And Tristan makes 3 (well...5 actually): The "joys" of flying...and the JOY of great friends!!

To make a long story short.... last Thursday we headed to Love Field to fly off to see John and Ging and of course... Collin. The excitement quickly faded with the mass chaos at the airport. Weather was bad, tornadoes, high winds, hail, etc... it was B-A-D. Who cares, we're up for a challenge.

We were traveling and little did we know we wouldn't arrive in Louisville for 12 hours. Yeah. Lovely. After standing in line for what felt like 100 years - we got our boarding passes. Stood in security...only to find out IF we EVER boarded the plane (delay upon, delay, upon delay) we'd be stuck in Birmingham. For TWO days. I don't know about you but Alabama isn't my #1 place to be "stuck" so we decided (after 2 hours) that we just couldn't do that to us or most importantly to Tristan. So we packed our things, canceled our tickets, took the shuttle to our car and left.

Sort of.

I asked Holt what would happen to our bags. Quite frankly, I just wanted my hair straightener and my new jeans. So he asked me to circle the airport while he found out. After about 30 minutes, he told me to pull up and get out... HE SOMEHOW GOT US ON A BOOKED FLIGHT. I mean booked SOLID. Grace of God and skills of my hubby. The chick at the ticket counter loved him. He totally flirted and I loved him for it!

After being in line AGAIN... for another hour and a half... we FINALLY got our boarding passes. WUHOOO! We landed in St. Louis with sheer excitement only to find that Mr. T pooped his pants in a BIG WAY. Ooops. packed the spare clothes in my LUGGAGE not T's diaper bag. Wonderful... helllooooooooooooo gift shop! Onesie. $14.95 - crap. Oh well, I've bought about 2 things for him as far as clothes go. Now we're up to 3. You can't see it but his onesie says St. Louis...

THEN, we boarded the plane and off we went. All is well... until Holt dumps and entire glass of red wine all over the 3 of us. HILARIOUS because now we are all pink. Man oh man did we laugh. Anyway... and I'm seriously cutting out ALL of the drama as all of you Facebookers know... we arrive. Poor Ginger has driven in torrential rain to get us and I am SO thankful because did I ever need to see her!!! John was out of town so we headed back and hung out all night. Oh yeah... I forgot to mention... they lost our luggage. Lovely. Tristan didn't mind a bit... he LOVES flying and riding in his awesome stroller (thanks Steiner) that I almost didn't bring.. (thanks Mom!)

Whatever, I didn't care. I was with my bud, a friend that FULLY gets me. That can look me dead in my face and tell me I am being a jerk, that I am wonderful, that she sees what is beautiful in me... she is like a Ya-Ya that I just found. For many that may not mean much but for those that know my girls, it's the highest complement I can offer. Ginger is... well, Ginger.

more on her later....

On Friday Ging had to work so I stole Collin and the four of us headed off for a walk. We got a little lost and it was perfect because we ended up at the Gardens for one of Abe Lincoln's friend
Clay something or other. I know, my dad is just shaking his head right now. it just doesn't register. Ugh... anyway... this is their garden... there is a civil war monument there and I'll bet money my dad knows exactly where I am even though I am there and I don't... :)

The boys fells asleep so I pretended...

John finally made it home and we just hung out all evening. John got his Father's Day gift early (a long board) so he and Holt rode that and a bike, we played games and laughed... it was awesome. It felt like home and my heart was happy.

Saturday morning our luggage FINALLY arrived so we were off to the lake.... I love the lake and was excited to get out in the sun - here are the boys on their lakehouse journey together!!

We boated and while we were out...we saw a little family of ducks. You can't see them very well but this is just a cute picture... Bubba had sun in his eyes but he's still adorable if I do say so myself!

Here are Holt and Ging (two peas in a pod....) kickin' it....

and the boys once again hangin' in their tent... SPF 40 I think - wuhoooooooooo

Here's Johnny....... Uncle Johnny to Tristan and boy oh boy do they love each other. So sweet!!

My and my little man. I think I like him. :)

For me... this next picture is one of those stolen moments... where I had no clue that the eye of the camera was on me... I was just loving on my boy... while the love of my life caught it all in action.... these are the moments I live for.... when I can look back and reflect on a perfect moment in time when all was well with the touch of a baby....

And me, Tristan and Ging... she's very Jackie O wouldn't you say? Little hottie....

Ok, so back to Ginger. I love her. I mean, really, really, really to the core of who I am love her. She's my 2am phone call..she gets me even when I don't make sense. She's a light at the end of a dark tunnel... she's a source of peace. I hope that I am some of this back to her. I hope I can encourage and enlighten and love her the way she does me. God gave us a special gift...we had our first child within 5 weeks of each other and we will have that for a lifetime and for that... I am forever grateful. John is actually more like me and Ging more like Holt... so it makes perfect sense that when the four of us are together we are real. We fight in front of each other, we laugh, we argue our point and these are the friends that nothing can be said and it's not awkward, it's peaceful. It's heavenly and I am thankful. I love my friends!!!

Ginger Moore Smithwick......... I adore you.

Ok sorry.. back to the trip.. here's Holtie flinging Bubba... they have so much fun together!! Can you tell that this is the guy that wasn't sure he wanted kids? Bah..complete rubbish I know!

Another stolen moment.............. LOVE this picture..

I have about 50 so you are lucky you are only getting 2 ...

or 3... how could I NOT show this one??

Here's John...he's a ton like me just a lot less crazy. He shoots you straight, makes you laugh and man oh man...he's fun. Never...EVER... try and poke him in the face with a stick... EVER. Take my word for it.... :)

Oops...one more.. it's my blog I can do whatever I want!!

These glasses prove to be a hit time and time again....

Funny don't you think??

Ginger's Dad's name is Glenn. And I love him........ he has a million funny stories and I had a blast getting to hear them!! I don't have another close up of Sarah.. but next time I will! Collin in his cool shades.........

Last but not least... we were heading back to the dock and I caught this. A stolen moment in time where two of the most important people in my life were just being fully present in the moment, enjoying the sun in their eyes, the wind in their hair... and each other. It was WONDERFUL.