Topeka Trip, take 2

Let's try this again. The 10 day Topeka trip went well... now we're already back home and trying to get life back to normal. Whatever that is. :)

I will try my best to recap our time in Kansas. Here goes:

Thursday: Our flight went well. Keaton did great on the plane! He's really getting wiggly but luckily he slept most of the time. No tears, either! Woo hoo! For the life of me, I can't remember what we did this day. Yikes.

Friday: My high school reunion started Friday, so we went to the tailgate before the football game. Keaton did absolutely great and had a fabulous time flirting with all the girls- mostly my friend Haley's 2 year old daughter, Brecken. I told them that they shouldn't be surprised if some day he knocks on their door and asks to marry her, and that I would do my best to raise him well in the meantime. :) We had fun seeing people and showing off the Little Man. That night we went to The Rooster Tail and had fun catching up with more people. We even did a photo booth (I will attempt to remember to scan the pictures later- they were pretty funny).

Saturday: We woke up super early- about 6:30- to head to KSU for Family Day. We met up with Leslie and her boyfriend Mitch when we got to Manhattan, then headed to tailgate before the game. The weather was so weird that day- a storm was moving in, but it didn't look too threatening so we decided to go to the game anyway. We ended up getting seats in the highest part of the stadium, which would have been cool if the thunderstorm hadn't gotten worse, and was headed right for us. We saw some of the most amazing storm clouds I have ever seen! I regret not taking the camera to the game. Anyway, the girls and I went downstairs to the restroom, when suddenly we heard the announcement over the PA system that the game was postponed due to lightning. People started pouring down the stairs, and like a salmon swimming upstream, I weaved in and out of people to try to get to Keaton and Casey. Mitch and Casey had Keaton, his stroller, the diaper bag, and anything else we left up in the stands, and were trying to come down to be out of the storm where we were. I finally reached them, and took a second to look at the incoming storm- the clouds were dark, and there was rotation in the middle of them. Again, something I have never witnessed in person. They opened Bramlage Coliseum and everyone started running in there for shelter. It was a little crazy... luckily it passed quickly and then the sky cleared up and the weather was beautiful. We ended up going back to the game and left with Keaton at the 3rd quarter. Casey wanted to check out the Engineering department so we went there while the rest of the family stayed at the game. Then we met up with the rest of the family and took Keaton to the Student Union to get him some KSU attire... for Casey, of course. Shortly after that, we headed back to Topeka so we could go to night #2 of the THS Reunion. I caught about a 45 minute nap before it was time to get ready for The Rooster Tail take 2. Saturday night was fun- maybe a little less fun than Friday- but it was great to see quite a few more people that I hadn't seen in years. I also found out that my friend Amy from high school is pregnant with twins!! So exciting!! For her. I would probably have lost my mind. ;) She's going to be an excellent Mom and I know she will have some adorable little babies!!

Sunday: Hmmm... nope, don't remember. Oh yeah. Case left for Chicago in the afternoon. Sad times. :( Sara, Lindsey, and Jeremy came over for a few hours to visit, which was fun. Turns out that Casey got home and couldn't get in our house because he left the house key with me in Kansas... my Dad returned our house key to him when we got to Topeka, but he thought it was for my parent's house and not ours. He ended up having to break the screen on our office window to get in... this was after waiting for 4 hours for a locksmith that ended up not even coming. I felt so bad for him, and worse because there was nothing I could do to help. Needless to say, there will be a spare key here soon.

Monday: Visited the office of the dentist (Dr. Kelly Deeter) I used to go to when I lived in Topeka. He and his staff are the only reason I ever enjoyed going to the dentist- they are all amazing, and it was great seeing them again! I think the last time I saw them was right around the time I got married, so it's been at least 7 years. Keaton flirted with the ladies (Does anyone else see the theme here? He's a complete flirt!!!) and I think they really enjoyed meeting him. We enjoyed a nice lunch with my Mom at Jose Peppers after the office visit.

Tuesday: I think I just remembered why I couldn't remember parts of the week... my allergies were out of CONTROL at home, and I was hopped up on Benedryl most of the time. Actually, it made me really tired, so I suppose I wasn't really 'hopped up'. I sure did take as many naps as I possibly could! I think we went shopping with Mom to get Keaton some Jayhawk attire, which was too much fun. Leslie came with us while De got her hair cut.

Wednesday: Met up for lunch with my Mom's friend Joan, her granddaughter Brooke that I used to play with as a kid (and who went to school with Casey and Valerie). We had a good time, and Keaton had fun flirting with Brooke's daughter, Ashlynn. Daniel and Shelley stopped by later that day to see Keaton. I think this was one of the days Keaton was SUPER fussy and drooling up a storm. Teething sucks!

Thursday: I visited Kyle's Mom and introduced her to Keaton. He loved their cat, Gus, and would smile and make little noises at him whenever he would walk by. My kid loves animals!! Afterward, I went back to Dr. Deeter's office again to see a few ladies that weren't there on Monday. It was great seeing them again! Keaton enjoyed all of the attention, of course. :) We went back to my parents' house. While playing Peek A Boo with Keaton, he looked at me and said "Mama". I almost started crying- it was his first real word, and he said it direcetly TO me. It was priceless... I kept getting teary whenever I told anyone about it. My kid knows me by 'name'!! :-D
That evening, I went out for coffee with Sara and Lindsey. It was exactly what I needed, and I'm really glad we got to do it. It was a nice mental break from the little squeaky boy and all the craziness of the week so far. I got back to my parents' house and picked him up, then drove out to meet the Hetricks at Billard Airport. They were getting ready for their 30th anniversary dance on Saturday and were putting up lights. Then we went out to their place and Keaton and I passed out.

Friday: Keaton and I went grocery shopping with De and Val to get ready for the bonfire at their place that evening. We ran into the Shrimplin grandparents at Walmart, and they got to see Keaton and how much he's grown. I don't realize how much he's changed until other people notice it... he really has grown up a lot since July. Sitting up, eating solid foods, babbling, and attempting to stand are just a few of the milestones he's reached recently. So proud of him. :)
Keith picked Casey up from the Kansas City airport that afternoon, and flew him home via helicopter, which was a fun arrival. Keaton and I were super excited to see him, and things felt like they were back to normal right away once he arrived. I was so tired from the rest of the week, running around like a chicken and taking Keaton everywhere. He's so big now that I get tired just putting him in the car! We barely got to see him before people started arriving for the bonfire. We had a fun time with my parents and the family friends visiting from Iowa, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows outside. Keaton got sleepy around 7:30, so we took him inside and thawed out from the chilly evening. It was the first day of October and the weather sort of hit that home... I even put Keaton's monkey hat on him and his fluffy fleece pajamas. :)

Saturday: The day of the party. We spent a lot of the morning and part of the afternoon laying around and trying to rest up for the evening events. Around 2 pm, the family got ready to take family pictures. They only took about 30 minutes, and then we were headed to my parents' to drop off our luggage so we could head to the airport the next day. After grabbing a quick bite to eat and chatting with my parents, we went to Billard to help with any last-minute details before the start of the party. Keaton took an awesome nap, and ended up making it through most of the party without having any meltdowns, and enjoyed all of the attention he got... which was a LOT. He fell asleep and stayed in De's office for over an hour in the Pack N Play before we put him in the car to leave.

Saturday after the party was a pretty eventful evening in itself. Keaton started crying, and my Mom had a panic attack as we were leaving. We got home, and Mom still wasn't doing well. We got Keaton to sleep, and Mom took some medicine that normally helps her feel better, but it wasn't working. We also realized that we had left some things at the airport, so Casey considered leaving to go back and get it. After a lot of discussion, and a lot of miscommunication, Casey left for the airport and Mom thought she was getting better, so I went to bed. Shortly after I was in bed, Dad knocked on the door and said he was taking Mom to the hospital. Since Casey wasn't home yet, I stayed there and obviously couldn't sleep because I was worried. He came back and about 5 minutes later, my parents came back home; Mom started feeling much better right before they got to the hospital, so she had Dad turn around. Luckily everything worked out and she was okay- she gave us quite a scare.

Sunday we left for the airport after lunch, and made it back home by about 6. Keaton did great on the way home- despite the teething issues, he really did well with all the travel this week Again, I'm so proud of my kid! We spent a pretty lazy day at home today, but it was nice to lay around in my pj's and cuddle with Keaton all day. It has been nice to be home, but I already miss my family a lot. It was great being home for 10 days and getting to see people I haven't seen in years. I feel like I made the most out of my time at home- heck, I probably did more than I should have- but it was worth it. It may not have been worth the extremely long recap in this blog, and I kind of doubt anyone is still reading at this point, but I figured it would be nice to try and remember as much as possible. I'm sort of amazed at how much I've already forgotten. Time flies when you're having fun!

-Ash