Pound Family Adventures: January In America

About 6 months ago I realized that my youngest niece, who was only a few weeks old when we left for Korea, would be 3 years old when I returned. It made me sad to know that she would only know me through the FaceTime screen and pictures. So Russ and I started to talk about a trip home for me where I could spend some time with family, eat some Chick-Fil-A and do a little bit of shopping at Target. Basically, a R&R trip. It worked out best for me to go home in January and I ended up spending a month at home. If you are reading between the lines you realize that Russ was a single dad for a month. I was so thankful he was supportive of my trip back to the States and was key to making it possible.

I took a bunch of pictures to share with you all.

One last pictures before I said goodbye!

This was after the good-bye tears. I am getting ready to go through security.

Now reality is setting in. Mom is gone for a month. (Lucy can't even make a sad face. The child smiles all the time.)

At my gate, my adventure begins. It ended up being a very long adventure home. Along with an 8 hour layover in Detroit my flight was delayed a few hours. I didn't end up getting into the Philadelphia airport until after 1:30 am.

It was wonderful waking up to these faces the next morning.

I spent NYE with Katie's family. She gave me the option to pick any restaurant to eat dinner at. I picked Chick-Fil-A and it was delicious.

We went home and had a chocolate fountain and were all in bed by 10.

I spent a lot of time just hanging out with my family and the kids. It was wonderful just to be with them. We took lots of pictures together.

She loved to get her picture taken. I have a ton of pictures very similar to this one.

My dad and I took a walk in the snow and stopped in front of my sister's house to take a picture.

I had the opportunity be a secret reader in Jack's classroom one day. After I was done reading we went and visited Chloe at lunch.

My Nana had a famous Chicken Pot Pie recipe that she passed down to me. My sister and I made her recipe one evening for dinner.

One highlight of my trip was going to see my cousin's son wrestle. He is a senior in high school and it was fun to get caught up with him. It has been a few years since I have seen him.

No trip to PA would be complete without a visit to Hershey's Chocolate World.

I was able to spend some time with my Aunt and Uncle. My aunt was in a horrible accident a few months ago where a 100 year old tree fell directly on her in the middle of a storm. They didn't know if she would live and it is a miracle that she is not only lived but made a full recovery.

We FaceTimed with my family a few times.

Another highlight of my trip was visiting some family friends that my parents have been friends with since before any of them had kids. We are all married or about to be married now and a few of us have kids. It was very fun to see them and get caught up.

During the middle of my visit I was able to spend a week in Kansas City visiting Russ' family. I enjoyed my time with them.

We went to see Maddie play a basketball game.

Sam hard at work at her first job.

A beautiful sunrise on my way home.

Before I left I drove down the Baltimore to have lunch with my best friend. Even though we have only spoken a few times over the phone since I have left and we only exchange emails once every month or so, when we got back together it was like we had never been apart. We spent almost 3 hours sitting in a Chili's talking and getting caught up.