Alabama Part Two (Which was actually Part One in chronological order)

I think we have all recovered from the trauma that was our return flight home.

So let's focus on all the fun we had on our trip to Alabama.

I'm not going to lie. It was hard. Being away from home, traveling early in the morning and late at night, not having access to things like playpens, highchairs, and other toddler confinement contraptions, and most importantly: the absence of the MVP of my team: Dustin, all worked together to make this trip a little hard on me.

I'm spoiled, you see. At naptime, I just place my children in their cribs and I walk out of the room. Two hours later, they let me know they have awoken and I go and fetch them. We do this every day. They don't know how to go to sleep without their crib. And I don't know how to make them sleep without their crib. Same goes for nighttime routine.

We started our journey Friday morning about 5:00 a.m. We got up, got dressed, and got on our way to the airport to catch a 7:30 flight to Alabama.

Andrew was a true champ. I texted him the night before requesting that he wear a polo and get a haircut since people would be assuming that we were married. Much to my dismay, he sported his shaggy hair, did not shave, and wore bright pink tennis shoes and some trashy t-shirt. We totally looked like we went together.  I'm not shallow of course, so I didn't care :)

The trip there was totally uneventful. Andrew had Landon on the plane and I had Eli. You might remember my friend Sherri from the last post...she sat with me on the plane and I really enjoyed our visit. Dad picked us up, we hit the Chick-fil-a drive through and we were on our way to my grandparents house.

I love how in this picture Landon is driving his car all over Andrew, who is listening to his Iphone with his eyes closed.

The next few days were full of visiting, eating, playing, riding the lawn mower, swimming, watching movies, shopping, and enjoying being together.

Despite my instruction that, "there are no fits on vacation," we continued to observe displays such as this:

Much to my dismay, dad got the boys their first guns. It took them about 15 seconds to figure out how to shoot people dead. I think dad died at least 239 times over the few days we were there.

We continue to lead singing where'er we go:

Grandma and I planned our matching outfits :)

We worshipped with the church in Sardis Springs on Sunday morning. These people prayed continually for Eli and Landon throughout my pregnancy and their hospital stay. Their love and generosity during that time was inspiring. It was so nice to finally meet this sweet group of people.

We had a big family dinner Sunday afternoon. Eli, Landon, and I had to excuse ourselves early as they were catapulting mashed potatoes around the living room. I was not amused.

Out to dinner Sunday night before we caught our plane. At this very moment, a big storm rolled through and soaked our luggage and stroller, which were in the back of dad's pickup.

Thus, Eli and Landon had to push the stroller instead of sitting in it. Trust me...they were not disappointed.

Thankfully, dad and Katelyn got passes to go back to the gate with us. I needed all the help I could get at this point.

This is Andrew and Landon right after we landed in Dallas. It was about 1:00 a.m. Landon had been screaming for a good 20 minutes and then fallen asleep about 30 seconds before we landed. Andrew was SO done with me and my children by this point in time.

We stuck around Dallas on Monday to see Kristin and Madison (and to recover a little bit) before we made the drive home on Tuesday.

So that was basically our trip. A big thank you to dad, grandma, grandpa, Katelyn, and mom for helping me every step of the way.

And a huge thank you to Andrew. He's SO patient with my children. He's not easily embarrassed. And he's up for anything. We just wouldn't have made it without him.