Our second trip is in the books for little Reese and we survived, enjoyed it and have recovered from the traveling. Reese was fantastic during all of the traveling and I really appreciated getting to see my Texas family after going too many years without seeing them. It was a fast and furious trip but one well worth taking.
I got to volunteer at FareStart for my first time since just before my due date and enjoyed my time, although I couldn’t stay that late to get back and finish packing and get a nights sleep before our flight. We had another 7 am flight and set out for the airport at 4 am. We had two two-hour flights and a three hour layover in Vegas both on our way there and back and Reese was great for all of it. We finally arrived in Lubbock at 5 pm and met Chad and my parents in the airport. We packed into our rental mini van and set out for my Granddad’s house. We were greeted by the whole family and introduced Reese and caught up over barbecue. After a minor hiccup with our hotel reservation, we settled in for the night in a very nice suite room a short 6-minute drive down the road.
Family shot on our first flight to Seattle 
Reese happy to fly!
Saturday morning we got ready and headed over to my Granddad’s house. We spend the morning watching football before getting lunch of Chikfila and then heading out to walk campus for a bit. We had tickets for the Texas vs. Texas Tech game that night and my dad, Chad, Bryan and I went, dressed warmly for the weather and cozied up with a blanket. We had great seats. The game started out with Tech looking strong but then Texas started to turn things around with a couple turnovers. At the end of the game Tech made a great comeback and made things intense but Texas came out with the win. Meanwhile at home, Reese was in good hands with my mom. It was a fun night without the baby in tow and nice to come home and see Reese sound asleep, granted she wasn’t asleep the whole time!
The boys at the game 
House divided 
Reese is under there somewhere
Sunday morning we all met at church for service and all were in our Sunday best. My granddaddy greeted us at the door and Reese did great throughout service. After church we managed to get a picture of us all dolled up. We went to get lunch at Abuelo’s after church and had a large and delicious Mexican lunch with Reese sleeping again the entire time. Sunday afternoon involved more play time with Reese, the Seahawks nailbiter lose to the Rams and a nice walk around Higinbotham Park with the family. Mom and Dad made pita pizzas for an easy dinner and we had one last sleep in the hotel with Reese.
Daddy and Reese 
The whole family at church 
Granddaddy and Reese 
She is enjoying books now
Monday was our long day of travel back to Seattle but not before saying our goodbyes to Granddaddy. This was hard to do for me for sure and I’m really glad that we got to visit with him and introduce him to both Bryan and Reese. My parents and Chad had a flight four hours before us so we dropped them off at the airport and then went to the mall to kill some time and retreat from the chilly and windy weather. It worked out well because we got to walk around, got a coffee and bought Bryan some new shoes and slacks for his new position at work (and because prices are cheaper in Texas than in Seattle). We had another two two-hour flights and one was delayed an hour making our layover in Vegas four hours long. We got dinner in the airport and Reese was still an angel baby. She slept the entire last flight as it was past her bedtime. We got home safely just before midnight and got her to bed immediately.
There has been no slowing down this week until now. Bryan enjoyed happy hour with Philipp on Tuesday and I enjoyed a walk with three other moms from our childbirth class in the Arboretum before getting a nice dinner with me at Duke’s via mystery shopping. Wednesday afternoon we went for a walk around Green Lake and then that night was PEPS and we talked about sleep with the other couples. Thursday night Bryan was back at FareStart volunteering and Reese and I were back in dining. This was after going to baby story time at the library and then introducing Reese to my coworkers at the office and then visiting with Polly to kill some time at her office. And Friday I went for another walk in the Arboretum with three other moms from our couples PEPS group and that night we went to our last winery party of the year at Novelty Hill Januik.
Excellent dinner at FareStart this week 
Excellent dinner at FareStart this week
Excellent dinner at FareStart this week
Walk around Green Lake just the two of us 
Walk in the Arboretum with childbirth moms
It’s good we have not much on the calendar this weekend. Still working on our child care situation for my upcoming return to work. Hopefully we will have something locked in soon.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 