My Trip with Aaron

Last weekend, I got to take Aaron on a four-day trip to Delaware to visit my sister Natalie, her husband Mack and their son Harvey.  It started out with a cancelled flight.  Instead of a direct flight, we ended up flying to Balitmore via a connecting flight in Miami.  Needless to say, it was not ideal.  However, we went with it.  I told Aaron I had great news, instead of one airplane flight, we got to go on two.  He was all for it.

This was the first time I've had 4 days with just one of my kids (with the exception of when they were brand-new infants).  It was beautiful.  There were still moments of spilled drinks, disobedience and frustrations, but it was really special, relaxing and fun.

All smiles as we rode a train across the Miami airport in an attempt to make our connecting flight.

Aaron was my little travel buddy.  In keeping with our frugal tendencies, we decided not to check luggage but instead use carryons.  This meant that Aaron had to wear his backpack of toys and roll his own suitcase.  He did great--never running over my feet or knocking into others.  The only thing he was scared to do was take his suitcase on the escalator by himself.

He loved the speed and noise of take-off and landing.  It was like an amusement ride.  The bumpier and noisier, the better.  We made weapons out of bendaroos and played superheroes.

During our weekend, he peppered me with all sorts of interesting questions.  Is the sky made out of water since rain comes from the sky?  Does Pa Lynn put people's eyes back in after they've been poked out?  How do you poke your eye out?  Getting dunked in water is called baptism, right?  If baptism is to show that you believe in God and follow Jesus, why did Jesus get baptized?  Do numbers never end?  What comes before zero?  People can't be less than 0, right?  Letters don't do on for infinity, right?  Did it hurt when the doctor cut your stomach to take babies out?  How do you put stitches in?  How do you take stitches out?  The list of questions was endless.

I was actually fascinated by his questions.  Even more amazing, I had the patience to attempt to answer them even when my answers seems to prompt even more questions from him.

We had a great weekend full of playing with Harvey.  Also, Aaron discovered on this trip that he and Harvey are cousins.  For some reason, I assumed he already knew this but it really clicked for him when he realized that he is cousins with anyone who has the same Grandma as him.

Silly boy, I came in to find him asleep with his blanket stuffed under his shirt.

We had a weekend of bedtime and morning snuggles.  We celebrated Harvey turning one.  Aaron learned how to play cornhole.  We learned how to eat freshly steamed crabs (and clean out the yucky parts). Well, I learned how to do that although I'm still a bit squeamish about the innards.  Aaron was willing to hold the crab, but not eat it.

Natalie gives us a tutorial on how to clean the crabs.

His favorite part of the weekend was seeing Natalie & Mack's dog, Bailey, wrestle and play fight with Kevin Bacon (one of their friends' dogs, not the actor).  He thought it was awesome and is still talking about it.

This is right before the tears set in upon realizing it was time to leave Harvey.

The only thing I wasn't totally prepared for was the level of sadness Aaron had about having to head back home (I thought he'd be excited to get on the plane again and go home).  He actually hid while I was loading our luggage into the car.  He was hysterically crying when we left and for a good twenty minutes in the car.  Thankfully he recovered and went back into question mode on the drive to the airport.

At the airport, we picked out crab-shaped lollipops for his brothers, ate dinner and took turns playing angry birds (he is so much better than me).

It was a weekend full of ordinary things but will forever be special in my heart.  All those hours of one-on-one time are a blessing if for no other reason because how rare it happens.  I don't know when I'll get that again with my middle boy, so I'm definitely going to treasure it in my heart.

Landed in Chicago.  Waiting for Daddy to pick us up!