Home Is Where Your Heart Is

Hello from the air! Right now I’m somewhere between Florida and Costa Rica on an airplane. Kenzie is snoring in her Tula and Daddy is entertaining Maddie, so figured this would be a good time to blog about the fun week we’ve had! 

Scott had a business trip in the U.S., so it was a great excuse for a little bonus trip for us to see family and friends. The trip was short, but so good (for the most part). 

Getting here was quite the challenge though. 

Let’s start with getting to the U.S. from Costa Rica. The pups came with us for this trip. Jet Blue has a “Jet With Your Pet” option. It’s only $100 per dog. Both dogs have flown Jet With Your Pet once (on two separate flights since we took one in December and one in January) to get to Costa Rica and we had no issues at all. For some reason though, the lovely agents in Costa Rica told us we couldn’t bring our dogs home. They claimed they were “too big.” Our dogs are 5 and 9 and less than 15 lbs each, so it isn’t like they are puppies and grew at all since the last flew with Jet Blue. Being in an airport with two less-than-perfect kids arguing with the Jet Blue agents for over an hour (which included both yelling and crying) ended with an exception to let us bring our dogs home, and a little “we better never see these dogs again” lecture. So, pups are going to spend the rest of our delegation in the US, getting spoiled by their grandmas and grandpas. We will miss them for sure, but we travel back so much they likely won’t miss us too much.  

So on the plane we went. And, things didn’t really get any better. A delay. You can imagine my excitement. Two kids, two dogs, one delay. It sucked – a lot. Especially since our delay was on the actual airplane. The kids were confined and they were not too thrilled about it. Something about the radars going out was the cause. After about one hour though, we finally got in the air. Success – or so we thought. 

Flight was OK. The girls are pretty good travelers, and we didn’t hear a peep from either dog. But when we landed in Florida, the pilot came on the intercom. Crap – that’s not a good sign. Oh goodie. They don’t have a gate for us. It’s going be at least another hour. Fun. Oh. Freaking. Joy. 

We finally got off that plane around 8:30 p.m. That’s when stuff started to improve. Grammy and Pop Pop picked us up and had chicken nuggets for the kids. So my kids finally had food and were happy little travelers. The girls were SO excited to see their Grammy and Pop Pop, and their toys. My mom’s house was immaculate when we walked in, and within five minutes it looked like toys threw up everywhere. I don’t know how my kids manage to make such a mess in such a short time period. 

(Sorry for all the words, I promise I have some photos in here!)

We got up really early the next morning to drive to Orlando to see Grandma and Grandpa.  We took it easy the first day/night.  I got a pedicure (alone) and I went to Publix! Ahh, I finally felt at home! The kids were legit excited about Publix too. Maddie knew she would get a cookie and a balloon. <3

Wednesday was not so fun, but super productive. It was our “we are in the US lets go to every doctor we know” day. Kenzie had her first dentist appointment and her 15 month checkup. She got an A+ for both visits. She must have had a growth spurt because she is now in the 95 percentile for height, when she was in the 34th percentile at her one year checkup. She might be tall like her daddy! 

Thursday was SO MUCH FUN. We went to the most magical place on earth – that’s right, DISNEY! Grandma came with us to help me manage the two girls on my own while Scott was working, and my bestie Heidi met us there with her two sweet girls. It was such a fun day, and the smiles that came out of the kids were so priceless!  

On Friday, we stopped to visit Scott’s grandma (GG). The girls were so happy to see her! We then got Chick-Fil-A (HEAVEN) and started our drive down.

When we got to my parent’s house I was finally reunited with my sweet little nephew, Grayson. He got so big since the last time I saw him. I also got to see my sissy finally. One of the hardest parts about living in Costa Rica is missing my family. 

Cloudy Saturday came around, but despite the yucky weather we still went on the boat. That was a “must do” on this trip. Another part of our lives that we miss so much living away. It was Grayson’s first time on the boat, and he did so good! Isn’t he the cutest?

It was also nice because I got the chance to catch up with an “old friend,” Melissa. I put that in quotes because she’s actually a new friend. We met when I was living in South Florida late last year. She and her sweet baby girl, Summer, came out on the boat with us and we had so much fun. The kids enjoyed each other’s company – and sippy cups. LOL

Melissa is an AMAZING photographer and let me borrow this too cute Mercedes for Grayson’s 6 month photos that I did on Saturday evening. I mean, how cute is this kid and that car? Thanks again, Melissa! This completely made this photo shoot! If you’re in South Florida and need a photographer definitely check out Melissa Ashley Photography! 

Scott just accused me of writing a book, so I guess I’ll wrap it up with a wish that my flight back to Costa Rica goes more smoothly than my flight here. We already started with another hour delay (in the plane on the runway again) leaving Florida because of some restriction of flying over Cuba. Here’s to an open gate when we land, a speedy trip through customs and immigration, a traffic-free drive home and a cold cervesa in the fridge for us when we walk in the door.

Update: All went well. And that cold beer was really good!