Adventures in Arkansas

When Daddy's away, life is never the same around our house. We miss him a whole lot and quickly adjust to a new normal to keep ourselves moving until Daddy walks back in that door.  At the end of the summer, was away on a ministry training trip. Ollie quickly took his post as man of the house. He kept me company at night and of course served as a quality watch dog. At least that's what I liked to tell myself as he slept like a rock next to me at night.

 

 The girls were so sweet and did anything they could to help me while Joe was away.

My little helper doing dishes.

This trip was a little different for our family. Instead of Joe coming straight home when his training was over, we had to fly to meet him because the FamilyLife staff conference immediately followed.  I nervously anticipated the trip for weeks because I couldn't stop thinking about flying solo with two kids. We've been flying with the girls since they were babies, but this would be my first time outnumbered! :) At the end of a long three days without Daddy, we were more than excited to get through our flights and be with him. 

The girls and I woke early and loaded into the car.  As we were walking out the door to make it to the airport on time, the girls both insisted on bringing their kids. I was already nervous about getting all the luggage, stroller and two kids into the airport by myself, but when they refer to their dolls as "kids" I can hardly insist they leave them home alone with "no one to feed them and hug them". When I said outnumbered, I was thinking two to one, not four to one. I thought for sure I would be carrying all of the "kids" by the time we reached Arkansas, but the girls were pretty dedicated mommies the whole trip.

 

So how did we do two flights and a four hour layover in Baltimore? Bags of fun filled with lots of arts and crafts, stickers and snacks! We also were ready with our portable DVD player and headphones if needed. I never could have anticipated how well our first flight went. The girls played so well, that I read four chapters of my new book and enjoyed a snack myself. It was like a sweet little hug from God, a 45 minute vacation for mom after a long three days of single parenting (and in an environment where I did not expect it at all).

Our time in the airport was hilarious. Abby and Ella are so friendly, potentially too friendly. I'm pretty sure I learned the name of half the people on our flight, as well as the person who put us through security, the nun, Steve from Maryland and the lady who sold me my much needed Iced Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks that morning. Both girls would wildly wave and say "Hi" to everyone walking by. If the strangers stopped, the girls would all but open an investigation ("What's your name?", "Where are you headed?", "What did you have for breakfast?"), followed by our life story (without leaving out the way too personal details). I drew the line when Abby started giving out our home address to people I didn't know. 

During our first layover, we enjoyed a relaxed lunch and some ice cream. The girls were starting to get whiney and tired as we quickly approached nap time. I was definitely thankful for our DVD player when the girls settled in for a short show before we boarded flight number two.

The girls napped most of the second flight and repeatedly told me how excited they were to see Daddy and pick their bed in our hotel room. 

Daddy picked us up at the airport. We couldn't have been more excited to see him!

It's no secret that Ella is not a fan of motion that makes her tummy flip, so watching her on the elevator was hilarious.  The first few times, her terrified eyes would bug out and she would take a wide "brace yourself" stance as we went down in the elevator. She quickly learned that if she held on to one of us or held on to her baby doll, the experience wasn't half bad. We captured a video of her actually enjoying her ride. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7hMKyp3_g&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ&index=3

Our days at the conference were filled with encouraging speakers. Joe and I sat side by side and enjoyed every minute of the sessions. Our spirits were renewed with God's word and our vision was refreshed for the journey. While we were in the conference, the girls spent the day in childcare, which was like a really fun day camp for them. It's not normal for the girls to be in childcare from morning until dinner time, so I wasn't sure how it would go, but they loved their time there. They learned Bible stories, danced, watched movies, did crafts, played with new friends and even took naps! It was a fun three days for all of us!

108 nations represented in the room. 108 nations partnering with FamilyLife to strengthen marriages and families throughout the world with the hope of the Jesus. 

One of the best parts of our days together was the family time we had after the conference. It felt like we were on a family vacation complete with going out to dinner and evening swims in the hotel pool.

a side of cheese doodles and chocolate milk as a treat to go with their sandwiches

Abby saw this hat and begged me to get it for her. She thought a baseball cap was a much needed accessory in her life. Isn't it adorable? She wouldn't take it off. I asked her to take a picture and she willingly posed. The best part was Ella running over to join her. I think you had to be there for the full effect, but Ella just leaned over like she was with her best friend taking a fun pic. Her face says it all...and the placement of her arm! I just love them together. 

The girls played hard all day. Sweet girl was tuckered out. 

this one says it all

At the hotel, Abby and Ella shared a bed for the first time. Bedtimes took forever because the girls couldn't stop giggling, but when they finally did fall asleep watching them was the best entertainment.

Don't those pictures make you want to create an old fashioned flipbook? 

What hotel stay would be complete without swims before bed? Our little fish loved their time in the pool.

As always, our travels home were more eventful than we had planned. On our trip home from Arkansas last year, we got stranded overnight with two kids in the Chicago. It was quite the adventure. Remember that? This year wasn't that complicated, but our travels started at 4:30 at night and when we got in for our layover, we saw that our second flight was delayed a couple of hours. We thought for sure we would be reliving Camp O'Hare in Baltimore. Thankfully, we did board our flight that night around 11:45. Our girls were troopers. They did great sleeping when they could. Abby fell asleep during our layover. Both girls slept through the second flight. We were loading into our car close to 2 am. Abby looked at us confused as we were driving home and asked if we had even flown on our second flight yet. Needless to say, we were all thrilled to fall into our beds that night. 

a little confused to wake up at home after falling asleep in an airplane