Nati' Love

Out for a Thursday stroll. Tiny walks the trails in
Bentonville with Nana and Dodo.

That's right folks, I did it again. I flew with this tiny terrorist
and this time only one small, teensy, tiny incident. 

While in the Nati we got to visit with some of my besties,
which just happen to be some of Tiny's besties' mamas.
We are two very lucky girls.  Thank you friends!
(also worth noting...we plan to show this photo
at A and O's wedding in 2040.)

What a crazy couple of weeks!  Since my last post, we had a great visit from Nana and Dodo (Bret's parents, and I swear Dodo is a self-inflicted nickname), celebrated Bret's birthday and took another trip.

Being far away from home I can't tell you how nice it is when grandparents come to visit.  Annaliese was over the moon and so were we.  We did fun touristy things, but we also just had good, quality time to do nothing but hang and catch up.  From nice long walks to taking in some truly amazing Norman Rockwell art (at Crystal Bridges) to eating the most delicious crepes al fresco (at Crepes Paulette), thank you Nana and Dodo for a great visit and for even allowing us a date night!

Nana and Dodo were in town Thursday thru Monday, and with the scars of the Florida trip still fresh Tiny and I packed our bags and headed back home to Cincinnati with them.  My folks are moving, and the hubs was out of town on business so we thought it was a good chance to visit with the rest of our fam and friends and bid adieu to 672.

I am happy to report, my tiny terrorist was by no means perfect, but she was an angel compared to the whirling dervish on the Orlando flight.  Her only true meltdown occurred with 15 minutes left in the flight when the flight attendant mercilessly declared that all electronic devices must be powered down.  Ripping the iPad from Tiny's hands and shoving it in my bag, the look she gave me can only be described as a "WTF" look.  I might as well have stabbed her stuffed Minnie in the heart.  But, this got me thinking, have we really not figured out how to let passengers keep their iPads and kindles fired up for these last few and oh so cruel minutes?  Airline industry I implore you on behalf of stressed out mothers and over worked business men and women everywhere, give us these last few minutes!

Having arrived safely and nearly incident free, we had a really great, but too short trip home.  Although, I feel like I should be sad to say goodbye to my childhood home, the truth is I couldn't be happier for my parents.  A home isn't the physical house, but the people that live inside it.  As I left 672 for the last time, I got choked up, not because I'll miss Sundance but I miss my family. Watching my baby girl give bye bye kisses to her Nana and Dodo and her Peeps and Papa Jack, that's the real hard goodbye.  When she asks me a dozen times a day, "where's Caroline? where's Ry Ry? where's Ka Ka?  where's Papa?  where's Nana? where's Peeps?" I just say they're in Cincinnati honey and they are sending you lots of Nati' Love.