November Travels

Well, after hearing about it for 3 years, we finally made it to Nashville for Thanksgiving! Since I'm not in the running for "wife of the year", I made it official and flew to Nashville with Kate and Kevin and left Matthew to drive with the boys, meeting Grandpa and Nana in Texarkana to drive the rest of the way with them! Despite the incredibly early flight, Kate did amazing and Kevin and I learned a few things about flying with an infant. She nursed through security, which Kevin loved of course, and slept almost the whole flight! In all honesty, I still think it was the best choice to not have to stop every 2 or so hours to feed Kate, but it still seems harsh a little bit...oh well! We all made it safely, though the drive for the family was longer than anticipated, running into quite a bit of traffic and such, but made it safe late Tuesday none the less!

It didn't take long and the infamous "Meat Snacks" were out and we were ready to go!

We had such a great time with everyone...Erin came in Tuesday as well, Sara and Gary as well as Michelle and friends arrived on Wednesday, and the activity didn't stop! The boys had a blast running all over the house, outside and playing with the different toys and harassing the dogs! If I have one complaint about the York's house, it is that it was so hard to keep up with the boys - too many places for them to hide, that by the time I found one, I had lost the other! :)

There was lots of activity in the kitchen of course on Wednesday, and the big boys were busy with the never ending project of creating the mantel...it will be beautifully finished one day! They made great progress and are paying attention to every detail! The little boys enjoyed more time playing soccer and the access to endless iPad usage! But then there was time for fun and relaxing as well...I love the sequence of these photos of the men on the couch...so much love there!

Noah was very particular about who got to sit where and how it affected his seating...this was the one he wanted and no one else was allowed! Stinker!

 Evening crash...this wasn't even after the big Thanksgiving meal...just so much food, entertaining and excitement, they just crashed!

Aunt Sally was particularly insistent and making sure Kate was happy being held in her arms! Kate protested (as usual) when away from Mommy, but that didn't phase Sally, and by the end of it, Kate had succumbed to Sally's will and love! :)

Sweet little Kate on Thanksgiving!

People were ready to party!

Noah was excited that yet another dog joined the party when Emily arrived...these two little stinkers were kindred spirits from the time they met...as if they knew the other was a kindred trouble maker. Noah and Stanzi did have a bit of a showdown at one point, and phased Noah for a bit, Stanzi is for sure the dog he remembers the most!

The whole time we were there, Noah was just go, go, go! By the time we sat down for dinner on Thanksgiving, he passed out! Literally, this, I believe, is the only time any of my children have fallen asleep while eating...he did the total head bob and eye roll, and then would pop out of it. He gave in and rested on Mommy (yes, I'm also nursing Kate too!), and he got the quickest power nap in the history of mankind and woke up crazier than before!

We loved getting to see some of our loved family members....and had fun with selfies and photo bombs!

Sweet Sara and Kevin, worn out from the days' festivities!

The day after Thanksgiving started a whole new set of activities...getting ready for Christmas! The whole crew set out for a nice walk on a beautiful, chilly morning to check on the local Christmas tree selection, and then carried on to the nearby lake!

There was Christmas decorating and more playing outside, cute photo ops, and food of course!

Friday night was pizza night...and it was DELICIOUS! It inspired Matthew to consider the idea of a pizza oven once again...at some point not so soon!

Saturday was the day to return...we were all up early again and while I'm sure they didn't like being up that early, I'm sure the York family was happy to get our chaos out of their house! :) Kate did awesome on the flight back again and the others made great time making it back to Texas. Nana didn't feel well, so the boys watched movies the whole way home, and only stopped twice! Neither took naps on the way home, and Drew zonked out, practically mid sentence, right before dinner from the long day! We had a WONDERFUL time, but so good to be home!

Now, to take a turn...while we were in Nashville, we had horrible news that my Uncle Mark Wessling had passed away after a second battle with Leukemia. The Yorks are actually good friends with the Wesslings from their time together in St. Louis way back when, so it was odd, yet nice, to be with them when we found out the news. So Kate and I returned to Fort Worth with luggage full of laundry to unpack and repack, go grocery shopping and get ready for a trip to Miami. The boys stayed behind in Fort Worth, giving Mommy and Kate more flexibility on when we could fly and how long we could stay. It also just didn't seem appropriate for the boys to go. So Kate and I got back home Saturday around 11am and left again Sunday at 5am! This time we were on our own at the airport, and I was so thankful to already have had some experience in what worked and what didn't. God was good and Kate did amazing again, despite yet another very early flight!

We were greeted by Aunt Gloria, Cari and Veronica at the airport and swiftly taken to see Grandma and Grandpa, and then on to Ruth's house to see the Wesslings. These grandparents truly are GREAT! All three enjoyed some sweet cuddling time together, and Grandpa just lit up anytime Kate came near! So sweet to see that interaction! We spent the afternoon at Gloria's, then over to see Candi and her family and new home! That night we went back to the Wesslings (the week's gathering spot) for dinner. Despite getting only a few short little naps, Kate was pretty resilient for the day!

We took advantage of not having anywhere we HAD to be on Monday and let Kate just sleep away as long as she needed! Then we spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and enjoyed a calm day with the 4 of us. We enjoyed a wonderful Florida afternoon and got some time outside, which Kate loved of course. Then the rest of the family came over for dinner. Grandpa, Nana and Uncle Kevin got in late Monday night, but we didn't get to see them until Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday, we enjoyed some girl time during the day with cousin Candi. It feels a little guilty to have enjoyed ourselves due to the circumstances, but it's so rare we get together, it was fun to catch up!

Tuesday evening was the funeral service and it was very lovely and fitting to celebrate Uncle Mark's life. It was great to see old pictures, friends, family (John, Sally & Erin York were able to come, and Sally got some good Kate loving in again! She nicknamed her 'Lizzy' because of her lizard-like tongue!) and hear some favorite stories. Being that he was the Pastor, the church was packed to the brim, with an overflow room as well. Kate was a champ and slept amazing in the Moby wrap, nursed, laid awake calmly on the bench, changed her diaper and then back in the Moby wrap for another nap (standing and bouncing in the side aisle of course) through the service. We were essentially trapped in the front rows, as there were people lining the walls, it would have been way too disruptive to leave at any point. She didn't really make too much noise until right as the service was ending and it was 'open mic' time...at which point we escaped to the now-deserted balcony. The family then returned to Ruth's house. We had been at the church for 5 hours and poor Kate was up past her bedtime and just exhausted. She had a bit of a rough time getting to sleep (Mommy forgot to bring the Miracle Blanket!) and she easily kicked out of the swaddle Mommy attempted, but this is how I found her when it was time to go to Candi's house...sweet girl was so tired!

But she slept great again that night and was up and at it for more the next day. The family all gathered back at Ruth's house for lunch and then most of the group decided to head to the beach.

We had to be back in time to get Kevin on his flight, but oh, it was wonderful to see the ocean again! Such a beautiful day for it, lots of wind and the water was cold, but oh so beautiful...it was good for the soul to soak it in for a little bit!

We went back to Ruth's for dinner and the talented cousin Aaron took a few shots of Kate and I with his amazing photography skills...this will be a memorable photo for lots of different reasons! Thank you Aaron!

Wednesday night we got some delicious and authentic churros to cap off the trip. Thursday morning we hung at Candi's, and then rushed to say goodbye to Grandparents and Wesslings. We thought we had more time, but we cut it way too close! I barely made the flight! I was too late to print my ticket at the kiosk because the flight was already in final status or something I've never heard of before. The attendant initially was not in the mood to be helpful, but somewhere between leaving me and going to find her supervisor, God changed her heart and she became my advocate, convincing the supervisor to override it and then sprinted with me to security, where she helped me skip EVERYONE in line in order to make the flight! Where ever she is, I'm an in debt to her and so very grateful!

Kate did amazing on the flight back...we had a whole row to ourselves, so that was fantastic! She ate, slept and played and hardly fussed at all! We made it back home safe and sound with no plans to go anywhere again anytime soon! While we love to see family and travel, traveling with kids is exhausting, so don't take that the wrong way - we loved seeing everyone, I'm just glad to be back home and resume the un-normal, but normal to us, life again for awhile!