On Thursday evening we flew down to Florida to visit my family... and had a great time. Riley Joy was great on the plane (no meltdowns). We brought her car seat along and strapped it into the seat on the plane, so she was quite comfy.
Over the course of the weekend we talked, walked along the boardwalk, ate wonderful food, watched movies, visited their church and just hung out. It was refreshing and relaxing and actually somewhat energizing. I love my family so very much, I wish they were closer by. Riley Joy had a blast. Within hours of being there, she knew sho Grandad was and though she never picked up on what Grandma meant, she on multiple occasions referred to my mother as Nana. She she at least gets the concept :-). She is quite an incredible little girl. While my mother was cooking, Riley Joy would go in and throw up her arms to be picked up. At first my mother thought she just wanted a hug, but her heart was quite blessed when she realized that Riley Joy wanted to be held by her. Out of everybody, though, I think she was most comfy with my dad. He could pick her up at almost any random time and walk off with her and she did not mind. That is very, very unusual. Really, I can't think of anyone except Nana that Riley Joy is that comfortable with. Anyone really surprised? :-) Tyler and Jenna really seem to be enjoying homeschooling again (Tyler is technically in cyber-school) and I was so blessed to hear it. Homeschooling was the best thing my parents did for me and I am so deeply happy to know that they are appreciating it too.
While down there, we had a chance to visit Karis' apartment and it is really nice. She has made an excellent little home out of it. She is not working right now but hopefully she will get in gear and have one soon. We also met her boyfriend, Jason, and he seems to be a very nice person. He recognizes Karis' needs and supports her involvement in support groups and such... that was really good to hear. Though I am curious about his spiritual walk. Does he have the strong foundation needed to lead Karis if they would decide to get married? It would be comforting to know.
We left Monday morning and had a couple mishaps. The first was in line for airport security. We were moving slowly along and Hannah was putting Riley Joy in her sling when we got to the ticket checker. She looked a little impatient with us, so I dropped my bag and reached over Hannah to give her my ticket and ID so she could look at it while Hannah finished. Well, at that point Hannah took a step back and ran into my bag and lost her balance and crashed down backwards and rolled from her hip onto her back with Riley Joy's leg underneath her. Riley Joy was terrified and Hannah was worried she had hurt Riley's leg so they both burst into tears. I felt so bad but was glad that there were not major injuries. Riley Joy's leg was fine and Hannah's hip hurt but was not anything serious. Lesson learned. Do not rush, even in airport security. If I had though before dropping my bag before behind Hannah I would have set it to my side instead (the safer place for it). So that was the first mishap. The second was that we had to wait 40 minutes on the airplane before it took off (maintenance issue). Riley Joy did not like that waiting time and sensed people's frustrations. She got very restless and cried and kicked the seat in front of her (poor guy). We were able to walk her back and forth down the isle and let her run in the clearing near the center emergency exit and that distracted her for a while. We also read to her and let her play with books and watch her movie. But praise the Lord, once we took off and the cabin pressurized and the engines started, she drifted off to sleep and slept for two whole hours! She did not wake up until the descent and even then was in an excellent mood.
Once we reached the airport we had no problems getting our bags and I had no problem finding the car in the economy parking lot.
Overall, it was an excellent trip. Very nearly perfect except that we did nto get more time. I had such a wonderful time having deep, meaty talks with my parents and I wish they were around so we could do that more. There is definitely a different dynamic between talking face to face and talking on the phone of video messaging. My point: I miss my family already. Hopefully Tyler and Jenna will be able to get an excuse to come visit in the near future... we will see!
Thank You, God, for a wonderful trip :-).
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