Surprise!

Might not be the best picture, but it is the whole family and that's what matters.

We pulled off a spectacular surprise a few weekends ago. I talked to my mom on the phone and she told me she had this crazy idea. When my mom says she has a crazy idea you never really know what to expect. My first reaction was that we were not going to move again and that we were staying in Texas. She said it wasn't about moving, but it was about visiting. Adam and Sabrina and the kids were venturing their way out to Indiana to spend some time and have a birthday party for all three of their kids as well as a party for Sydney and Carter's half birthdays. The party was in about 10 days and she had enough frequent flyer miles to get Zach and I plus the kids out for a quick surprise trip. And  by quick I mean quick. I had training that ended at 5pm on that Friday and then started again on Monday morning at 8am and I couldn't miss it. So our option was to fly out on Saturday morning at like 6am and get into Indy around 11:30am and then leave Sunday around 5pm. Now remember we have a 20 month old and 3 month old traveling with a layover in Chicago...mom was right it was a crazy idea. My first reaction was "no", but I agreed to talk to Zach about it even though I was pretty sure he would not be up for the idea. I talked to my mom around 2pm that day and wasn't going to see Zach until the evening. So for the next few hours I was weighing the options out and remembering all the yummy food that I could have in Indiana. My mouth was watering, but the reality was that the trip would be like 36 hours and that is crazy with two small kids. So I talked to Zach and his reaction was "sounds like fun, lets do it." I was a little shocked, but immediately ecstatic. Mom and I started texting back and forth that evening around 11pm and then the next morning everything was set. 
It was quite an adventure. We had Levi's carseat and stroller as well as Chloe's carseat. We had a small roller carry-on bag and then a diaper back and over the shoulder bag. We made it so we wouldn't have to check anything. We thought that was a good idea...and it was at first, but it was difficult. Our first flight was delayed about 45 minutes. So our hour and fifteen minute layover soon dwindled to about 45 minutes. It sounds doable, but we had to go to a different terminal and our brilliant idea for not checking any luggage meant that all hands were full and we were on a small plane that they had to gate check pretty much everything except for the diaper bag so we had to wait for the airport people to get us our gate checked items. By the time we got the items we had maybe 20 minutes. We ran to the gate with luggage and all. I guess I should specify that it was more of a light jog as I am not a good runner. I was still out of breath and breathing hard enough that I could feel that sports asthma that I use to have so often. We were one of the last ones on the plane, but we made it.
The party started at noon and we arrived just before 1pm to the party. We walked around back and then it was like a fog. I remember walking around the side of my sister's house and Sabrina was staring right at me. That's really all I remember. I guess Sabrina screamed and almost gave Adam a heart attack and then once Sabrina screamed Christina looked to see what was going on thinking that maybe a bug scared Sabrina and then Christina said something like "Jenna?!?!?". It was a great surprise and even after about 15 minutes our hearts were all beating a bit faster. We pulled it off! I was the most concerned with my dad as he is not normally a good secret keeper, but he kept this secret. No one else knew except for my mom and dad. It was a great surprise. Because they were celebrating birthdays we were able to see most of my aunts and uncles and they were introduced to Levi.
After the party we had some amazing pizza from Pizza King (my favorite), Strawberry pie from Gray's (another favorite), and Zach had some breadsticks from Noble Romans (his favorite). We also had some dance-offs and played some Euchre. This was the first time that all of us had been together in a long long time. All three of us girls were together about16 months ago, but I can't remember the last time everyone in our family was all under one roof. It was a great happy feeling. The next day we played at the house and then went to a little Mexican restaurant that has yummy white cheese that I love....not sure if you are catching the theme but when I go to Indy everything revolves around food that I love and can't get where I live...I think I would be very overweight if we lived there.
It was a great quick trip and our kids did great on the trip and being off schedule out of whack. It was hard to say good-bye, but we are so extremely grateful to be able to surprise everyone and just have everyone together. Good times.

On the plane from Chicago to Indy it was a two-one seater and "lap" children cannot be on the one seat rows so Zach was lucky enough to have both kids. It was only a 30 minute flight.

Papa and  the girls on the swing.

Chloe asleep on the plane from Dallas to Chicago.

Aunt "Tina" with Allie and Levi

The big kids were serving Chloe and Allie in their play restaurant.

Texas Life

Well we have been here for about a month now and we have done a lot! We celebrated Father's day and July 4th as well as took a surprise trip to Indiana. We also went out on a boat ride at the lake. It has been an adjustment, but it has been really great. I think the biggest adjustment has been the fact that I am working right now and Zach is taking care of the kids. A little role reversal isn't all that bad....for awhile. The phrase "now do you understand what I was going through" has been often heard through the house. Zach never understood how little free time I had to get anything done while I was at home with the kids until now since he is taking care of the kids and not getting as much time to himself as he use to. I never really understood how much Zach missed while he was at work. It is hard to be away from the kids as they are doing fun new things and Levi is just growing so much every day. This role reversal has definitely taught us both to appreciate the other much more now. We can understand each others' point of view much better now and we both have a little more empathy for our situations. Zach has a lot of irons in the fire, as you may say, and we are just waiting to hear back hopefully with good news. We are also still waiting to finalize our house sale in Arizona. Things will be much better and a huge weight will be lifted off our shoulders once that is all said and done with. Fingers crossed we will find out any day  now.

Cruising on the lake.

Chloe really liked the boat and didn't mind her life jacket too much. Zach had been doing some dry runs while the boat was parked in the driveway and we think that really helped her enjoy the boat.

Chloe liked to drive in circles. She kept the wheel turned to the right.

Levi did pretty well too. He didn't like the vest rubbing his cheeks, but he still did really good.

Levi briefly had his life jacket off while we were taking a break for some dinner and he was having a bottle.

Not sure how this happened, but I came home to Chloe and her "diaper hat".

I was very excited to find a Steak N Shake and Chloe was excited about the hat.

Chloe watching the wiggles.

Chloe enjoyed "coloring" pictures with her daddy.