Ah, we’re finally home, and I’m at a point well I’m well rested enough to make this post. 
We left on Tuesday, June 22, to Dallas for one of our bridesdmaid’s (Mehvash) wedding. We had a direct flight to Dallas, which was nice. However, it took quite awhile to get Jonas to sleep.
Let me take this time and say that getting Jonas to sleep on the plane is a challenge. When Jonas is tired, he likes to be left alone in his crib so that he can go to sleep by himself. He may a few minutes to fuss, but in general, it’s not very long, and he’ll fall asleep on his tummy. The plane is not conducive for what Jonas is used to or likes to fall asleep. He does not like having to be held and restricted in movement (so that he doesn’t roll off my lap), and it’s distracting having everything else that is going on the plane. Throw in the fact that Jonas has never taken a pacifier and the fact that he does not nurse to sleep, it means that there is lots of crying and fussing before he finally falls asleep.
When we flew down to Dallas, Jonas spent about 20 minutes trying to fall asleep, and when he finally did, we landed. I thought I could pick him up and keep him asleep, but he woke up as soon as jostle him a little. So much for a nice nap. 
When we got to my parents house in Plano, there was a little chaos. One of the AC units was broken, the crib needed to be put together, a closet needed to be cleaned out for Sean’s bedroom, and the pool was really dirty. My parents don’t really live in the Plano house anymore, so it’s not surprising that there were some problems. Nat and I got the boys beds and rooms ready (well, closets in the master bathroom), and put poor tired Jonas down for a nap. My mom stayed at home to wait for the AC guy to come while the rest of our family went out to lunch and grocery shopping. Speaking of my mom, she spent most of the afternoon cleaning the house on Monday before we got there. It was pretty dirty and dusty since it hadn’t been lived in years.
Tuesday was also pretty hectic because Nat flew out in the afternoon to Boston. We found out his paternal grandmother, Grandma Thompson, had passed away on Sunday. It wasn’t sudden since her health had been deteriorating for years, but it was sad to hear the news. I drove him back to the airport in the afternoon.
Tuesday evening, I decided to clean out my room, which hasn’t been touched since I moved to Illinois. I realized I kept a lot of things and was quite a pack rat! I had my old tests from Algebra II, Physics, and Chem II! I had a lot of things that I threw out and set aside to be donated. Most of the things I kept were sentimental, and I could easily pack all the things in one or two boxes. My mom definitely encouraged me to keep some things that she thought were sentimental. It took me a lot longer than I had thought, and my mom was a little overwhelmed when she saw all the things on the floor. I finally got it all cleaned up so that my mom could sleep in the room.
The rest of our time in Dallas was spent on shopping for things, going out to eat at lunch, and meeting up with people in Dallas who I haven’t seen in years. We got to see Karl & Susan V, Kenton & Sarah V, Eva & her kids Morgan (Zoe was sleeping), Stephanie & Darcy and their kids Jubilee & Jonas, Shelley & her son Joshua, Nisha & her parents, Wei & Pete, and Dana and Ly. We also got to spend time with my Aunt and Uncle and their son Alex and his girlfriend Bonnie. With all the people that we were visiting, we didn’t have very much time to relax. We did to spend some time watching the World Cup, and I got to work out, but most of the time we were out and about.
We were able to spend some good time with our family. Nat and I took Sean to watch Toy Story 3 one morning, and we also got to watch Knight and Day with my mom one evening. We were also able to go swimming one afternoon after we got the pool fixed and cleaned. We also had a family photo shoot with the photographers that did our wedding. We had a to reschedule the photoshoot a few times because of the rain, and it ended up raining the day that we did our photoshoot. We tried to beat the rain but only got a couple of shots before we moved into a mall. I hope that we got some good shots! I’ll post them as soon as Brooks and Leighanne get them up!
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On Thursday, July 1, we headed out to Seattle. We had another direct flight, which was nice. Jonas fussed and cried before his nap, but fortunately, it didn’t take too long for him to fall asleep. He woke up earlier than he’d like because Sean was throwing a tantrum right when Jonas was stirring between sleep cycles. all in all, the boys did well on the plane.
It took us some time to get down to the rental car kiosk since we needed to change the boys diapers, and we thought that someone took one of our car seats because we had similar bags. We finally found that our bag was on the floor on the side. We got our car packed and headed out to the bed and breakfast where we were staying, Chelsea Station Inn. When we arrived, Nat’s Aunt Nancy, Uncle Jim, Grandpa Thompson, and Cousin Brian pulled up as well. We were also greeted by Nat’s dad who was eagerly waiting outside. Nat’s mom, and Nat’s maternal grandparents were waiting inside. It was a great family reunion, and we had just enough time to visit before the rehearsal. Everyone went to rehearsal except for Grandpa Thompson and I (well, Jonas too since he was napping), and so I had a chance to unpack our things. When everyone got back, we put the boys to bed, and Nat kindly let me go out to dinner with the family and bridal party. He had been to the pizzeria before, so he told me that I could go. Nat spent his time with his maternal grandparents downstairs. We had all four of the suites (two for the grandparents, one for us, and one for Nat’s parents), so we had the whole house to ourselves. It was really nice that we could keep our doors unlocked and to be able to hangout with family while our boys were sleeping.
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Let me take out some time and say that the Chelsea Station Inn is FABULOUS! Each suite is exactly the same, and they are spacious – a living room, dining room, kitchen (including plates, utensils, glasses, coffee maker, small fridge, drying rack, dish racks, sponge, etc), 1.5 bathrooms, and a bedroom.
Each morning, they prepare breakfast, and it’s pretty fancy and delicious. We had breakfast 3 mornings, and I’ll list what we had each morning. Morning 1: granola with yogurt and berries followed by a plate of french toast with sausage and mini quiches. Morning 2: fresh fruit plate (mango, kiwi, orange, Ranier cherries) followed by a plate of bacon, biscuits, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes, onions and avocadoes. Morning 3 (the “light” self-serve breakfast because we and a brunch with the family): croissants and berries with whipped cream.
Downstairs, there is a fridge filled with drinks and a shelf with snacks that is accessible to all guests 24-hours. They keep the fridge stocked with gourmet sodas (i.e. root beer, pear soda, etc.), milk, and other beverages. In the freezer, they have Klondike bars and some mini Ben & Jerry’s cup. On the shelf, you can pick up some S. Pellegrino sparkling water and cookies and crackers (Pepperidge Farm Milanos, Fig Newtons, etc.). They definitely don’t skimp on food.
In addition to all of this, they provide maps of the area and a small toiletries basket in the back hallway if you forgot anything on your trip. The staff are super friendly and helpful. They helped us prepare some delicious egg casseroles and pick up some coffee for our large open-house brunch on Sunday morning at the bed and breakfast.
They are located right across the Woodland Zoo, so please do consider this place to stay if you are in Seattle, even with young kids! We made our space work by borrowing a Pack N’ Play and pulling out the mattress in the sofa-bed to use as Sean’s bed.
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Back to our Seattle visit. Friday morning all of the family from Nat’s mother’s side came and visited. It was chaos, but so much fun to see everyone. Sean was particularly excited to play with second-cousin Roo. Nat’s cousin Kim (and husband Rory), have two boys within months of our boys, so they make perfect playmates! The ladies headed out to a surprise bridal shower for Anne at 11:30AM, and we returned around 2PM. The guys (Nat, his dad, and Jonas) picked up their tuxes while Sean napped. After the ladies returned home, we relaxed as much as we could before the rehearsal dinner, especially since the boys were still on Central time instead of Pacific time. We had a sitter come to watch the boys while we went out to rehearsal dinner. As it turns out, the sitter actually lived in Champaign-Urbana while she and her husband were doing graduate school, and she knew one of our friends. Small world! We went to a seafood place by the water for the rehearsal dinner, and it was nice to see everyone there.
Saturday was a pretty slow morning. We had breakfast and relaxed. We had a little downtime after breakfast, so we visited Anne and Ethan’s house for a little bit and dropped off Nat to hangout with Ethan and the rest of the groomsmen for the rest of the day. After I put both the boys down, Nat’s dad and I went on a date for sushi at Kisaku, which was FABULOUS! We came home to two boys who had woken up and a car full of groceries in Nat’s parents rental car. Nat’s mom had gone out to buy TONS of food for brunch the next day. At 4PM, we took some family pictures with Ethan, and came home to relax a little. Since the Inn was in walking distance of the Rose Garden at Woodland Zoo, a lot of people came to hangout and relax. Everyone left for the ceremony, and I stayed to put the boys down for bed. Fortunately, I made it to the ceremony before it started. It was a gorgeous afternoon – sunny and warm. I was worried that it was going to be raining, like all the other afternoons, but it was perfect for Ethan and Anne’s wedding. We headed to the reception after and had a great time at the wedding.
Sunday morning, Nat’s parents had planned a brunch for all the out-of-town guests. We spent the morning tidying up our room and putting things back because both downstairs rooms were being used as a place to get food and mingle. We had a ton of food there, and it was good to see lots of friends and family there. Ethan and Anne showed up later in the brunch, and it was fun to see them there. Later in the afternoon, we took Sean to the zoo, and came back for dinner. Nat and I were planning on a date that evening, but it turned out to be a big gathering of family and friends. After dinner, we visited Beth and Carl in their new home.
We left early on Monday morning, and we got home at 4PM with no delays and canceled flights! The boys did fabulously on the flight, and we are so glad to be home. Sean, especially, was glad to be home with all his toys. He was asking to come home on the second day we were in Seattle. Whew, now we need some time to just veg out at home!