The day before Thanksgiving, we made our way to the airport to fly out to Columbus, Ohio to spend the holiday with Brett's family in Butler, Ohio. The girls seemed to think the moving walkways were the coolest things they'd seen in their lives so far.
We were on a pretty small plane, and were sitting in the last two rows of the plane. Grace threw a fit on takeoff because she had to sit in her seat...you know...the one we paid a few hundred dollars for. She wanted to sit on one of our laps most of the flight.
Stella was the easy one to entertain since she's older. I was able to find lots of things to keep her occupied during the flight.
At one point, Grace, who was sitting next to me, started throwing the loudest temper tantrum, so Brett, who was sitting directly behind me with Stella, took her from me, and he got out the iPad and turned on The Little Mermaid, which he had downloaded the night before for an emergency situation like that one. We were sitting right by one of the engines, so they couldn't hear any of the audio, but just seeing one of their favorite movies, helped calm down Grace and distract Stella for the rest of the flight. Poor Stella cried for both descents (there and back) as her ears hurt badly, but besides that, all went relatively well.
Once arriving in Columbus, we picked up our rental car, and then drove another hour or more to Butler. The girls were just about losing their minds after all the travel, so when we arrived to Brett's sister Sonia and brother-in-law Tim's house, they were relieved to stretch their legs and be in a home setting again. Grace loved this rocking chair!
The following day at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the big family Thanksgiving dinner. Grace was uncharacteristically quiet that day. (#foreshadowing) We chalked it up to travel and being out of her familiar surroundings.
Stella had so much fun playing with all her cousins and second cousins!
She discovered the fun that is a four-wheeler. Her grandpa Harry took the kids for rides.
There was lots of coloring with her second cousins Ava and Sophia, who are twins and seven years old. Whichever day Stella saw them, she would try to come up with some trick to distinguish between the two. "Mom, Ava was wearing a headband today and Sophie had on a [whatever-colored] shirt!" They were so sweet to include her and play with their #1 fan.
All day, Grace just wanted Brett or me to hold her, and she finally let Aunt Brenda hold her, and she also fell asleep in Aunt Sonia's arms for a couple hours.
And that evening Grace began throwing up. All that acting so tired and not herself finally made sense after that night of stomach flu. Of course this unfortunate illness made Brett and me paranoid for the rest of the visit--we kept wondering if Stella would wake up puking or, worse yet, one of us, which would cause us to have to change our return flight. We prayed that no one else would get it, and no one did until we made it safely back to Minnesota (Stella got it the night after we returned).
The day after, she basically rested in our arms, and I was able to lie down with her while she slept. Brett and I were exhausted from taking care of her Thanksgiving night. Friday night was the best night of sleep, but then Saturday evening she puked again and also had either a temper tantrum or night terror at midnight. After we finally got her settled in for the night, I tossed and turned wide awake for nearly the whole night.
The day we left (Sunday) Brett and I were probably the most tired we've been since the first year of Grace's infancy (poor sleeper--and still is). Stella got the most out of the trip, that's for sure! She slept really well every night, and she played hard with her cousins.
There were bright spots for Brett and me, too. I got to go out to lunch with some of the sisters-in-law, and Brett got to spend time with his siblings. We also enjoyed an outing to a historical mansion that was decorated for Christmas.
The day after Thanksgiving, the family got together again for a pizza night. Grace was still recovering and exhausted, so either Brett or I held her all day.
Brett's parents and the five kids.
Coloring with the twins!
At Kingwood Center
Right before we left for Kingwood Center, I was starting to feel queasy, and didn't know if it was my paranoia of catching the stomach flu or a combination of having had coffee and something else that didn't mix well right before, I was feeling miserable the whole drive over. Finally I came out of it sometime during the evening, and I could actually start to enjoy the outing.
There were dozens of beautifully-decorated trees, and the girls loved looking at them.
I am so grateful to Tim and Sonia and everyone else for being so understanding and extending grace to us as our Gracie puked in their house (and once on the carpet). If we ever go back, I want to go NOT during flu season. Yikes, that was stressful. As Sonia so kindly reminded me: "At least next time, Grace won't be 2! And you have some good stories to tell."
When we touched down in Minneapolis, after a long descent that seemed to last at least twenty minutes as Stella cried because of her ears, I almost started crying from sheer relief to finally be home. Going on trips is all well and good, and very essential, but there is nothing like returning home and getting back to normalcy.
And there are those fun moving walkways to enjoy again. :)
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