I wanna hold your hand

Eliot is a born traveler.

320 stickers, 15 library books, 4 lollipops, 5 packs of 'fruit' snacks, 2 bags of Veggie Booty, one portable DVD player, 2 oranges, 4 strawberries, 3 bananas, and 5 iced coffees equals an 11 hour solo driving trip with a two year old.

And we survived.

And dare I say it? It was fun. We had fun. A lot of it.

And that was just the drive. We had a week of lots of family, friends, and ice cream cones. In 6 days we managed to see: Jonah, Lucy, Emmett, Parris, Bronte, Lila, Rosalie, Sylvia, Easton, William, Christina, Madeline, Ruby, and Henry. Those were just Eliot's friends. And sadly we didn't have enough time to see everyone we would have liked.

There was a lot of hand holding:

Eliot and Lucy.

Bronte, Eliot, and Parris.

Eliot and Ruby.

The trip itself seemed to mature Eliot. He was up for anything. He started noticing and playing WITH his friends instead of beside or against them. He shared.

Part of me felt like we never left St. Louis. But something was missing. Oh yeah- it was Justin. We both missed him. A lot. And I even missed Pittsburgh a little.

Eliot and I survived the drive home with as much ease as the first trek and I feel confident that it's a trip we can take again. As soon as I replenish my stockpile of lollipops.