Much needed update

I know many people (not really, mostly just my mom) have been wondering what we've been up to lately. So without further delay- here's the last two weeks of our lives!
Jesse~

He's in Alaska and his cousin sent some pictures of them so I could post them on the blog. I've also included the ones I took on the morning Jesse left for Alaska. The first one is with his friend Kyle who was WONDERFUL and took Jesse to the airport in Salt Lake for me. He also got Jesse some buddy pass tickets so we were able to save a few hundred dollars with those. Kyle will be headed to Naknek soon to work in the cannery so he gets to see Jesse before I do. (LUCKY PUNK!) The other two are from now. I like how small Jesse looks, especially with that tall guy behind him. I would like to also point out he is wearing 3 shirts under that jackets and barely looks as filled out as his cousins... ah Jesse... I also love his uncle's goofy grin. So much for looking like hard Alaskan men! The last picture is of one of the many projects Jesse worked on before the fishing season opened. The chain was rusted and the rest of the machinery looked nasty so Jesse worked on making it look better. While working on this one of the captains from the show Deadliest Catch came up to him and started talking with him. He thought it was interesting that the guy would talk to him but as he puts it, "Alaskans are just more laid back I guess".

Rosalee~

She is VERY active and VERY talkative! To keep her busy, and my sanity, I signed her up for some swim lessons. For little kids it's more of play time in the water but she still enjoyed herself. At first she'd get upset if her ears got wet but by the end she would stick her face in the water and lie back getting everything but her face wet. She even can sort of doggy paddle. She turns her hands in the water while kicking her feet but I'm pretty sure she'd sink if I let her go. But it's a start and it gives us something to improve on. It also seems like her hair has exploded off of her head. I have to pull her hair back everyday or it gets in her eyes. Which means her food, toys, dirt, etc. gets in her hair making for some interesting highlights... She use to fight me on it but now she'll sit and let me do it. She even picks out the color hair tie she wants and how many ponytails I should make. She also likes to feed herself most of the time. It makes a mess most of the time, but I think it's important for her to do. Sometimes if she gets frustrated she'll say, "Mommy feed you" and hand me the spoon/fork to help her. But after one or two bites she wants the spoon back to try and do it herself. Potty training is still going great. Rosalee tells me if she needs to go to the bathroom and most of the time she's still dry when we get there. If she isn't she'll still go some in the toilet. I'm not sure if she'll be fully trained by the time Zeke gets here, but even if she isn't she uses less diapers than most kids her age which will be nice.

The second picture is actually pretty funny and has an interesting story. We have an extremely nice stray cat in the neighborhood that Rosalee LOVES! If he's outside she'll run up to him and pet him and talk to him. One day after church we found him sleeping on the porch. Rosalee grabbed her pacifier and laid down next to him. Instead of getting up, attacking her, etc. the cat rolled over and snuggled with her! This picture was taken a few minutes after Rosalee was snuggling with him. The cat was purring the whole time and Rosalee cried when I made her come inside for a nap.

Rosalee had A LOT of fun helping wash Aunt Tia's car. Most of the water ended up on her but a good time was had by all!

I just think this is so cute! She was singing to her baby so I grabbed the camera and quick got some film of it. You can also see her pigtails that (for once) are even because of how much she doesn't fit me on getting her hair done now.



There are several videos of Rosalee swimming that I don't expect most people to watch. I took these with Jesse in mind so he could see how much progress she made in just two weeks. The last video is my favorite because she LOVES crawling on the steps and licking the water. It's hard to see but she's still hesitant about going down the kid slide but again, something for us to work on. The first one is great because it shows off how she tries to paddle and kick in the water. At first I'd hold her and the teacher would move her arms/legs but now she does it by herself. I do have some photos of her in the pool but I think the videos better show off what she's been doing.

Marie/Zeke~
We are one, for now, so what he does I do and I do he does. I went to the doctor and I'm still not gaining a lot of weight but she isn't concerned because my stomach is growing so the baby is growing. She isn't concerned about my activity level or upcoming travel plans so I assume that means Zeke is doing good and staying where he should for the next 5-9 weeks. Other than feeling large and chasing Rosalee I've been very busy with some crafts. I've made several bibs and receiving blankets for Zeke and have a few more things I plan on making for him. I also made Rosalee a pillowcase and am working on a blanket to match. Along with those I'm also making her a skirt with matching jacket and another smaller pillowcase. For all of my nephews I'm currently making Hawaiian button up shirts that should (hopefully) be done by the 4th of July. As soon as I have a good collection of finished things I'll take a picture and show off my projects. I'll also make sure and get some pictures of me next weekend at the family reunion so I can post some of my ever growing belly.

More random things

I took some pictures and videos yesterday at the Blackfoot Pride Days but I can't upload my pictures yet. I was trying to get some pictures off of my mother in law's memory card but the memory card is slightly smaller than mine and got stuck in the drive on my laptop! So now I get to take my laptop into the store and see if some geek can get the memory card out. Mind you I did try but after an hour I gave up. I even tried taking my computer apart but stopped when it got to the point where I thought I was going to ruin something. So as soon as it gets fixed I'll post some photos on the blog.
Today at church Rosalee was being very talkative during sacrament meeting. When I handed her the bread to eat I told her to think of Jesus. She took a bite and VERY loudly (in a quiet room) said, "amen!" It took all of my strength not to burst out laughing. The people behind us were snickering and even the men up on the pulpit were grinning. I'm glad everyone found it amusing and not annoying! She also got kicked out of nursery for crying and asking, "where Mommy?" too much. I wish the nursery people would leave her in there so she can adjust but I guess they thought she'd be happier with me. I think next week I'll take her to nursery and if she cries I'll hide so they'll be forced to deal with her. :)
When we got home from church today we found a random cat sleeping on the porch. It is the neighborhood stray and Rosalee LOVES him! She ran up to him, laid on him, and then listened to him purr for the next five minutes. I even took a picture (the one on the memory card stuck in my laptop) of it because I was amazed at how much abuse the cat was willing to take from a toddler. Rosalee calls him "Rosie cat" so I think we might take it to my parent's house in July and it can be her cat at grandma's house. No, I'm not a mean person or a cat hater in case you're thinking that. Jesse is disgustingly allergic to cats and until we can get him some allergy shots, pills, etc. we can't have a cat. If he pets a cat he breaks out in hives so even having an outside cat would be too hard on him.
Adjusting to taking care of Rosalee, basically by myself, has been interesting. There are so many things I want to, or need to, get done but being 31 weeks pregnant makes me slower than I'd like. I'm starting to get nervous that the rest of my life will be like this. I'll always be one step behind the kids, feeling exhausted, and never feeling like I've accomplished enough of the "must do" items let alone some of my personal fun projects. I was very very very tempted to call last night and demand that Jesse would get on the next plane and come home. Thankfully I just went to sleep instead because he'd probably have listened to me. When I talked with him today I was in a slightly better mood so I didn't bother him about coming home. He should be back in about 5, maybe 6 weeks, so I have a lot more time to work on balancing my schedule/life.

Random blogging

I'm not a journal keeper, that's just not me. I'll get a journal, get excited about it, and then within 3 months it sits on the shelf collecting dust. This blog is the closest, and best thing, I've done with journaling. While Jesse is in Alaska I've decided to write down some random events that go on for him to look back on when he gets home. Since he only calls every other day, and then sometimes only twice a week, it gets hard for me to remember everything I need/want to tell him. To make it easy I'm going to write each post like I'm writing to him so don't be confused or alarmed if you come across the word you. So if you see a post titled "random stuff" or "things to tell Jesse" feel free to read it or you can just ignore it and wait for the fun posts with lots of photos.

Wednesday-

Rosalee kept saying, "want Daddy!" and I'd tell her "he's at work" or "Daddy's in Alaska". After being told this for the fourth time she looked me, square in the eyes, and said, "go get him!" It's nice to know she misses you even if I find it sad at times. Rosalee also had some blood drawn for an allergy test. We should know by Monday if she is still having problems with dairy products. I just think it's better to test her rather than treat her like a lab rat and just try various dairy products to see what happens. We'll also meet with a dietitian sometime early next week to see what our options are and what is the best thing to do for her.

I've been finding it hard to fall asleep at night. I keep telling myself to go to bed by 10, then 11, and then finally at 12:30 I make myself go lie down. I'm not sure if I'm still adjusting to a new house or if I don't like how empty the bed seems. Hopefully soon I'll get over it and be able to sleep at a decent time. Knowing my luck, I'll get back to sleeping right in time for Zeke to get too large to allow me to sleep!

Thursday-

Rosalee and I started our garden! We got all of the tomato plants in the pots and now I just need to dig a space in the yard for the cucumbers and the cantaloupe. We have both cherry tomatoes and a large variety so hopefully by middle/end of summer we'll be eating tomatoes every day! Rosalee LOVED "dipping" (as she called it) the shovel in the pots of dirt. She also had fun carrying the plants around and deciding which ones to put in which pots. When I put her down for a nap I noticed she had some dirt in her ear. I seriously can't believe how messy she can get at times! I took her to the park at Jensen's Grove today and she had A LOT of fun! She climbed on the toys, went down the slide, and of course went in the swing for quite some time. Tonight we're going to make stuffed pork chops for dinner and I hope your family likes them. I know Rosalee will like them because I'm using some of her favorite ingredients- pork chops, apples, and bacon.

The end of Indiana

It's taken me longer than it should but I'm FINALLY going to post some of the pictures from Jesse's graduation and our move to Idaho. These first photos are of what we came home from Hawaii to "enjoy". That Friday night there was a huge rain/lightning storm and our ghetto fabulous house flooded. The water came pouring in from under the backdoor and my husband had the "joy" of bailing out the house with a bucket, building a dam, and then mopping up the mess. We used all of our towels and still couldn't clean everything up. Several boxes in the living room got wet on the bottom so we had to repack some of them. A few of them were of clothes (mostly my non-maternity ones) so we had to wash them before repacking them. Now you're thinking, "but how did things in the living room get wet?" The water went from the backdoor, under the wall and halfway into the living room. By Monday, when we left, the carpet was still soaked. Can't you just smell the mildew!?

As I wiped the walls of the cabinet part of them caved in. BARF!

Now for something not disgusting... Jesse's graduation from Purdue! Here are some of the pictures we took before the graduation ceremony started. Jesse had a few places on campus that he wanted to get photos of before he left Indiana.

The last picture cracks us up because Rosalee was OUT for the majority of the ceremony. She woke up right before Jesse received his diploma and then only lasted for about thirty minutes. The nice part of leaving early was we beat the traffic!

After graduation our friend came over so we could say good-bye. We just LOVE these girls!!! Sophie and Isabelle have been so sweet to us, but especially to Rosalee. Rosalee loved playing with them and would get so excited to see them. They are on our list of people we will miss and hope to one day see again.

MOVING DAY!

Jesse was able to fit everything into the truck with A LOT of room to spare. He has a talent for being able to squeeze a quarter in a dime slot. If you need help loading a truck, he's the man to call!
I forgot about taking pictures during our move, but I did take some pictures when we went to Sturgis, South Dakota. Sturgis is famous for a yearly motorcycle rally so we thought it'd be fun to stop. We went to a motorcycle museum and then walked around the town. I think it was a lot nicer to be there when it's dead then with hundreds of smelly bikers.

We wanted to eat here (just to say we did) but they weren't open yet. I guess they open for Memorial Day weekend and then stay open for the summer. So if you're in Sturgis this summer, stop in and let me know what it's like!

We stopped for gas and I got SO excited to look around and see nothing but mountains. The air just smelled different and was a lot colder than I was expecting. I didn't realize HOW much I missed the mountains until I saw them again.

A random shot of Jesse and Rosalee at a park in West Yellowstone, Montana

Exhausted after several days of moving, Rosalee passed out under her book!

So long my love!

Jesse is headed off for Alaska tomorrow and won't be home until the middle/end of July. He decided on Saturday that he should go to Alaska and fish this summer since he hasn't been able to find anything else to do for employment. He will be in Naknek, Alaska working in Bristol Bay on a fishing tender. This year he will captain one of the boats and work with his cousins and uncle. Although neither one of us want him to go, it'll be good for us to have some form of income. Working as a captain will give him a higher cut of the profit and for as little time as he works (6ish weeks) he makes A LOT... usually. It all depends on the amount of fish he catches so pray that the fish are running strong this year!! The obvious downfalls of him being gone are that he'll miss out on Fathers' Day and The Fourth of July, Rosalee and everything she's been doing (I swear she changes almost daily!), the pregnancy (won't it be LOVELY for him to leave a 7 1/2 month pregnant woman to come home to a huge 9 month pregnant one!?!?), me not having him to help out with unpacking and with Rosalee, him not being able to continue to apply for permanent job opportunities, and just the fact that he's away from his family living on a boat in the ocean stinking like fish. Don't get me wrong, I am VERY grateful that he can go and that we'll be able to have some form of income for now. It was wonderful of his family (they own the boats) to let him come up at the last minute and especially to let him captain one of the boats. I just love my husband and like having him around. I know it'll be hard for Rosalee because she won't be able to understand it but hopefully I can keep her busy enough that it won't be too rough. So I will end now by saying go buy Alaskan salmon and pray the boats can catch insane amounts!!

Hawaii videos

Here are some of the videos we took while in Hawaii. Jesse had A LOT of fun making little movies of all the fish and other animals along the shore. He would get so excited and chase some of the fish around and end up making a movie that was over 3 or 4 minutes! Hopefully one day he will be able to apply this hobby to a career and then he'll be a very happy boy.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In the afternoon (on Mother's Day) we went to the beach and they had some performers singing. This is one of my favorite songs so I had to get a video of it. I'm sorry that it gets weird in the middle, but I wanted to get closer to the guy.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This is one of several of Jesse's fish videos. He wanted me to put them all together but it took 2 hours to upload this one so... sorry honey, but we'll save the others for our family video collection! (I'm sorry for the weird lines but that's from the glare off the sun.)
We also have some video of the dancing from the Polynesian Cultural Center and of the sun rising on Mother's Day morning, but I've already spent more time on this than I was planning so those will have to wait!

Hawaii

Here are the MUCH awaited pictures from our vacation to Hawaii. My mom bought us plane tickets, got us a rental car, and has a condo on Waikiki that we used for Jesse's graduation present. Jesse and I took just shy of 200 pictures but I'll try to limit the blog to a good round 100. :) We also took several videos but it is taking FOR EV ER to post the pictures so I'll make a special video post tomorrow during Rosalee's nap or tomorrow night when she's in bed. At that time I'll also post the pictures of Jesse's graduation and of our move to Idaho. Stay tuned!!!

Saturday 9 May

We left Lafayette at 4 something in the morning and got to the airport fairly easily. When we got out of the car Rosalee started to cry which broke my heart, but my mom claims that she stopped after just a few minutes. I cried as we walked into the airport feeling like a bad mom for leaving my kid, but I knew it was going to be nice to have a break from being a parent for a few days. The first two flights went fast but the last flight seemed to take forever. Jesse slept like he always does, but I watched the movie and TV shows and kept bugging the attendants for water. When we FINALLY saw land I got so excited I started clapping like a little kid. We got out of the plane, got our bag, and hopped on a tram to the rental car place. The place was out of economy cars so we got to upgrade for free. Jesse picked out our car because he said it is modeled after a puffer fish and when in Hawaii we should drive a fish car. Whatever, he was going to be driving, so I couldn't complain! Next we went to the condo and checked in. The room has a full kitchen, dining area, living room with a couch and Murphy bed, a bedroom with a king size bed, and a bathroom. We joked that it was bigger than our house in Lafayette. After getting settled we went to the grocery store and sadly we were so beat that we went straight to bed at a nice time of 6 pm. We thought about going to the beach but decided that it'd still be there in the morning.

Honolulu from the airplane

Sunday 10 May (Mothers' Day)

We woke up insanely early feeling like we'd slept in. Hawaii is 5 hours behind Indiana so when I woke up at 3:30 am I thought I had gotten an extra hour of sleep. Nothing opened until 6 am so we tried to take our time getting ready. After slowly eating breakfast we made our way east to Hanuma Bay. We got there too early so we drove past and pulled off at the first scenic overlook. When it was finally 6 am we went to Hanuma Bay and expected to pay. We got there before the parking attendant was there so we didn't pay for that. Then when we walked up to the main entrance the man said "happy mothers' day" and let us in without asking us to pay. He asked us if we planned on going swimming and when I told him "no" he said I was missing out on giving my baby a Hawaiian blessing. (I think it was a blessing to everyone else to not have to see me in a swimsuit!) We were the first people on the beach and we walked as far as we could in one direction following a bunch of crabs, looking into all the tide pools. We ate a snack while watching birds and some mongoose playing and then continued to wander around. Jesse found a purple lei for me and gave it to me as a Mothers' Day gift. As we were walking back to the entrance we heard that two people had already been stung by jellyfish so I was happy we didn't go swimming. As we were leaving a huge group of people were starting to show up. I noticed that they all had to pay so I'm not sure what made the man not charge us, but we're grateful none the less! We went back to the condo and had lunch and then made our way down to the beach. The condo is 1 1/2 blocks from Waikiki Beach so getting to the ocean is VERY easy! They were having some sort of festival and Jesse was able to win a sweatshirt because we're from east of the Mississippi River. I also got to hear some ukulele music which was interesting. The man played the Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World song (the one on 50 First Dates) for all the moms in the audience and that made me happy because I love love love that song. Next we made our way down the beach some more and then across the street to a park. We watched some teenage looking kids play lacrosse while we called our moms. Even though it was 5 pm we were tired so we ate our dinner and then went straight to bed.

The sunrising over the ocean at the scenic overview

Our fabulous rental car

Hanuma Bay

There were random chickens and cats ALL over the place!

Some pictures from exploring the tide pools. The last one has the type of fish that our rental car was modeled after. Jesse had too much fun with the camera!

A group of mongoose (mongeese??) that kept us entertained

A tropical version of a cardinal

Happy Mothers' Day to me!

There are a few web cams around Waikiki Beach and one is at the Duke Statue. I called my mom and she turned on the computer. I was talking on the phone to Rosalee while she was watching us on the computer screen. I could hear her yelling "hi mommy, hi daddy!" on the phone. Oh how I love technology!

Jesse enjoying the ocean

Waikiki Beach

Jesse being himself... We thought these trees were pretty interesting. Jesse looked it up and they're called Banyan trees.

Lacrosse in the park

Monday 11 May
Jesse wanted to see the North Shore so we picked Monday as the day to drive up and see it. We looked in our travel book and picked Shark's Cove as a good place to go exploring. I also read that there is a local bakery that everyone LOVES so we planned on going there to get Jesse a cinnamon roll. After exploring we ate some dessert and then went across the street to the beach to play a little more. Next we headed off to Waimaia Valley and spent time walking around looking at all of the flowers and trees. The workers told us we could swim in the falls and we weren't sure if we should because we left our swimsuits at the condo. But after taking a second glance Jesse jumped in. After walking around drying our clothes off we drove to the Dole Plantation and walked around. We found a koi feeding pond and it was INSANE! The koi were jumping over each other and out of the water to get the kibble people were throwing in. Next we went to the pineapple maze and it took us just under an hour to finish it which we were told is a good time. (If it wasn't for Jesse I know I would have been lost and had to scream for help.) Next Jesse was nice to me and bought me a pineapple smoothie. Nothing beats pineapple when I'm pregnant! Then we drove back to the condo, realized afternoon traffic in Honolulu SUCKS, and went to bed.

We enjoyed climbing around the rocks and looking for different types of creatures. I was hoping to see some turtles, but I guess they only come out in the afternoon to feed.

We met an interesting local woman who lives in this "house". She was brushing her teeth in the ocean and telling us all about the baby turtles.

Jesse took a TON of pictures at this quiet beach area. He even took a few videos and just enjoyed watching all the sea life.

We found out why the beach was so secluded... whoops!

Our travel book said Ted's has the best cinnamon rolls on Oahu and Jesse says "they weren't bad, but not the best I've had". I enjoyed my pig in a blanket and chocolate macademia moose pie. (I know, such a wonderful breakfast!)

We found a live jellyfish squirming around on the beach. I wanted to put it back in the ocean but Jesse told me not to touch it because he was afraid I'd get stung.

The sun is in our eyes, but it felt nice to be warm!

Some scenery at Waimaia Valley

The Waimaia Falls

Jesse jumping in the nice cool water

It's hard to tell but Jesse is on the right waving to me

Being gross with algae as only Jesse can be

Not wanting to swim because of the nasty looking algae on the rocks

Once Jesse found out that the boogey boards were free he grabbed me one so I didn't have to worry about getting my hair and face wet.

More pretty scenery. If Jesse were in charge of the blog, you'd know the common name and the scientific names of all these plants I'm sure.

A random sleeping duck Jesse insisted on photographing

The psycho koi feeding frenzy

You can't go to the Dole Plantation and not eat ice cream or get a smoothie. I promise it is worth the wait in the line!!

Tuesday 12 May
We woke up early and headed to the east coast of Oahu. As we drove up the east shore we watched the sunrise and I was in love! I could honestly just sit there every morning and watch that and never get sick of it. Now if I could only afford to live in Hawaii... We got north of the cities and were getting close to Laie. The Polynesian Cultural Center didn't open for a few hours so we decided to stop for a snack at some random park. Across the street from the park is a ranch where the movie Jurassic Park was filmed. We looked in our Lonely Planet travel book and decided the price was too high so we just stayed at the park. After eating we drove to Laie and looked around BYU-Hawaii. We were both amazed at how small the campus is. BYU-Idaho was small but compared to the Hawaii campus it seems rather large! After that we went to the Laie LDS temple which is closed for serious renovations. The temple is 90 years old and was the first to be built outside the 48 US states. We walked around the grounds and then went inside the visitor's center. Next we went to the PCC and began our insane day of being tourists. We started by going on a canoe ride which was nice because it meant I didn't have to walk to the other side of the complex. :) We visited all of the island sites (oddly except Hawaii), saw a dance show performed on canoes, went to an IMAX movie, ate ourselves silly at the dinner luau, and then went to another dance show. I was still on Indiana time so by the time the big night show started I was nodding off. To be honest I slept during some of the more peaceful songs but when it came time for the Samoans and the fire dances... I was WIDE awake! We headed home and decided to drive diagonally down, through the mountains, back to the condo. It was hard to see but what we could make out was amazing. I think next time we'll drive that way in the daylight so we can actually see more of the mountains. The rest is a blur to me. Jesse says I went in, got dressed and went to sleep but all I remember is telling him which exit to get off on. A good day, but a BUSY day!

This island is off the shore from the random park. Someone said it is called Chinaman's Hat, but I'm not sure if that's correct.

This is where Jurassic Park was filmed

I made Jesse lie down for a size comparison of the palm leaf

Even though the temple wasn't opened and it was being worked on, we still enjoyed being on the grounds.

Taken from the canoe ride at the PCC

Jesse caught a fish! It wasn't very big, but since it was the first catch of the day he got his name on the board.

I do not have the same luck with fishing...

Spear tossing

We went to the Tongan drum demonstration and this guy was HILARIOUS!!

Some photos from the canoe dance show

Jesse got to go on stage in the Samoan demonstration about coconuts. The man said he called Jesse up because he looked short but then jokingly told him to sit back down because he was tall. I'm pretty sure that is the first, and last time, a grown man will refer to my husband as tall! He said the fresh coconut water tasted really good.

It's hard to see but there are two people in the tree getting coconuts.

Roasted pig anyone!?

My Hawaiian twin!

Some shots from the night show
Wednesday 13 May
After a busy day at the PCC we decided to have a slow paced, relaxing day at the beach. We went down to Waikiki Beach and swam for a while and then we walked over to the Army Museum. When my dad was in the Army we went to Hawaii on his way to and from Vietnam. It was interesting to see the whole section dedicated to those days. I kept thinking, "I wonder if my dad is in background of some of these..." We also got to see a helicopter that is the exact type my dad worked on in Vietnam. Next we went shopping and then headed back to the beach for more swimming! When we got back to the condo Jesse went outside and grilled us some bratwurst for dinner and I promptly fell asleep after while he stayed up to watch the season finale of Lost.

Jesse playing with our boogey board in the waves. He actually took it out past the rock wall where the surfers were but after a few nice waves hit him, he came back in.

At the Army Museum

More fun on the beach. I laugh at these pictures because Rosalee calls them "naked Daddy" when she sees them.

For those of you counting there are more than five bratwursts on that grill and yes we did eat all of them for dinner!

Thursday 14 May (and part of Friday)

We woke up as late as we could (a good time of 5:45 am) and headed off to Diamond Head for when it opened. We got there about opening time and were surprised at how many people were already there. We found out that several local people hike up Diamond Head every morning for exercise. One man, in his late 70s, walks to the stairs and then jogs 10 sets of the stairs before walking back down to his car. After going up and down once I felt was done, so kudos to him! I hope I'm in that great of shape at his age. After hiking we went back to the condo and packed our suitcases to get ready to leave. As much as we knew we needed to get back to take care of things, graduate, move, etc. a large part of us wanted to "miss" our flight. But after walking around Waikiki Beach and visiting some shops we went to the airport and flew back to Indiana. Every flight was fairly rocky, each worse than the previous so I didn't sleep much but the time seemed to pass by. On the last flight to Indianapolis the small plane felt like a rollercoaster and I thought I might be sick, but thankfully I held it together. We got back to Indiana on Friday afternoon and as soon as we saw Rosalee I was actually happy to be back. We were coming down the escalator and when she saw me she held her arms out and yelled, "MOMMY!" It melted my heart!!! She didn't want me to put her down the rest of the day and I didn't mind one bit. Sadly the rest of our Friday wasn't as pleasant but I'll save that for the next post.