Making the Rounds, Part One: Amarillo and Gigi Time with Emery

I'm having a whirlwind of a time and little energy to post but thought I would try to get caught up! After my conference in Anchorage ended, I spent a great deal of my last day hanging out in the Anchorage airport waiting for my 1 AM flight to Seattle. Not much fun, especially since I did not realize (or maybe I didn't remember, because I think it's happened once before) that no one is allowed to check bags more than four hours before departure. Ugh. So I had to sit out by the ticket counters for 7 hours. Yes, SEVEN hours. Finally, I was allowed to check my luggage, went through security, and purchased a day pass to the Alaska Air Board Room for my last four hours. I figured I might as well be comfortable in a quiet room with food after my earlier ordeal. :) Off to Seattle at 1 AM and, of course, the flight was full so I did not sleep much, if at all. Had a quick turnaround in Seattle and left for DFW at 7 AM, arriving at 1 PM Texas time. I am not crazy about that flight but it seems to be the only one AK Air flies. I am always really tired and jet lagged but definitely happy to see Sarah, Miles, Elle and Beck!

Because I am ending my trip with them, I only spent one night and flew to Amarillo early the next morning to spend a couple of days with Bonnie, David and Emery. David's mom Rosanne and Emery picked me up at the airport since the kids were working. We had a nice visit and Rosanne dropped us off at Bonnie and David's so I could keep Emery for the rest of the day. She has grown and changed a lot even since we saw her in NJ in July! She's doing great and we had SO much fun.

Here's a little bit of our time together:

Looking at books

Fun at the park--she is fearless and wants to go down the big slide by herself!

We walked all the way from her house to the park and back and she was very interested in everything along the way, from rocks to sticks to leaves and trees, airplanes in the sky and motorcycles whizzing by. She's saying more and more words and will repeat just about anything you say to her. "Tortellini" was a good one!

She's a good climber, too.

Precious!

One night we were playing in Emery's room and she decided to put all of her little crocheted hats and headbands on her stuffed animals. They looked pretty darned funny.

Another day we were taking a walk and the neighbor's sprinkler was on. What else to do but run through it?? It's such a joy to see her running and playing and getting into everything after sitting helplessly with her in the hospital when she was a baby. Soon she will be 2!

We found some sidewalk chalk and wrote Mommy and Daddy a hello message. :) Emery was so good for me all three days and we had the best time together. She can say "Gigi" now and it's so sweet to hear her little voice. When she woke up from her naps, she would call "Gigi" till I came to get her out of her crib. So cute! She was a little upset about Mommy and Daddy not being there but quickly got over it and got back to having fun. Although I did not get to see Bonnie and David till after school every day, we had a good time over dinner and movies ("Win-Win" and "Bridesmaids"--I recommend both, for different reasons!), shopping, and staying up too late. They are still working on their kitchen but it's looking really nice and I know they will be happy to have it all done. Bless their hearts, I know it is not enjoyable living in a construction zone but it will be worth it when it's finished.

My flight from Amarillo back to Dallas was scheduled for 8:30 PM, but after I'd already checked in at the airport and gone through security (where I was the ONLY person!), I was told that there was a mechanical problem and they were bringing a plane in from Denver to depart Amarillo at 11. Ugh. I ALWAYS wear socks and shoes (if not boots!) on planes but it was so nice and warm in Amarillo and it's only a short flight to Dallas so I left on my sandals. Of course, now I was stuck with a long wait in an airport that felt like you could freeze icecubes. I even wandered over to the little gift shop to see if I could buy some socks! But no. We finally left after 11 and poor Sarah had to pick me up in Dallas after midnight.

David, Emery and Bonnie

Gigi, Emery and Bonnie

Back to Dallas for just one night and part of a day and then a quick flight to Abilene to see Susan, Corey, Aidan and Ally and a few of my friends. There's no direct flight from Amarillo to Abilene. As one of my friends reminded me, "If you're going to hell, you have to go through Dallas to get there."

To be continued....