On the Road again and Monticello 36/365

It's amazing how light and free one feels after talking to some one not only who listens well but also understands where you're coming from and validates your feelings.

Our dear friends Joy and Andrew are gifted in all those areas.
Not only are they good listeners but they also know what it feels like to move back to the US after living in Asia. They know how disorientating it can be and they can laugh with us at our moments of culture shock.
But I think one of their truly amazing gifts is the gift to validate a persons feelings. They just have a way of making you feel ok about what ever it is you feel. Not in a patronizing way, but in a way that once you express a thought or feelings to them, they make you feel like it's perfectly natural and ok to feel that way. At which point it is much easier to grow and move on from that feeling.

It's very empowering to be around them.

Here's a picture of me and Joy that William took. I like this picture a lot.

Anyway, after a rejuvenating and healing 4 days with Joy and Andrew, we started our long drive home and we decided to make a quick stop on the home of Thomas Jefferson. Monticello.

 It was a great place to let Baby Girl run around, she slept a long time after we walked all over the grounds.

 Since I have pictures of bathrooms from pretty much every country we've been too I thought I should take one of the "privy" at Monticello. It looks pretty nice for being a few hundred years old.

 Another collection of pictures I have is of me nursing Baby Girl. I call the collection "nursing around the world"

 We got to hang out with Mr. Jefferson face to face. I love the look Bonnie Rose is giving him. She seems a little indignant about something.

 She did warm up to him though and even gave him a kiss on the nose.

 Almost as soon as we left Bonnie asked for a snack and then fell asleep.

It was her first time falling asleep while eating. It was such a sweet moment for me. My mom as so many pictures of me and my siblings asleep in our food. So here is the first picture of Bonnie Rose sleep with her food.

 

After she woke up we stopped for a nice dinner at O'Charlie's some where just before the border. Bonnie Rose has grown up so much this past week. Maybe it was following Joy and Andrew's baby girl around all week that helped her learn new things, but Bonnie has been so good about eating and trying new foods. For a road trip treat I ordered her own plate of mashed potatoes. She very much enjoyed having her own plate of food.