Whirlwind

Pause, to hear my new favorite song-for this week at least, click on play on the playlist for the song "Hello".  Loving it and constantly dancing to it.  Okay now rewind back to April.

April was a complete whirlwind.  It was filled with a visit from family and a visit to family.

Dad and Tammy  came into town to see us and Uncle Cardin. We were in 7th heaven.  The kids especially to be on their own turf and show Grandpa and Grandma their world.  Neve was so comfortable in fact she kept walking in on our guests while they were in the bathroom.  This was her house after all.  After a serious talk with her she decreased, not stopped her intrusions.  Yep, still working on that one.

Introduced Dad and Tammy to Potbelly's a must when you visit DC

Downtown DC

While the in-laws were in town Ben was "working" in NYC. Real convenient huh? He came home in time to see Grandpa and Uncle Cardin before reality hit for his wife and everyone left.

After everyone left, the sanity train stayed on track since there was an upcoming trip planned to go see Nana and Papa in a week, keeping everyone's spirits up.

I ended up traveling to Arizona for the first leg of the trip by myself with the two children, while Ben stayed behind to work for the week.  To say I was nervous is an understatement.

With all the flying we have done in the past six years I swear it has made me insane. I walk into an airport and my heart starts racing. The disapproving looks, the disgust when you sit next to people with your children.  I long for a drive where my kids can cry and scream and I can yell back at them that we only have 10 hours left. All in the privacy of our own car. Instead I plaster on a fake smile as my newly potty trained child tells me she needs to use the lavatory for the tenth time in an hour. I sweetly reply "Are you sure Honey?  You just went 45 seconds ago. Here have your tenth lollipop instead. "

What I don't do is recognize that they aren't wailing babies anymore and have grown accustomed to flying.

As we walked up to the security checkpoint I started to put my monster huge carry on mom purse in the gray bin as I told the children to start taking off their shoes.  As I turned around they had both taken off their sandals and loaded their individual bins with their blankies, backpacks and sandals.  They stood their looking up at me, waiting and ready to go through the scanner. I was shocked.  My first thought was "My kids are amazing."  Followed by "Wow, they fly way too often," and then "We really need to move closer to family." My first clue was a few years ago when at the beginning of a flight, as a three and a half year old Dane independently lifted his arm and said "Excuse me, can I get a soda, please?" to the flight attendant walking by doing her pre-flight check. I was beyond embarrassed.

Needless to say the kids are used to their surroundings and did great on the two flights and pretty great on the following four hour drive, with no yelling involved and only two potty breaks.  Promise a family visit to these two and their inner angels emerge.  Anything to see grandparents and cousins.  As for the flight home and the week worth of jet lag, that is a whole other post.  Except I will say they seemed to have finally beaten the jet lag on Saturday morning at 6:30 AM, after a week worth of having to wake them up for school everyday.  Of course, right?

While we were in Arizona and California, not much stopped Dane and Neve.  The visit was filled with cousins, pool time, Easter and of course the wedding.  Now we are just looking for an excuse to fly again as we go through withdrawal from family.  I get my fix by checking airline sites three to four time a day.  I quickly get my dose of reality as I see the prices.  The dose lasts for a few hours until I pull up the internet looking for my next hit.  So sad.

Neve and Dane in their natural habitat

 San Diego Pool Time

  Exhaustion finally set in after days of swimming

The Wedding at the San Diego Temple

The Reception

 Neve spent the night happily devouring ice cream and cake.
Neve before the sugar high hit  

Neve during the sugar high.

When she wasn't eating, she adored being the present runner with her fellow flower girls/cousins.

Dane hibernated to his man cave during

the festivities to play angry birds

 Easter Egg Hunt

 Bunny hopping race

Unfortunately we are on to a flight free June.  April we loved you while we had you. May don't fret we'll catch up with you later.