Planes, Swine Flu, and Good Friends

This post is long overdue, but I've been obsessing over travel approval (or shall I say the lack thereof) and supervising the installation of the egress window in Maddie's room.

Richard was scheduled to be out of town the entire last week of April while he attended his big annual tradeshow, and Isabel and I decided we didn't want to hang out by ourselves all that time, so at the last minute, we decided to go to Texas to visit our dear friends. Isabel hadn't seen Will since November, and we hadn't yet met Thomas, so it was a good time for a visit.

This was the first time Isabel and I had traveled via air without Richard. To save money, I booked only one seat. I was a tad anxious about how my active toddler would do on a three hour flight. Silly me. She was fabulous. It didn't hurt that she slept part of the way either.

Lousy weather and the swine flu pandemic forced us to stick close to home, but we didn't mind. We weren't there to see any San Antonio attractions anyhow, so hanging out at Lynn and Tom's house was just fine with us.

I believe Isabel and Will actually remembered each other. Of course, it took three days before they warmed up enough to chase each other around the house. Will and Thomas were perfect gentlemen, letting Isabel play with all their toys even when she wouldn't let them touch Bitty Baby. After a couple of days, Will had even learned just to hand the doll over to Ibby whenever he happened upon her.

It was such a pleasure to meet Thomas. He's so smart! We loved listening to him count and say the alphabet and rattle off the names of Lynn's extended family one night at dinner.

Probably the most fun for Isabel was the outdoor playset and the sprinkler. She went down the slide time after time after time. And when Lynn got the sprinkler out on our last day...it had finally stopped raining and was warm enough to put on swimsuits...Ibby just had a ball! She walked right into the streams of cold water and didn't move until Lynn turned off the water. She was soaked through!

I have to say, the three of them got along really well. There wasn't a lot of direct play, but there weren't any major tussles either.

Many thanks to our dear friends for putting up with us for three days. We had a wonderful time and hope it won't be too long before our next visit. North next time?

Sweet, Smart Thomas


Curious, Adventurous Will


Wet, Wild Isabel


Finally, Ibby lets someone else near the sprinkler


But manages to chase Will away when she reaches for one of the hoses


Anybody else want to get wet? Just try me...