Sarah's Trip to Jax

On October 10th, Marshall dropped me off at the Austin airport at 6:45am for my 8:30am flight to Dallas. I was flying American Airlines, the company that is having the labor disputes between management and pilots. I was concerned that my flight could be delayed or canceled unexpectedly. Fortunately we took off without any problems and right on time. Dallas though was very foggy and the air traffic controller told our pilots to not land and turn around to San Antonio to refuel. So we fly south, past Austin to San Antonio. We refuel for about 20 minutes then head back to Dallas. By this time I've missed my connecting flight to Jacksonville--great. 

American Airlines had rebooked me to leave on a 12:55pm flight to Miami followed by a connector to Jacksonville. The Miami flight didn't leave until 1:45, and I was thankful I had time to find lunch in the airport and walk around a bit. I arrived in Miami without any further issues, and made it to Jacksonville around 7pm. Grandma, Grandpa, my sister Sherri and her son Kyan were all there to greet me and take me to the house. 

Wednesday night was set aside to just relax. We had goulash for dinner and banana cake for dessert. Delicious! 

Thursday the 11th we headed out for the beach around 11:45am. It was so much fun. Here's a picture of Kyan being still for 2.2 seconds. I chased him around and we played tag. The water was the perfect temperature too. We were there for close to 3 hours. I'm very proud of myself for not getting sun burnt. 

 That night Grandma, Sherri and I played Dominoes. Sherri won by 43 points, just a few tiles, but she enjoyed celebrating how much she kicked our butts.

Here's a picture of Kyan acting like a zombie. Apparently his dad plays zombie shooter games, and someone had gotten Kyan a toy pistol so he could shoot at zombies too. Kyan, who runs at the speed of light, slows down and makes a puckered mouth expression and moves his arms up and down as he comes for you. Hilarious.

 I knew Kyan wouldn't remember me from when he was 15 months old in August 2011 when we were all in Oregon together at my parents' house. I planned ahead and brought with me a box of fruit snacks to help win him over. Success! I even got a few pictures of me holding him. We called the fruit snacks "Scooby Snacks" and he was quite attentive.

 Here's Kyan trying to mimic Grandma making a silly face. I was just so glad to hold him in my lap!

 The pregnant sisters. Sherri was almost 20 weeks and I had just turned 28 weeks. My bump looks kind of pointy, doesn't it? We're both having boys, which will bring the total count to 4 boys (Kyan, Christopher, Merrick and "Blank") and 0 girls. Sherri and Ryan haven't decided on Kyan's little brother's name yet.

 Here we are again. Wow, we are going to look so different next year with little babies in our arms!

On Friday, Sherri, Ryan, who had come down late on Wednesday night, and Kyan drove back to Charlotte. Kyan was crying in his carseat to stay at Nana's house. Awe! After they left I took Grandma to El Potro, a little Mexican buffet place close to the house that we use to frequent when I lived with them. Afterwards we went grocery shopping then back to the house.

That night my dear friend Heather picked me up for dinner. Heather was my first friend in Jacksonville. I met her at Shoney's, and she trained me on how to be a waitress. We've been close ever since. We were meeting her husband Scott at the Cheesecake Factory, but before we went there, we went to my school, the University of North Florida. I wanted to just take a quick zip around the school to see any changes and what it was like now 3.5 years after graduation. It's looking great, and the new buildings look remarkable. I'm so glad I went there. :) After UNF, Heather took me to Target and picked up a three pack of onesies that she had seen before but didn't get. The top one has a turtle on it, and reads "worth the wait." Merrick certainly is!

We arrived at the restaurant and Scott joined us. We had crab ragoon for an appetizer. Poor Heather wasn't feeling well. Her stressful job had been giving her serious headaches, so she was taking it easy, hoping it would go away. I had a hawaiian pizza for dinner. When it came to think about dessert, Scott slipped away and Heather and I looked over the cheesecake menu. Turns out they had made a selection for me! Scott came back to the table with a vanilla bean cheesecake (a whole one, not a slice) with three Bambi figurines on it. I burst into tears! It was so adorable to this pregnant lady. What's even more special is that as a child, I use to have a Bambi toy that was just like the Bambi on the cake, with the butterfly on the tail and everything. Just a few days prior I had been thinking about my favorite toys growing up and where they had gone too. I had specifically recalled my Bambi toy, and here was a replica on the cake. Cue more happy pregnancy tears! I did have a tiny slice of the cheesecake, and brought the rest home to share with my grandparents.

 Here are Heather, me, the flowers Scott brought me and our Bambi cheesecake! I felt so loved. I have my huge "I can't control this" smile on my face.

Heather and Scott, who are big Disney fans, also got Merrick a Bambi toy with moveable head and legs. Again, cue the happy tears. I love it so much! That night I was blubbering to Marshall how wonderful dinner had been and how sweet Heather and Scott were to me and baby. He wished he could have been there.

I don't have any pictures of Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, Grandma, Papa, and I drove to Cassadaga, Florida for psychic readings. I had a reading with Ginny, whose strength was astrology based. I already knew a lot about myself from my astrology chart, but it was a good affirmation and reminder about why I am the way I am. Grandma and Papa saw Ronnie, and were really pleased with their readings. I wanted one too, so I paid for a second one with Ronnie. During an opening prayer, he said that the room got very crowded; I had lots of spirits on the other side watching over me, but only two wanted to talk and come forward. One was my great-grandmother Kestine Marie Fischer Thiele, and the other was my great-aunt Patricia Blatchford, my grandmother's sister. I felt very honored that they wanted me to know that they were watching over me. There was more to the reading, which I took notes on and got to record on my phone, but I won't post about them here. All good stuff though. :)

That night I met up with Dan, who is Marshall's best friend from the Navy. I got a little lost getting to his condo. We went to Friday's for dinner, and got to catch up. We went back to his apartment, and goodness gracious, his cat Potter looks like a baby cougar--he was so big! Dan and I were talking, and I kept imagining Marshall there with us. He and Dan use to spend a lot to time together, just hanging out on the couch, watching movies, talking, playing video games, etc. I decided that I would work some magic in our budget and have Marshall come visit Dan for a weekend as soon as possible. Dan was all for the idea, and we have a tentative plan for him to come to Austin in March during Marshall's spring break. Marshall will be flying to Jax late on Thursday, November 29th and coming home on Sunday, December 2nd. He and Dan will have a great time together.

I had sort of talked to my friend John about picking me up on Sunday morning for breakfast and taking me to the airport, but he never responded to any of my texts while I was in Jax. Oh well, his loss. My grandparents took me to the airport, and I made it back to Austin on time without any issues. I had a fantastic trip with family and away from work. Everyone is so excited for us and our new baby. I feel incredibly blessed and loved.