I've been home for over a week now and realized I never blogged about our awesome trip back to NE...oops. I blame it on a combination of a crazy week at VBS combined with coming down with the nastiest sore throat ever. Seriously, EVER. Anyhow, Brie and I flew up to NE on Friday June 29th. She was a pretty good flight companion, considering she's an 11-month-old who really just wants to run around and play, not sit on mommy's lap for almost 2 hours. Luckily we had great seat partners on both of our flights: a five-year-old boy who liked showing her his Pokemon toys and Power Ranger books, and a super old great-grandma lady who liked playing patty-cake with her and let her touch her shirt (Brie was fascinated with her shirt). All in all, the trip there went great and we were so happy to touch down safely in G.I. and see grandma Long :).
On Saturday, Katherine and Ella arrived from Dallas, and it was time for some serious cousin fun. They had great times stealing toys back and forth, following each other around, and swimming in the pool grandma bought for them. Those two girls are seriously the cutest girls around.
On Monday I drove over to Columbus to see my dear friend from HS, Rachael, and her beautiful children. Nora is their newest addition and she was such a sweetheart. There's nothing quite like holding a sleeping newborn! It was so good to see Rachael and catch up for a bit! Unfortunately, I remembered to put my camera in the diaper bag, but I didn't remember to take it out and actually take any pictures (might have been due to that beautiful baby sleeping in my arms!).
On Tuesday, Justin arrived from MN and the family was almost complete. Sadly, my Justin had to remain in TX (which turned out to sort of a be a good thing since our AC went kaput and he was home to have it checked out and replaced), so we were never quite complete. Then, on Wednesday (aka the Fourth of July) we celebrated mom's birthday (the big 6-0...but I didn't tell you that!). We had a great day full of wonderful food, swimming and a trip to the park. After the girls were in bed we enjoyed a great fireworks show courtesy of Justin, and our neighbors. The people who live behind my parents must have pooled together LOTS of funds and bought some really AMAZING (and possibly illegal?) fireworks. We moved our chairs to the perfect location on the lawn so we could enjoy both our own fireworks, and their super awesome fireworks. While it was fun, and beautiful, Kat and I agreed that fireworks with a sleeping baby inside the house are not quite as much fun. With each loud boom, squeal and pop we anxiously awaited to see if it woke up one of the girls. Thankfully, somehow, they slept through it all. Phew!
On Thursday we were able to go visit my grandma, Brie's great-grandma Long. She also got to meet some of her second cousins, one of whom was born only two days before her! It was a lot of fun to see grandma and play with the other cousins!
On Friday, we were able to get together with some of my great friends from high school. I got to meet Amanda's sweetie-pie Charlotte and catch up with Amy, my fellow educator friend :). It's always fun when it works out to see "old" friends when I'm back "home".
Sadly, on Saturday, we had to bid farewell to Justin, Kat and Ella. This was an especially hard goodbye for me, because they were not heading back to TX where they've been living for the last four years, but instead they were headed up to MN. I got really used to knowing that I would see them again within a month or two, so it was really hard to say good-bye knowing that I won't likely see them again until Nov. or Dec. I'm happy for them, but so sad for us as well! Bittersweet indeed!
Then, on Sunday, it was Brie and I's turn to say farewell. Mom, dad and Re are heading down here for Brie's birthday, so luckily it wasn't as hard to say goodbye to them, knowing I'd see them again in 10 short days. The return trip home was not quite as enjoyable as the trip to NE. It started off with the CRAZY, INSANE security at the GI airport (yes, the teeny-tiny-in a town of 50,000 airport). The very first question the TSA lady asked me was if I had baby food (Austin airport, didn't ask, and if they saw it in my bag during the scan, didn't care). I said, "Yes." Then she wanted to know if it could be opened. I said, "No, if it's opened then it has to be refrigerated." She was all, "Ohhhh, well, that's OK, but that means ALL of your belongings will have to go through extra security and we'll have to do a pat down of you and the child." Ummmm...pat down my 11-month-old. This was all happening very fast and I wasn't sure about that one...but she led me aside and then talked to another guy and then told me they were calling their "communications headquarters" in Omaha to see if they really had to pat down Brie. Luckily, the guy came back and said they only had to pat-down me. Yay. Never had a pat-down before, especially not for GASP! having baby food with me. Oh, and that extra screening of all my belongings? Yup, that pretty much meant they unpacked my entire perfectly packed diaper bag. That lady was all, "Oh, don't worry sweetie, I'll help you re-pack it." Awesome. Except she finished unpacking it, picked up the diapers, said "Now let's see, I remember these were here....and hmmm...that's about all I remember." Awesome. Sure, I'll just put my squirmy baby down here in the stroller and let her watch me repack everything. Wonderful. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad there are safety precautions, but really? For baby food? In the GI airport? I honestly think maybe the TSA there is just a tad bit bored, given there are only like 3 or 4 flights that leave there each day. Anyhow, we finally got through that mess and were ready to take off from GI. There was a very nice lady next to me who spied an open seat and said she would grab it so that I could have an empty seat next to me. Phew! Good call lady, especially since about 10 minutes after reaching cruising altitude I sniffed a familiar, not so pleasant scent. Thank goodness for that extra seat next to me, and those ridiculously expensive baking soda scented diaper trash bag thingies. I'm sure everyone at the back of the plane loved me:). The whole rest of the flight consisted of Brie sitting on my lap for 10 seconds, then sitting over on the empty seat for 10 seconds, then standing at my feet for 10 seconds...and repeat. She was actually quite tired, but pretty much hates to go to sleep, especially if someone is holding her...so yeah, that was fun. Luckily her cries only lasted about 5-10 seconds before I was able to distract her, but I'm sure we weren't the favorites on the flight. She was very good during the layover, because she finally fell asleep as I cruised DFW. Thank goodness for that nap, because our flight was delayed and we were going to be arriving well past bed time. Again, Awesome. We were finally boarded and ready to take off from DFW, and we were seated next a very nice man who told me he had four daughters, two of whom were twins. Thank goodness for another good seat partner! And, Brie was very interested in him and just kept staring at him, I think she knew he was a kind soul. Just as we're thinking we're going to take off, the plane comes to a stop and the pilot announces there are dangerous winds and we will have to wait it out. Cool. Luckily, Brie was AWESOME and just chilled in my lap, actually let me read her stories, and was not her usual squirmy self. After about 20 minutes on the tarmac, they finally announced we'd be leaving soon. Brie was great during the short flight to Austin and we were so glad when we touched down. But then, we stopped on the tarmac. The pilot announced that due to bad weather in the area, lots of planes had diverted to Austin and there were no gates for us to go to. Cool. We had to wait almost 20 minutes for a gate. This would not have been too bad, except that about one minute after telling us we had to wait for the gate, I sniffed that unpleasant smell again. And this time? No open seat next to me to take care of it. No open seat anywhere in fact. Awesome. So, after squirming around the whole time we were waiting for the gate, just as we were about ready to de-plane, I felt something wet on my arm. Yep, it's just what you're thinking. Awesome. Luckily, it wasn't too bad, and I was able to get off the plane and rush to the family restroom to get Brie in some new gear. At least we were finally home! It was quite the ending to a long, fun trip in NE and I will say that I'm quite glad the next flight we will be taking we will have daddy along!
^^One of my favorite pictures from the trip!
