Where's T???

Well, I have not posted in a couple weeks, obviously. I like my sister, have the pet peave of people not updating their blogs for long periods of time. It's like starting to cook a meal and deciding half way thru that you're not hungry. Anyway, so we all know we are not perfect including myself, but there is a great reason why I have not posted in such a long time. I had a long awaited vacation to Nashville to visit my family that I have missed so dearly for the past 6 months. It was great to reconnect with all of them and to be in their new world. We all had a great time of course, cause if you know our family at all, you know no matter where we are we will have a good time. I love it!!! Always a party!!!

So I am giving you a sneak peak of my trip in bits and pieces, here and there, for a few reasons...#1...if you know my family, you know we take a ton of pics "everywhere" we go, so it would take forever to post so many..#2...we did so much that, again, it would be a huge post all at once, that many of you would probably not have time to sit and read it for that long...#3..I will have the thoughts of my time with my family with me for a long time so I will post as I am remembering all the fun times we all had together. So there, for now we'll just start small.

I thought I would share some photos of our flight, although the visit with family was much more fun than the flight, there are some cute photos of Brooklin. She was the only one that went with me. I know it sounds bad that I had to leave the Shine and Kameron, but they had school and could not miss for that long.
This is Brooklin right as we were saying our goodbye's to Hugo, Shine, Kameron, that was right before security. She was very unsure of why we had to put her Nemo in the scanner and why do we have to take off our shoes. She was fine when she realized it was very temporary.

This is my Lil' traveler right before we walked onto the plane. She was not a bit scared but very excited. She was ready with her ticket, Nemo and sunglasses, although she didn't really need the sunglasses at 6 am. Well, she must have known that later on in the morning when the sun came up, once we got on top of the clouds it's much brighter.
Brooklin got a special treat on this leg of the flight. Once the flight attendants knew it was her first time flying, they told the pilot and he actually got out of his seat to let Brooklin sit there. She was very excited and she was trying to take in all those buttons and switches. It's amazing that's the only thing controlling that plane. This is one of many situations that Brooklin was shown extreme favor...and not just from the family. We are truly blessed.

Well, she made it in her seat. She sat next to the window, of course. She loved the flight and just kept squeeling when it would tickle her tummy.

In this pic, she had just got settled and buckled up. As you can see, she was having a hard time with me taking the photo cause she just wanted to look out the window. At this time of morning, it was dark, so it was just lights we could see. She was fine cause she had Nemo by her side (Nemo has been all over the place by now, he didn't miss a beat on the trip, anywhere we went so did he...just keep swimming!!!)

Family at last!!! Exactly what our journey was all about. Of course, Aunt Sheri had to have a blue balloon as she had promised Brooklin on the phone before we left.

Together at Last!!!! I love these women so much!!!! My best friends by far...just missing Shine.

Great to be together again.

Brooklin was very happy to see Unle Rick and Smash, even through the unneeded sunglasses.

I know this pic is a little blurry but I love it cause it shows the emotion we all felt that day. Sis, please don't get mad at me for this pic..I love it soooo much!!!!

Uncle Travis!!!

Brooklin waited a long time to see Aunt ReRe!!! She was sooo happy.

This pic speaks for itself. Joy and happiness. There's a lot of love in that dipple. There is nothing like family.

Look at that smile!!! Pure joy for a mom to see her child this happy.
Aahh!!! Unle Rick!! Boy, did the kids miss him. Well, I guess I could say I did too, but I do think he missed me more. LOL!!! Anyway, I love this pic.

Smash n T!!! Double Trouble!!!!

She is just like one of my own girls, my friend, my trouble partner, my extra sister, now a grown woman starting a life of her own, complete with her "chest of hope", but we don't let that "deter" (inside jk!) us from continuing to have fun. Love ya Smash!!!Thank goodness I didn't have to carry my own luggage to the car. Ya know, Brooklin packed a lot of extra stuff.
I think this bag is bigger than Travis. I don't know maybe there is a kid in there. Could Kameron have jumped in at the last minute? I think Shine would have shoved herself in there like Cinderalla's step sister's fitting into the glass slipper if she thought she could have gotten away with it to see the fam.

Ash n Brooklin waiting for us to get the luggage...well, not us get the luggage...they were getting luggage.

In the car on the way to the scrap store for a 70% off sale. Sorry, it was the last day. We had to shop in 15 min. as they were closing early that day.

Of course we were there longer than 15 min. Sorry Michelle, we went over that day when you were trying to close...but we did have a blast talking to Bill. You guys are awesome. Trust me we still did great on our purchases.

Alex...it was great to see him...he's has of course grown a lot. He looks like a little boy and not the toddler that left California.

Brooklin and Alex had a great visit. Cousins and friends...Alex asked about Kameron and Shine first thing and said I should have brought them along. Later that evening Mike and Ang came over to eat dinner with us and visit. It was great to spend time with them again. Crazy Mike showing Mom how much he missed her. I'm glad he didn't miss me that much. Jk!!
We ended this very great day with presents...Mema had done something very special for Ash...I will leave it at that cause it's not my story to share...I'm sure you will hear more soon....just ck out Ashley's blog for details.
Well, this little traveler was very pooped out by the time dinner was over...

That ended our first day of our visit with our family. Well, that was only half a day cause we didn't fly in til almost 2 pm, needless to say it was a very full day anyway. Full of joy, laughter and emotion, and overwhelming amounts of thankfulness.

I will be sharing more about our trip as the days go foward. We are back to our life in California but will always remember the great time we had together in Nashville waiting for the next time we get to go. We created memories that will last in our hearts forever.

A huge thank you to all our family and new friends we made in Nashville. You all made us feel welcome and right at home. Rick and Sis thanks for having us all in your home, as always you make us feel like it's ours. Even you Rick...ha!!!

Ash and Travis...thank you for the body scrub and loofah's on our bed...Travis thank you soooo much for the French Vanilla creamer and coffee service for Aunt T!! Also Travis, Brooklin says thanks for the last minute trip to Walmart for the sippee cup purchase and music in her room at bedtime.You all truly spoiled us all during our stay.

Well, don't worry you will be seeing this crowd again. As long as we are all apart the skys will be hot with traffic.

Hope you enjoyed this post as much as we enjoyed our visit.

Til next Time with T!!!!

ps...so I went a little long!!! Sorry!!!