Michigan Trip

So a lot of Sean's family lives in Michigan (his mom, dad, and sister). His other sister, Bridget, lives in New York. None of them except his mom (who came out for Rowan's birth, and during June) had met him before last week. It was quite the adventure. We took the train from Eugene, up to Seattle. Then from Seattle to Chicago. That was a 2 day ride right there. I have never been east of Oregon except the one time I went to visit Renee in Boston, and that was by plane, so it was a great way to see the country! I had never seen country so flat, and so much corn in my whole life! We got to ride along side the Mississippi River for a while, and all in all it was great. Rowan loved all of the people on the train, and going to meals in the dining car was always a hit with him.
We arrived in Michigan on the 3rd day of traveling. We took a train from Chicago to Battle Creek Michigan, and were supposed to take a bus from Battle Creek to Lansing, but due to Rowans amazing skills at making new friends, we got a ride from a wonderful woman and her daughter. Her daughter was getting ready to head off to college and they spend the weekend in Chicago together. It was really rather wonderful, instead of waiting for an hour at the bus station (at 11 pm no less) and then an hour bus ride, we got a ride right away! It was great. Sean's cousin Jess came and picked us up at the train station where we were dropped off, and took us to his aunts house. She is a wonderful lady, and I was very glad to meet her! We got up the next day and headed up north to his moms house.
We rented a car and were off! It was pretty exciting to finally be arriving, and was great to see everyone. The week went by too fast, filled with lots of Rowans cousins (7 kids ranging from 3 to 13), lots of swimming (Rowan loves to swim!) and great times with Sean's family. His sister Rory takes amazing pictures, and took some great family photos for us. All in all it was a wonderful time, and so much to tell but I'm still rather tired, and over all just glad to be home. That is one thing about traveling - it is lots of fun, but always great to get home!