In January, on a whim, I bought two plane tickets for me and my two kiddos to fly home to Maryland. There was much going on by way of festivities, so we were a welcome addition to all the parties.
We flew nonstop to Philadelphia, which was awesome. Shane came through security to see us off, but we were delayed so he left for work and I bonded with another delayed mom in the terminal. We watched each others' kids and stuff when we went to the bathroom, got food, etc. It was very convenient.
Laurel is a TERRIBLE traveler. This is lesson #1 from this trip. TERRIBLE. She is not very flexible. She likes to nap in her bed on her own time. Sigh. Luckily the flight out was super empty so I could set her down in the seat next to me and do stuff. Don't worry, this picture is before we took off... haha...
That face pretty much says it all. The flight was terribly turbulent. I've never felt my butt come off the seat like that before. If I wasn't wearing my seat belt I literally would have been in the aisle. I suppose I can understand why when it's windy in Philadelphia they take it very seriously.
It was nice to see Grandma at the airport! Yay! We drove home, but it was pretty late so we just got to bed. In one day, we hit four states: Washington, Pennsylvania, Delaware, then Maryland. My mom set up a crib in my old room for Laurel (yay), a nice mattress on the floor for Wesley, and a futon for me, but Wesley decided the futon was "his bed" and we slept side by side the whole trip. That kid takes his half out of the middle, I'll tell you.
Our first day was relaxing, we were all a bit jet-lagged so we just went through my OLD STUFF because there were some specific things I was looking for that I wanted to bring back with me. Like, I used to have this math-toy thing that I saw in a store around here for TWENTY BUCKS and I said to myself, "dang, if I could find that at home in MD I'd bring it back for Wesley!" I found it! I also found some Barbies and My Little Ponies, plus some "dress up" things Laurel might like one day. I brought back an electric keyboard (I've been wanting to get that here for years!), a globe, books, and more. It was aweeeeesome. I have good junk.
I also used it as the chance to throw away stuff I was done with. Can you believe I came across -- wait for it -- several baby teeth. Seriously. Is that creepy or what? I threw them away.
The next day we had a fun family-drama-filled lunch with my aunts and Grandma, aka my mom's sisters and mom. It was awesome to have four generations together....
Plus my brother Brad and his wife and kids came so it was fun to get everyone together at the Golden Corral. Haha...
There was family drama toward the end of the meal when all our kids were tired and um, Wesley went out the emergency exit door and set the alarm off. Good times. Do my aunts (who have no kids of their own) think I am a positively awful mother? Maybe.
The highlight of the day (besides visiting with Great-Grandma) was that Wesley took his first nap in ages. Ahhh the things a three-hour time difference will do to a kid!
On Saturday we hung out with Brad and Leslie some more, we got the kids together to play at this indoor playhouse place, then we had Pizza Hut. (I wasn't following my new year's diet very well. But luckily I didn't gain any weight on this trip!!) Leslie even came over in the morning and we went for a run around the neighborhood. Ahh old times! I used to do LOTS of running in my neighborhood. I started running in college, and when I'd come home for the summers and work at the Olive Garden all I would do was run run run. It was fun to visit with Leslie. I think she's great.
Wesley's favorite part so far was playing with all the great toys at Grandma's house. My mom had a monster truck lying around from when my brothers were little. Wesley tied his Big Airplane to the back of the monster truck and was dragging it around the house. We laughed and laughed. At times like this I really started to miss Shane, I think he missed us too. Well, on the airplane I REALLY missed Shane since two adults can handle two kids so much better than one can. But when we were all laughing and having fun, I really missed Shane. I wanted him to be able to experience this, too.
I bet Shane would also have liked the sports angle of the trip.... it was pretty special to be in Maryland the first weekend in February since -- ta da! -- it was Super Bowl! And the Ravens were in it!
I was born in Baltimore. I have team spirit, baby. It was cool to be on the home turf during such an exciting time! And then they WON and everything!
Sunday was more than just the Super Bowl though. My brother blessed his new baby boy Jonah in Church in my home ward. It was cool to be "at home" for a Fast and Testimony Meeting. Lots of people from my growing-up years spoke, including a girl who had been inactive for years but is now really active, and a sweet old Grandma lady of the ward. Plus, my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, um, like everyone in my whole family but me got up. I should have got up, but oh well. It's OK. They know my testimony :-) I just didn't say it out loud that very day.
Leslie's dad got up, and he expressed gratitude for all the people who were there when he "cut his teeth" in the gospel. I think that reflects my sentiments exactly. My foundation was laid in that ward. I love Salisbury!
After Church was the big lunch for Brad and Leslie and their family. It was cuuuute. "Jonah" lends itself to a perfect party theme...
Wesley and Ruby had fun playing...
And about this time I started to notice that Laurel was attached to pretty much every "Grandpa" or "Dad" type around. She missed her daddy. She loved snuggling with my brother Brad, my Dad, and even Leslie's dad!
(She likes the facial hair. It's funny stuff.)
I love my family!
The next day we embarked on a road trip. We were very brave. We added a few more states to our count as we drove through Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. My grandparents (my dad's folks) live in Ohio, as does my dad's sister and most of her kids.
Road tripping has its perks.... lots of scenery... and fast food.
We arrived on Tuesday. The unbelievable part is that it happened to be my grandfather's 85th birthday. How incredible is that? It was really a coincidence, gosh we didn't even plan it this way. But how fortuitous we were there to celebrate with the family. Wow. My uncle even came up from Virginia so my dad's entire family was there.
And our second four-generational picture of the trip:
Happy birthday to Grandpa.
He is getting old, so he's in a wheelchair and isn't talking much. I could ask him a question and I'd see his eyes light up, like he wanted to answer, but he had a hard time vocalizing his thoughts. Sometimes his answers were very short, or someone else would answer for him. I was afraid my crazy kids would be stressful, but instead he loved watching them romp around the house. He really loved Laurel; he'd play a little game with her where he'd run his fingers along the couch cushion like they were a scurrying little bug, and he'd sorta nip at her and she'd laugh. I am pretty sure I remember him playing that game with me. Or at least seeing my dad do it, too :-)
The next day was the best. We visited briefly before hitting the road again, and Grandma brought out this scrapbook that Grandpa's mother had made him when he was a young man. It was full of newspaper clippings about World War II (Grandpa was a rifle pilot or something in Italy), his wedding, his awards from the Future Farmers of America, stuff like that. It was absolutely precious. I would look at the pages and read out of the scrapbook and watch Grandpa's eyes for the recognition. It was so special to be there. I'm really glad we went -- even though two kids in a car for 10+ hours one way was TOUGH. It was worth it.
Lesson #2: Family is always worth it.
We stopped at Cabela's on the way home to burn off some steam. Wild crazy fun place.
I had an absolute blast doing fun things "at home." There were so many things that just made me laugh or made me smile. So many memories came back.
Like the time Brad kicked a hole in the office door....
Hahaha! I loved seeing the Maryland license plates and all the "Texas stars" on people's houses. (Seriously? What is it with the
Texas stars on people's houses?) I loved doing all the things that bring warm memories of home, like getting a Dunkin Donut and holding my breath through Felton.
(There's this small town along Route 13 in Delaware. There is a "welcome to Felton" sign and a traffic light, and literally on the other side of the traffic light is another "welcome to Felton" sign going the other direction. So if you hit that light green, you can hold your breath through Felton!)
Laurel played in the crunchy leaves, before it snowed. Ha.
Also, since we were in Maryland (and I wasn't dieting, haha) we had to try a Smith Island Cake, the Maryland state dessert. It's 16 layers of cakes and frosting. We got a peanut butter chocolate one. Um, YES PLEASE. Wesley was a big fan.
I had one other crazy experience on my last day there, where I got to see an old high school friend. It was actually kind of sad because her life has been more down than up since high school. It really just made me so very grateful for my values, my life, my testimony, and my family. My parents and Shane and my kids. Me and this girl were just inseparable for years, but after we sorta grew apart she just really really struggled. we finally reconnected on Facebook, but she's really a different person. What a sad story.
Lesson #3: Everything and everyone changes. Time passes.
The last night we took the kids to the beach; we got to see it for exactly 5 minutes before the sun went down and it got really cold. Hurricane Sandy did a number on Ocean City, Maryland, so they are still rebuilding to prepare for the summer season. Ahh I love the beach. I love Ocean City.
The flight home was delayed and packed. Laurel screamed um like the whole time. The guy beside me (who must have felt like he won the dang lottery) ordered whiskey shots right off the bat, and then the flight attendant slipped him free drinks all night long, whispering how he was such a "great sport" or something like that. I'm not complaining. The guy deserved it, or you know chocolate or something, for putting up with my wailing child who I could not contain. Sigh. Wesley did so great on the flight. SO GREAT. He was terrific. Toward the end he was playing with play-doh and I could tell he was just tuckered out, and he just quietly fell fast asleep, with his little hand curled around a play-doh cutter. It was adorable. So both my children were quiet. Miracle. The guy beside me was really nice, he was a semi-pro hockey player in his younger years. Ahh the people you meet on airplanes!
We made it home safely. We were the last ones off the flight, and my darling husband again got a gate pass to meet us when we disembarked. One of the flight attendants, when she saw him with us, said, "oh! I just want to hug you! I'm so glad you got a pass and are here to meet her!" Basically the whole flight knew what a handful my kids were so they were rooting for me. Haha.
It was nice to sleep in our own beds after 10 days. But boy we miss Grandma and Grandpa Twining. I love visiting with them, talking about my memories from my childhood and hearing things from their perspective. Now that I'm older and objective they can tell me what an ornery teenager I was, or how stressful it was to buy a house, or how their families are crazy. I get it. It's cool to consider my parents as old friends.
Mom donated a junky piece of luggage to my cause which I filled to the brim with stuff and checked on the flight home. The globe cracked open at the equator but it was easily fixed. Very awesome!
I can't wait to do it again! I love you Mom & Dad. Thanks for an awesome adventure.
Yup. It's a big orange fuzzball and that is in fact their team spirit.