Back in the swing of things

This post is a few days late...sorry about that! So let's see...where did I leave off????

Monday was our last full day in Chicago. We had an appt in the AM to have Brooklyn's drains removed...thank goodness. She did absolutely amazing. Here she is in the waiting room:

Our little Teletubby

We got the drains removed & then got Brookie's picture with Mim.

In the car after the drains were removed!

Then we were off to the Aquarium. It was Monday so we knew it wouldn't be as crowded as Sunday was at the museum. We drove down to the aquarium & immediately hit a traffic jam. In that area is the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, & the Adler Planetarium. They call it the "museum campus"...oh & Soldier Field (where the Bears play) is right there too. So it took us a while but we ended up parking in the garage under Soldier Field. As we were walking to the aquarium we noticed the line. Actually "line" is an understatement. This was ridiculous. It was was a mad house. We were speechless. The front of the aquarium has stairs going up...& a pretty nice size staircase at that. This "line" was all the way down the stairs, out a little ways more, & around the building towards the entrance on the side of the building where the strollers/wheelchairs go. Then the stroller/wheelchair line was almost as bad. It went all the way down the sidewalk & over to the place where the taxi pick-up is. I know this really means nothing to people that haven't been there & seen how huge this place is...so you'll just have to trust me & take my word for it....these lines were an amazing sight to see. And something that we didn't want to have to stand in. Thankfully we have an annual pass so we got to go right in & up to the membership desk. It was good too cause it was sooo cold outside & that was another reason we didn't want to wait...just too cold for Brooklyn.

So we got inside & it wasn't much better. I swear they were over their capacity. Who knows though. We got our picture taken & then started exploring. Our first stop was the shark reef that we didn't see when we were there in January. Then we went down to the penguins, who were taking a vacation in January so we didn't get to see them either. Pretty much...once we were done with both of those, we left! It was just too busy.

From there we decided to go back to the hotel to pack up before dinner time. We got everything packed & then walked our suitcases down to the weight room to weigh them! LOL Yup we sure did! We were right at the max so we hoped we'd be ok.

Then it was dinner time. We went to the Outback, our favorite place. Brooklyn, however, wasn't in it. She sat like this almost the entire meal:

Apparently we weren't exciting enough for her! But once our food came she turned around a time or two to pose for a picture.

The next day was Tuesday & that means we had a countdown until we got to see Cali! We missed her a lot. :) 

We don't know what this business does, but someday we're going to walk in & ask! It's literally right across the street from our hotel!!

We packed up, checked out of our home-away-from-home (about 10:30am), headed to the car rental return, returned our car extremely quickly (about 11am), hopped on the waiting shuttle (about 11:05am), got to the airport (about 11:10am), went to the Delta counter, checked in, headed to security (about 11:30am), & got through security (about 11:35am). YES...you read that right....it literally took us 5 mins, or less, to get through security. It was amazing. I even told them that I had 2 bottles, 2 containers of food, & tons of medication in the bag. She said that the machine had only alerted them to one bottle, so that's all they checked. (They did end up grabbing the 2nd bottle & checking it just cause I'd told them about it.) Yeah, compare THAT to the Billings experience we had just 10 days prior. I'd SO much rather go through a huge airport...it's sooo much quicker!

Anyways, we got through security, got a coffee, & made our way to the gate. We got to our gate right at about 11:45am...so we had about an hour and 20 mins before we boarded. Apparently there were 4 WWE wrestlers at our gate, but I couldn't tell you who in the world they were!!!

The first flight was long. We went from O'Hare to Salt Lake City. We were in the first seats behind first class, but there wasn't a bulkhead...we were actually able to put our stuff under the first class seats. I was sitting in my seat & stretched out my foot, pointed it, & STILL couldn't touch the seat with my toes. Yes, I know I'm short, but that's still a long ways away from our seats. It was actually quite nice because once we were in the air we could put Brooklyn down on the ground & she could walk all around in front of us. She loved getting down & walking...& not being held the entire flight. It was about a 3 1/2 hr flight if I remember right. Here she is playing with a cup:

We had to hurry to our next plane cause we had just about an hour lay-over. We went to a back corner so Brooke could run around & we could feed her. Then they called our flight so we got in line to board. I laughed once I saw who was a few people ahead of us in line...it was the parents of one of my oldest friends!! Jamie was my first best friend here in Lewistown & we were at each other's houses all the time. We have been great friends since 5th grade so I know her parents, Deb & Gary, quite well. When we got on the plane I yelled back to them (we were in row #2 & they were somewhere around #8) & said that we wished they were closer to us so we could pass Brooke back & forth!!! Once everyone was on the plane I ran back with her so they could see how she looked. It was pretty neat seeing them on our flight. :)

We landed safely, got our bags, loaded in the car, & headed to Target to get Cali's "big present"...her new carseat. They had ONE left of the one I wanted...YAY! We got that, the movie Tangled, & some new towels, which we were in desperate need of, & then ran through Taco Bell drive-thru, & headed right home to see Cali. Her & my mom were sitting on the garage stairs when we opened the garage door. She was so excited to see us! Ahhhhh I loved it! She looked at Brooke for a minute but didn't seem bothered by her lack of bubbles or nevus. (LOL The next day, however, she came up to us out of the blue & said "Brookie bubbles???" I told her that we had them taken out. Then she just said OK & walked away.) She was very excited to see her new seat. I put it together for her & she sat in it the rest of the night!!

We got home late Tuesday night & Cali goes to day care on Wed & Thurs. I knew I'd hate that she had to go just a few hours after we got home. But we tried it anyways. She got up & I went in to get her dressed....but boy she wasn't having any of that! It was the biggest fight we've ever had getting her dressed. I wasn't about to keep putting her through that so I just held her close & asked if she wanted to stay home with mommy & Brookie. And of course she said yes. So we changed her clothes & got her in some jammies, like mommy was wearing, & we just had a fun day together!! Here's Brooke & Cali playing in their tunnel:

Later that day Cali was sick of being in the house so since my mom was still there I decided to take her for a little drive in the car with her brand new seat! Here she is in her jammies with her new Tangled DVD...you can't tell but she was VERY excited!!!

And here's Brooklyn later that day. I think she wanted to go somewhere.....

The next day (Thursday) Cali was very excited about going back to play with her friends at day care. So we got up & I took her in. Then Brooklyn & I went up to my work so they all could see her. They were all in awe!!! Then we came home & unpacked our stuff & waited for Dustin's mom to get Cali & bring her home.

Last night was opening day of baseball so my parents & brothers came over with dinner & we watched the Dodgers beat the Giants!! (And they beat them tonight too!!!)

I go back to work on Monday so life will return to "normal" next week. I'm excited to take Brooklyn to church on Sunday so people can see how much nevus Dr. Bauer was able to remove. :)  And life will return to normal...for 3 months at least. Then we have to turn back into germ-o-phobes about a month before the next surgery. I got the date moved up from the 11th to 8th of August...so right after the 4th of July we'll be germ-o-phobes again. :(  Definitely not looking forward to that again. But until then...we'll enjoy having our lives back!