"Dashing Through the Snow"

I am hesitating to post a blog about what Carly and I have been up to the past week, but after much consideration and looking through the cute photos I took, I have made an editor's choice to compose and publish a short blog about our impulsive and very short surprise trip to the homeland (that may have been the longest sentence ever).  Please don't feel bad if you missed us...as we were only there for 3 days.  Brian happened to be searching for flights one evening and saw that a round trip to Iowa was the cheapest we had ever seen, so I told my parents that they should take advantage of that and fly their bums down here.  My Dad, however, couldn't get away from basketball and therefore convinced me to come there.  I was very apprehensive to leave Brian and was also nervous Carly would get sick and the whole trip would be ruined.  But, Brian reminded me that there were three really good reasons that I just couldn't argue with. 

#1 was to see my sister play basketball. It's her senior year of high school and I've seen her play every other year, so I wasn't about to miss my All-Conference player hit the court one last time. 

#2 was that I was missing my Grandma.  I have never gone a December without seeing her, and I wasn't about to start now.  Somehow we will have to make it home each December to see her.

#3 was that one of my best friends, Lindsay, had her second son, Micah 6 weeks ago.  I wanted to see her, her older son, Eli, and meet the newest addition to their family.  It seems appropriate to meet him at 6 weeks old being that in July of 2011 I met 6-week-old, Eli and in March 2012, Lindsay met 6-week-old Carly.  Carly is almost exactly 9 months younger than Eli and 9 months older than Micah.  I don't know if I will be able to keep up and deliver another babe to be 9 months younger than Micah...in fact...I think that ship has sailed already. ;)

There were certainly some bonus aspects of the trip, like spending dear quality time with both my family and Brian's family.  I didn't take a whole lot of photos but I captured a few.  Sunday we were delayed nearly 7 hours due to the fog in Iowa.  When you are only going to be on a trip for a short time, it's extra sour to lose a full day.  Plus, we were looking forward to seeing Aunts, Uncles and Cousins; which didn't end up happening.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed time with the grandparents and siblings.

The trip was a surprise for my family, so Brian's mom graciously agreed to pick us up at the airport.  We felt so bad that she ended up spending the entire day just waiting for us to arrive.  We finally landed and headed to Ames to give Grandpa a kiss before being scooped up and taken to my folks' house where my mom, brother and sister were having dinner.  I knocked on the door and my astonished mother answer the door.  Due to her reaction, my sibs came to check out who she was starring at and I was embraced with screams and hugs. 

Monday, we ventured back over to G&G Weiss' house for some wassail and some play time.  It was then that Carly showed us she could stand up unsupported ALL BY HERSELF.  Holy moly, folks, walking just isn't that far away

Tuesday was Tiff's basketball game, where we also surprised my Grandma that we were in town.  Carly LOVED the atmosphere of the game.  She enjoyed watching the girls run up and down the court and was highly stimulated by the lights, noise and movement.  That was a fun first.  She also wore an "I love my aunt" shirt to support Tiff.  They won a nail biter (or boot biter in Carly's case) of a game to climb the charts to the top 5 teams in the state.  Sweet.  I also figured out that Meg was in town from California, so she came to Tiff's game to see us as well!  That was quite the treat!

Wednesday we spent the day with my Grandma, and were visited by both of my Dad's siblings and by Anna.  Thursday morning we got up and got in a few more hugs and kisses before heading to the airport.  Carly was thrilled to see Brian and embraced him with a hug, kiss and a BIG smile.  He said she had grown up a lot in the 4 days she was gone.  The girl never stops changing, that's for sure!

We had a wonderful time and are so very glad we stopped in to say hello!  I believe there will certainly be some repeats of this trip throughout the next 14 months before Carly turns 2 and has to have her own seat!  Oh wait, she did have her own seat on the plane! ;)

And, for the record, we did not dash through any snow while we were there.  Looks like we just missed it!  But I'm glad about that.  I want Carly to experience snow for the first time when both of her parents are there to experience it with her. :)