Ohio trip pictures, part 1

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OK, so where did I leave off? Right... Friday night. I glanced back over my last entries, trying to see if I had any details to add (since they were so short), but nothing comes to mind. Thursday was pretty much a lazy day--we went for a walk in the afternoon, but other than that we hung around the apartment. When Josh got home from work, Matthew was so excited to see him--it was so cute. And I think I covered Friday pretty well. So, moving on...

Saturday morning Mary and Josh went out for a late breakfast, and I got to babysit my adorable nephew. They weren't gone very long--Mary is breastfeeding exclusively right now (in other words--no bottles), so there wasn't anything I could do if the little man got hungry. He's not a big fan of pacifiers right now either. But he was a perfect little angel while they were gone, and we had some important auntie-nephew bonding.

Around lunchtime we ran a few errands and then were heading to visit Josh's family. But on the way there, Josh got the bright idea to go to the Air Force Museum. No sooner had we gotten there, though, when Matthew got hungry--and there was nowhere Mary could feed him discreetly. So we pretty much walked in the doors, changed Matthew's diaper, and walked back out. But hey, at least I can say I've been there (technically speaking).

We spent a few hours hanging out with Josh's family, and headed home in the evening. We were going to have tacos at home, but Mary and I had been tossing around the idea of going to Sonic Burger sometime (another fast-food wonder that I am denied of at home). Mary whispered "Sonic Burger" to Josh while we were driving, and when he replied out loud, "You want to go to Sonic Burger?" I piped up, "Oh, what a great idea, Josh!" So that was dinner. I got the classic Sonic Burger, tater tots, a soda, and a cookies-n-cream Sonic Blast. When we got home, I prepared the meat for the tacos and chopped some tomatoes, so that all we'd have to do when we got home from church the next day would be to heat everything up.

Sunday was church, of course. It's been a long time since I've been to a church other than my own on a Sunday morning. And as I predicted, it felt a little weird to just walk into church and sit down, as a spectator instead of a leader. But it was kind of nice to have that pressure off me (though I did wonder how things were going back home, and later found out from Tony that they had a temporary power outage, right in the middle of a song).

After church, Mary had to go to a meeting for all the nursery workers, so I held Matthew while we waited, and he and I had a little "moment." You know how infants do that thing where they're wide-awake and incredibly alert, and just quiet? That's what he was doing, and I took full advantage of the moment by talking, whispering and cooing to him, never taking my eyes off his face. He, in return, studied my face and listened intently, rewarding me with hints of smiles every now and then.

We had tacos for lunch and then a bit of a lazy afternoon. Josh took a nap, and Mary and I (and Matthew) took a short walk, which led us to Kroger's. We were very good, though--we didn't even go down the cookie aisle (we'd been working our way through packages of fudge-striped and caramel-striped cookies all weekend). We went to church again at night--Mary and I went to her church, and Josh and his dad went to another nearby church to hear Oliver North speak. The rest of the night involved me packing, me holding Matthew (and him falling asleep in my arms--aww) and me and Mary devouring some snack-sized Warm Delights (chocolate caramel cake).

I think Sunday was when I really started to miss Ari and Tony. Probably because that was the day that most mimicked my normal routine. It's not even that we were so busy on Thursday, Friday and Saturday--it was just so far from my normal routine that I didn't think much about what I'd normally be doing (and besides, on Thursday and Friday I would have been at work, so it's not like I'm going to sit around missing that). But once Sunday came, I found myself wondering how church was going back home, wondering what Tony and Ari were doing for lunch... and then I missed them.

Monday morning, I had to wake up earlier than I had all weekend (6:45 AM) in order to get ready and catch my 10 AM flight. Matthew cooperated beautifully--he ate right before we had to leave, allowing enough time for me to have one last cuddle with him (and for me to change one last messy diaper--yes, folks, my little "vacation" was not a vacation from diaper-changing). We had no traffic on the way there, and arrived around 8:30 AM. I breezed through security once again (despite the "orange threat level" alert), and sat around at my gate for over an hour. At one point, they asked if anyone wanted to volunteer for a later flight and receive a $200-400 voucher, and I was tempted. But I knew I really wanted to get home as soon as I could.

I flew from Dayton to Atlanta on the same type of plane I had taken from Cincinnati to Dayton--the kind where you have to walk outside to get on the plane and stow large-sized carry-ons down below. I had a window seat again--next to me was a mom, and across the aisle were her husband and 3-yr-old boy. The little boy was so excited as the plane took off, and for some odd reason, I got tears in my eyes. Maybe he reminded me of Ari a little.

We got to Atlanta right on time, and I had to get from Concourse D to B to make my connection. I walked the whole way, even avoiding the moving sidewalks, just to stretch my legs and get a little exercise. Once I was at Concourse B, I searched for a place to grab lunch, but the only thing that appealed to me was Ben and Jerry's. So, a few minutes later, I was seated comfortably at Gate B4 with 3 scoops of ice cream (lowfat chocolate fudge brownie, peanut butter swirl, and some flavor that was coconut ice cream with chocolate chunks, butterscotch chips and other yumminess). It was the perfect lunch--and probably cheaper than trying to buy an actual meal somewhere (as it was, it cost me almost $5). I called Tony while I waited, and no sooner had he said hello than he had to yell at Ari--something about putting something back in the trash. I just giggled and said, "So, how is your day going?"

(Quick side note--my book of choice for my return trip was Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. I'm not finished with it yet, but I definitely recommend it. It's a great book to read while traveling--even if you are traveling by plane rather than by car. Even though I was on my way home, that book made me want to pack up all over again and just go somewhere, anywhere, for the pure joy of traveling.)

We took off from Atlanta on time, and once again, I had an awesome window seat. When we had about an hour left in the flight, I looked out the window and could see shoreline, beaches, bays, more shoreline--I kept trying to figure out where we were, with no luck. It seems like you're going so slow when you're that high up, even though I knew we were going faster than any car can go. I gave up trying to guess, and instead just enjoyed the scenery. As we descended toward the airport, I picked out a couple landmarks I recognized, which made me all kinds of excited. (It's amazing how different the world looks from thousands of feet up--even your own home state.)

(Oh, another side note: that sore throat I mentioned in my last entry? It's still with me--comes and goes, but hasn't gotten worse. Josh claims it's "Midwest allergies"--he says that even people without allergies seem to get afflicted with them when they visit the Midwest, and people who already have allergies still have a flare-up. He predicted that I'd probably have a rough couple of days once I get home as I get readjusted to my old allergens. That remains to be seen, but I'm happy to chalk my sore throat up to new allergies rather than to whatever horrible disease Tony had.)

I called Tony once I was outside, and soon saw where he was parked at the curb. As I approached the car, I could see Ari hanging out the passenger window, with a big grin on her face. When I got to her, I swooped down with a kiss, and she sat down in the seat. "Ari, can I have a hug and kiss?" I asked, bracing myself for a "No." Instead, she popped right back up, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me right on the lips. I put her in her seat, and we were on our way. As we drove, Ari kept saying, "Daddy! Daddy!" And when he would say, "What?" she'd reply, "Mommy!"

When we got home, we decided to go out for dinner. We went to Texas Roadhouse (and finally used the gift card we got for Christmas) and then to the mall afterwards to let Ari play. When we got home, it was Ari's bedtime, and the old routine settled back into place. I helped her brush her teeth, changed her, sang her our song, and put her to bed. After that, it was time for a workout (while watching Dancing with the Stars), and then time to fiddle around online, checking e-mail and editing pictures.

Oh, pictures. You want pictures? OK then. I think I will do this in 2 parts, since there are so many (and since I've already babbled on so much). (Thanks, Josh, for burning me a CD so that I can have all these pics right away!)

He fell asleep in my lap (doesn't he look huge in this picture?)...



One of our many conversations...



I guess he disagreed with something I said...



Either that, or I was boring...



He was so excited to see his Daddy...



Look at that little smile!



Yes, my sister knew I was taking this picture...



He's not too sure about me...



Sticking out his tongue...



Hanging out with Mommy...



More pictures to come later...