The past week and a half has been crazy busy for our family. Mr. O has been finishing up two college classes, one campus course and one online course, on top of working. He’s a great man. I really admire him for working fulltime and going to college fulltime all while taking care of his little family. (Shhh! Don’t let him know. I can’t let him get a big head. Haha! I’m just kidding. I do remind him from time to time of the good job he does.) Sorry, tangent. Anyway. Little Bear has been preparing for extra special holiday dance performances: The Nutcracker Suite and the Holiday Magic performance. What does all that mean? Well, that means we have had a few extra practices and had costumes to fix or get ready. (Which really keeps me busy.) Yes, all of this on top of our usual every day, week to week, life.
To make my stress level worse, I have been preparing for a trip home for the Thanksgiving holiday. This was a short notice trip. Like, as in, just two weeks prior I decided that we would travel. Surprisingly, though, we were able to find flight tickets for a decent price.
This was going to be Little Bear’s first ever plane ride. And I was a little on edge. She does well with new things – for a five year old. But with all the excitement of visiting family and uncertainty of what a airplane ride would be like, I really wasn’t sure how she would fair on our trip. It was to be a redeye flight after a full day of dance performances. And….I was going to be to traveling with her by myself.
Why just the two of us? Well I’m so glad you asked. (I’m so used to hearing this question by now. Haha!)
Little Bear has had this entire week of Thanksgiving out of school. Mr. O, on the other hand, had to work till Wednesday afternoon. And being the good man that he is, he insisted that we travel on over to our home state for the full week so we had plenty of time to visit with our family.
To be honest with you, the trip home was not that bad. It was kinda crappy that we had to fly so late at night. But hey, it saved us sooooo much money. And on the plus side, Little Bear slept the entire flight; not well, but she did sleep so I didn’t have to worry with keeping her entertained. So despite my sleep depravation, I kinda think I won on that one.
With making the move to AZ five short months ago, I have not forgotten about Kentucky winter’s. But, some of us in our little family (uhhum, Little Bear) have already started to acclimate to the desert weather pretty well. And I wasn’t sure what we would encounter from Mother Nature when we touched down at the airport. To this point, though, the weather has been fair. Not too cold and no inclement weather; expect for the drive from the airport on Sunday. That weather was cold and rainy.
The past couple of days have been nice with visiting family and friends, too. We have made a point to go see most of our Kentucky family and friends that we were used to seeing almost everyday before we moved. It’s not even been that stressful. (I know, socked, right?) Little Bear has enjoyed seeing her cousins the most, I think, and I am so glad. When I was growing up there were lots of cousins and we stuck like glue. So it’s nice seeing the same kind of bond with her and my niece and nephew, even after being so far away for so long.
And guess what!
Tomorrow is going to be exciting. It’s Thanksgiving! (WooHoo!)
I’m really looking forward to piling every family member into the same house for way too many hours. No, seriously. I really am looking forward to it. I love my family. And even though we may not talk everyday, it’s like we don’t miss a beat. We get together and cook, laugh, and play a few board games. It’s really what I live for. I guess it’s what most people live for. They may not have what everyone else would call family, but everyone has someone.
*sigh*
Okay, enough of the mush. Hahaha!
Let’s eat!
Look for some scrumptious recipes and funny stories soon around The Bourbon Cactus. (You know you can always find both when the holidays arrive in my family.)
Until then…
Tina
