Jetsetting

On Saturday morning at about 6AM, my sister picked Levi and up to head to the airport.  Our destination?  Marion, New York...a super small town upstate somewhere between Rochester and Buffalo (I think because those were our two options to fly into!).  Marion is also the hometown of my sister-in-law, and with her mom hosting a baby shower for here there, we were off to show our love!
When this trip came up a few months ago, Josh and I decided that leaving him with boys for the weekend would be a bit challenging for him.  Considering Levi still flies for free, he was the winner of the trip to Marion.  And my goodness was that boy an amazing travel companion!  We had four flights in just over 24 hours, and he either played contentedly or slept on all of them.
                                             
And while we were actually in Marion, he was quite the beau of the baby shower!  Honestly, I think he was totally digging the fact that his older brother was not there to steal away some of his attention because he absolutely hammed it up every minute of our trip (including our time in bed together after he woke up at 5AM on Sunday morning and refused to go back to sleep!).  And while our short time in Marion (and the fact that's there's about nothing to do there) didn't allow us to do much, we did get to have a bonafide bonfire with real s'mores (as opposed to my meat-flavored grill ones from the week before) much to Levi's delight.
                                              
                                              
Meanwhile, Colton had a great time hanging out with his dad.  They went to the pet store, and the park, and even made an appearance at my brother's dad-chelor party (an event that our friends seemed to have made up as an excuse to have a guys' night because there's drinking, poker, and absolutely no diapers or other baby-related anything going on).  As much as I missed my sweet boy (and his daddy too), it was awfully sweet to hear his "love you mama" on the phone.
                                  
And as has become typical of anytime I travel, the best part was the very happy reunion once we were all four (well, five if you count Chipper) under the same roof again.  Colton happened to be napping when I got home, but I crept into his bed, and when his little eyes saw opened and saw me, he immediately got this huge grin on his face that totally melted my heart.  Meanwhile, Levi, who gets excited to see Colton after even being apart for their two hour naps, was completely elated to see him again...they even hugged (I mean, really, how sweet is that?!?).  And as has also become typical whenever I travel (or have any interference to our norm for that matter), I was so thankful to just be home and get back to the happy chaos that is my family...it may not always be perfect around here, but we certainly have built a life for ourselves that I love living even if it takes a 24-hour trip to remind me of that fact!
So although it was a super-fast trip, I'm glad we were able to go.  And now I can check Marion off my bucket list of places I need to see!