Our Week in Idaho: The Y

Since Matthew enjoys the bathtub so much:

We were pretty sure he would have fun at the indoor pool. We spent an afternoon at the loyal Y up the street from Shawna & Tony's. Here is daddy and son about to go in:

Matthew patiently playing in the lockers while everyone else (Shawna, Papa, Eric and Billy - Nana stayed home with a sick Erin; Tony had to work that day) changed clothes:

Matthew warming up to his new environment:

Let the smiles begin!

Toddlers are so sweet in that they can do the same thing a dozen times and still get so much joy out of the same activity. There was a small slide in the baby pool. After some coaxing, he decided to try it out and was hooked. I lost count of how many times daddy and Papa caught him at the bottom. Shawna walked him around to Eric who slide him back down. They had a great system working!

These boys are a dream come true, I love my little family! Mommy was really tired that day and didn't get in the pool, I took pictures on the side and just enjoyed the moments.

His little wet steps:

There was LOTS of splashing!

It was a pretty Boise day with the snowy mountains in the backdrop:

Teaching some swimming:

Cousin Eric was so kind and patient with his little cousin all week. Matthew watched him like a hawk when ever they were in the same room together.

ALL that attention! Matthew is sure missing his groupies! Matthew laughed so much with Nana. Watching the two of them together reminded me of the wonderful relationship I had with my granny and grandad, how warm, loving and approachable they were to me. I'm so glad to see Matthew's relationships with our extended family develop and grow.

Matthew getting his energy out waiting for the 1st of 3 delayed flights back to Dallas

Flying over beautiful mountains. We fly from Boise to Las Vegas, through Lubbock and home to Dallas.

Flights #4 and #5 on New Year's Eve require a grace that was not extended to us from those around us. Matthew was having a very rough time, he cried quite a bit. Billy started walking him up the aisle and I looked out the window and cried as well. We switched seats and I sat on the window seat with Matthew. There was also a lady on that flight who was reseated next to us, bless her soul, so another family with young children could sit together. At some point after Matthew and I sat on the other side of Billy she began to cry. Her husband across the aisle reached out for her hand and they had this beautifully poignant moment. Something about the entire exchange really touched me. She spent most of the flight with her eyes closed. She was gracious towards us when Billy apologized for all the noise towards the end. I've been praying for the details only God knows.

The last flight from Lubbock to Dallas was the best of the 6. It wasn't a full flight so Matthew got a seat to himself. He played, laughed and was in a great mood! Maybe he could sense we were close to home and it was the end too :-) We landed just before 8 pm. We put Matthew to bed as soon as we got home. After a long day of traveling, we were in bed asleep by 11 pm. Oh, how NYE has changed for us :-)

We have been home a week now. After numerous loads of laundry, restocking the pantry, taking down Christmas decorations, several nights of fitful sleep for Matthew ( as a result mommy too), a few days pulling on our ears as well as adjusting to a smaller general audience and a sinus infection on Billy's part I think we are all settled back in to our normal routine. It's fun to visit family, but there's no place like home :-)