Our USA trip

Before we left for America, Miles was still pulling on his ears.  He was given ear drops for an outer ear infection.   His ear swelled and was red, so I took him in the day before our trip and his ear was infected and he was put on his 3rd round of antibiotics.  The doctor prescribed a different kind that didn't have to be refrigerated and only given twice a day instead of 3 times a day like amoxicillin, so that helped with our long travels, but it was so bitter than Miles hated taking each dose.

We left on Dec 16th.  The shuttle took us to the Dunedin airport.  We flew to Auckland and had a 6 hour layover, so we spent time at a place called Butterfly Creek which had a petting zoo, moving dinosaurs, crocodiles, butterflies to hold, and much more fun which helped break up the long trip.  The 12.5 hour flight to San Francisco was not great.  Miles only slept during meal times (that was nice) in the bassinet.  Julian was uncomfortable and didn't sleep well at all.  Dan and I got NO sleep.

We were knackered in SF and then got to Minneapolis, got our car (Kia hybrid--gas prices so low $2/gallon) and arrived at Lynsi's (my friend of many years) condo. She put us up for a few nights and then we went to Milaca to see Dan's grandma, aunt, uncle and cousins (who all LOVED babies).  After a couple of nights we drove to WI to my parent's new home.  We had to drive slowly due to the snow falling.  Miles cried and cried the last hour of the drive, so that was heart breaking.  After that he did not enjoy his car seat and I had to sit in the back seat anywhere we went.

Julian loved the snow and made snowmen and a fort at my parents' house.  It got really cold the last week we were there and we were stuck indoors.  -20 is not my favorite, but I could do without snow anytime, so WI in January probably is the best time to visit.  We had a great time though and the boys loved seeing their grandparents.

Christmas was with my family and the boys were crazy spoiled.  We also went to Oshkosh to see their Grandpa Fletcher and Uncle Shawn.  We saw Uncle Bob, Aunt Suzie, Megan and Macey (in Tomahawk)  Lawsons (in Marshfield) and Shudas (in Wausau) and had other trips to see family and do shopping.

We had so much luggage that my parents graciously drove to Minneapolis with us to take our luggage to the airport.  We had to stay a night in a hotel due to our early morning flight.  We all went to the Mall of America and J rode a carousel for the first time.

We got to New Orleans and saw good friends for Dan's conference.  I had a blast with the boys at a bug/butterfly museum, aquarium, zoo, and IMAX theater.  J wanted to ride the street car and fell asleep on it, so I kept nudging him awake, but lost that battle.  We had a sitter one night and it went perfectly.  J just says, "you'll come back" and he's happy.

The boys got sick a couple of days before our big return to NZ.  It was hard, but it was better than the trip over.  I took them to the doctor yesterday after we arrived and they both have double ear infection and Miles has tonsillitis, so they're both on antibiotics.  They're out of sorts, have high fevers, and need paracetamol around the clock to keep their misery at bay.  Miles' breathing is not that great, but hopefully that gets better as the antibiotics kick in.

WE are back and Miles woke up once, pooped, fed and slept well the rest of the night.  I slept great from 9pm-7am except that one waking.  It was the best sleep in the last month.  Now to get settled before our Australia trip.  fun fun.