margaret and the man of the hour.

God-cousins!

They had lots of fun playtime together.

Next up: Steubenville, Toledo, Notre Dame, and Chicago
We raced out of the southeast and headed back north to visit college friends. This felt like the longest stretch because I knew we were headed in the wrong direction for home, and we did most of it over one night. Ah, the joys of roadtripping. We stopped in Steubenville to visit our friend Neil (who went to Western with me) and had pizza with Pat in Toledo. Then back on the road!

We introduced Elena to her future school... you gotta start 'em young. (just kidding)

This kind of reminds me of that movie scene with John Cusack and the boombox, only the boombox is a baby.

Visiting friends in Chicago (she likes flying if you haven't noticed).

We try to surround her with fellow redheads.

Halfway there!
We finally made it to Wichita, KS and collapsed (I mean, relaxed) for a few days. Much of Adam's extended family lives in Wichita, so we had a great time hanging out with everybody. We even got to go sledding after a freak snowstorm!

Great-Grandpa Bell