Oh. My. Word.

Our flights home were horrible. Pull your hair out, need-to-buy-everyone-in-the-plane-a-drink horrible. Makin was grumpy, we were exhausted.

This is our layover in Denver where we could plug in the DVD player for a few minutes to catch a sanity break...before trekking the opposite way across the airport after finding out our gate changed of course.

If this is how our ride to Virginia had been, I would have been walking home. Torture.

Okay now I will try and be reflective...at least he slept for a part of the 4 hour flight so I got to have a warm cookie. :)

And as for getting home, Lorelei was so sweet. Ran to us and gave us hugs, was very worried when she saw Makin and worried he couldn't talk (as he was seemingly speechless to see his big sister again) and then rubbed his back as she was talking to him, before finding TWO dogs at the airport. Only my kids. :) So glad to be home. And no more airplanes for a while...

Richmond Children's Museum and DC Hotel

We decided to break up our drive to DC by stopping at the Richmond Children's Museum on the way up. It was a very welcomed stop after a very rough morning of an understandably grumpy boy. It was just the distraction he needed! And our top four exhibits were...the little farm. Dropping the eggs down the ramp. And then the water play, of course, was a huge hit. He loved the fountain.






And we loved this tree. First you picked the apples (red balls) and then brought your basket of apples to dump into a machine, then you watched them go up the machine into the top and then fall back down into the tubes to be "picked" again when you went back outside the tree!

And probably Brad's ultimate favorite was ....the scarf machine?! Probably should have taken notes on what these were called. These tubes had air going through them and you could open valves to make the scarves shoot out of different places. And of course, Brad wouldn't be Brad if he didn't feel the need to stuff EVERY scarf into it at once. It got jammed a few times, but he did get them all out eventually. Men. Makin loooooved when they would shoot out and rain over his head. He also loved just throwing them.



After picking out a few fun toys from the gift shop to take home to Lorelei (who we were missing like crazy by now) we drove the rest of the trip to DC, settled in and ordered supper to eat in our room. Makin was very happy to have macaroni and cheese, even though that was the most "nonliquidy" thing he had had yet, so I was a nervous wreck. Sure made him a lot less grumpy though! We also let him open his new cars from Chase before calling it a night.

And had to show you Brad's thrill of the trip. His dream rental car (which we got for a steal btw) was the Dodge Charger. I have to admit, it was pretty fun. :) So glad he got a chance to drive it for 6 days! :)

Big Thanks

To the Bonfiglio family for taking us in after the surgery. You were so helpful through the rough couple of days after and made it so much easier on us. And so glad we finally got to see Brian with his long hair! ;) Can't wait for your visit to Texas!

Just had to share this picture of Leah...the girl loves shoes so much she even has to wear them with her footsie jammies. :) Made me smile. :)

What A Difference 24 Hours Makes

Almost exactly 24 hours after surgery, Makin was playing outside with a beach ball. Amazing.

After not-too-bad a night and some rough not-wanting-to-eat-mush moments Makin was raring to get out and enjoy another beautiful day. He kicked around a ball and played a bit before we headed out to see a new playground addition to Mt. Trashmore. He had a blast going on lots of slides and climbing all over. The two boys stuck together most of the time and the girls usually weren't far behind. And cute fact...the jacket Makin is wearing used to belong to Chase. :) They grow up so fast!

Can't say it enough. Amazing.

"We'll Take Good Care Of Him"

That is what the anesthesiologist who had to take our sweet boy away said as she scooped him up to head down the hall. I just kept running that through my head as we waited and tried to keep busy. Makin's surgery lasted about 2 1/2 hours, and of course it was rough seeing him right after, but amazingly enough he was able to go home just a few hours after coming out of surgery. This picture was taken about 3 hours after I saw him...so he is looking a lot better. He held onto his Elmo while watching Happy Feet while Brad went to get the car to leave the hospital. So, so thankful for our amazing doctors and nurses who took such good care of our brave boy.

He was groggy the rest of the day, but did do a little bit of playing and eating that afternoon before going down for the night at around 5:30 pm.

The Bonfiglio's were gracious enough to let us stay a couple of nights at their house while Makin recovered. The kids did amazing with this, even though, as you can tell, it would be a bit rough to see Makin like this for little ones. Chase even wrapped up a few of his cars to give Makin.

Virginia Beach Friends

Oh how we have missed them! The only thing that helped get us through this trip was getting to see the friends we had not seen in a year. After the doctors appointment and beach, we headed to the Bonfiglio house followed by the Check house. And what fun to see how much all of them had grown up in the last year!

Makin and Leah being a bit shy, but had to get a picture to show how much they have grown up. :) They were just little babies when we left!

The Check girls welcomed Makin right in. Emma and Makin enjoyed playing in the kitchen together. And as you can see, these babies have grown up too! :) But, they are about the same height! And boy did Makin fall right into place with Lily. You could tell he felt comfortable with her just like he does his big sister. Glad the Check girls still love to hug on this little guy just like "when they were little." :)

As you can see, Makin had lots of fun, such a great time and such busy day. And I think so many things packed in the day before surgery kept me from getting too sad. Soooo thankful for our friends. We miss you dearly!

Makin's Trip To The Beach

The last time this little guy saw the beach he was about 3-4 months old, in a car seat carrier, covered with a blanket. I was so, SO excited to let him get to the beach.

And he loved it.

Loved the sand, loved the seagulls, loved the water...and tried it but it was COLD. So thankful for this day. Sorry, I took about a million pictures. :) Will be counting the days till our next beach visit someday, with big sister along! :)