Memories of Us: Frequent fliers

Chase and I have been traveling non-stop for the last 3 weeks and I'm happy to say that we are finally home for good! Our first trip was up to Baltimore, our first time back since we moved over 9 months ago! Eric was up there for business for 2 weeks, so Chase and I decided to tag along. We stayed with Eric's family and had a great time! So much happened on our trip that it's hard to write about everything, so I'll just throw out some of the highlights...

-The flight from Tampa to Baltimore was kind of crazy because it was 2 hours delayed and that makes things a bit stressful if you have a baby in tow. We were at the airport for 4 hours, missed the afternoon nap and sort of missed dinner too. But that was nothing compared to what happened this past Monday... more about that later! Anyways, Chase had a good time playing on the airplanes in the terminal (see above) while we waited for our flight.

-Chase really enjoyed the "Retro Rocket" that was there waiting for him at G-ma and Hansi's house, along with the ice cream cart! We all took turns pushing him around the house on the rocket, and as soon as we'd stop, he'd start crying! But he was really good at making ice cream cones and delivering the ice cream down the hall!

-Eric and I got to visit with lots of old friends. It was so nice to be able to go out to dinner, or down to Fells Point, without worrying about Chase!

-Chase and I had free lunch at Chick-fil-a with our pals Allison, Olivia, and Rachel! Thanks Allison!!

-On a different day, Chase and I stopped by my old work for lunch, only to find that they had planned a huge birthday party for Chase, complete with cake, balloons and presents! So he got some practice for his party this weekend! My favorite part of the day was when I went into my former office to change Chase's diaper and discovered that nothing had changed! My desk, chair, everything was the same as if I had just left yesterday! I put Chase on my old chair and took a picture. Weird to think that the last time I sat there, he was still in my belly!

-It was SO cold, compared to what we've gotten used to in Florida at least... and Chase always wanted to go outside. We let him crawl around on the back porch some and we also took him to the park one day. It made me realize how lucky we are to be able to go outside here pretty much whenever we want!

-We visited two different museums in Baltimore: Port Discovery Children's Museum and the Maryland Science Center. Both had rooms especially for toddlers, but I liked the Science Center the best! Chase had such a great time, and it was good to have Eric, G-ma, and Hansi there too to watch him playing and learning.

-Chase got sick for the very first time! He woke up one morning with a cough, runny nose, and a fever. It was so tough to see him so miserable and not be able to help him much. Fortunately it wasn't all that bad.

-On our last night in Maryland, Eric and I stayed at the Antrim 1844 in Taneytown. We had an amazing dinner... the kind of meal where they give you 20 different forks and you have to figure out which one to use! It was nice to just go up there and take a nap, get dressed up, try new wine and different food, laugh at the piano player, and then sleep as late as we wanted. Eric's family had given us a gift certificate to the Antrim last year and we were so grateful to finally get to use it. Otherwise it's probably something we never would have done on our own.

The flight back to Tampa was uneventful. We got home on Monday night, spent just 2 days here at home, and then Chase and I headed back to the airport on Thursday! We flew up to Atlanta to meet Melissa, then we all drove to Helen, GA to meet Lindsay and Katie for our annual girls weekend! There's really not much to report about our time in Helen because we didn't do much at all. Just sat around catching up on each other's lives and relaxed. It's time that I treasure and always look forward to every year. Of course, this year was a little different with Chase. Eric was supposed to keep him for the weekend but ended up having to work, so poor Chase was stuck with us girls! He endured it pretty well, but he was still recovering from his cold and ended up being kind of fussy and clingy all weekend. As soon as we got back home, he snapped out of it and was off doing his own thing again though!

Oh, but first, in order to get home... we had to fly again! Not that it's a big deal usually, but on Monday it was a nightmare! Our flight was at 10am so we arrived at the airport a little after 8am. They said our flight was delayed until 10:30am but that didn't seem too bad. Well, around 10am our plane arrived and they announced that a bird had flown into the engine, or something like that, and they were trying to locate another plane for us. So we're all just standing around the gate waiting for them to announce our new gate number and all of a sudden everyone runs to get in line at the counter! Those of us that didn't just assumed that the flight was canceled, even though no one ever really told us so. Then the gate agent shouted, "no need for everyone to get in line... some of you can go over to customer service!" So I took off. Luckily I already had Chase in the stroller and all of our stuff together, so I just started running. I guess it paid off because Chase and I made it on to a 2:15pm flight and I know a lot of other people didn't. Still, that was 4 hours away and Chase was already starting to get antsy! But there was nothing we could do. We were at the airport for 6 hours that day and I'm not sure how I survived! He ended up sleeping in his stroller (an umbrella stroller!!) for about 20 minutes and that was the only nap he got. Any one with a 1 year old can probably understand... a little 20 minute nap is just not enough! The plane ride was rough but somehow I kept him distracted the entire time. It's getting tougher and tougher to fly with him though! I miss those days when he'd just sleep in his car seat.

Anyways, we are home and we are happy! Now we just have a birthday party to prepare for! Can't believe Chase will be one on Friday!!!

Here are some pics from our Baltimore trip and a few from girls weekend (I don't have many because Melissa was the designated photographer, as usual!):