Home Sweet Home
For those that don't know, Mike was offered a full time job at the company he had been interning at the last couple of years, Schneider Electric. The job has been interesting and busy, and he likes it for the most part. They have a few facilities throughout the country and one main factory in Lincoln, Nebraska. So in August he was told that he needed to attend some training for a whole week...in Lincoln! Of all places to work in Salt Lake City he is with one that has a huge facility in Christina's home town of Lincoln. Mike made his flights plans and Carter and Christina decided they couldn't pass up the opportunity to join him for at least part of the trip and see old friends and family that are still
there. So Mike flew out on Sunday and C2 joined him on Wednesday. Carter did pretty well traveling, especially because he had our new Evo phones to play all sorts of games on. There were just a couple of times where he got fussy and that was usually because he was exhausted and didn't know how to fall asleep, but always after a couple of minutes he would just crash. Unfortunately that usually didn't happen until the last 15 minutes of the flight. So needless to say we didn't get much sleep on our way over or back. Our first plane let us off outside in Denver where we had a layover, and luckily the had the moving sidewalks and internet booths to keep us happy.
We flew into Omaha since it was cheaper and Christina's brother Nate picked us up. It was strange coming back to a very familiar place and yet feel like my experiences and memories there are ancient. It was fantastic to see my brothers, their families, nieces and nephews, and a few dear friends. We bummed around most of the afternoon in Nate's Studebaker. This the car that Mark brought down from Portland to do an exchange at our house the end of July. It is such a sweet car! We loved riding in it and cruising through Lincoln.
We also got to see the boys salvage yard for the first time. It keeps them busy, and it definitely is a tough business.
That night we went with Dan, Nate, and the kids to the famous Valentinos where we stuffed ourselves silly with all the delicious food they have on their buffet. It was so nice to be home for a bit. Thursday we spent the day recouping at the hotel while Mike had yet another full day of listening to a French dude explain material handling stuff. Then we spent the day with Nate and Catherine where we got to see their beautiful girls. That night we ended off with dinner at Lazlos with the only school friend Christina keeps in contact with, Courtney. She has been a great friend since middle school so it was good to see her after all these years.
Friday was a fun day spent with life-long friends Krissy Comstock (Kobza) and Alissa Haines (Randall). We decided to take all of our kids, which was wierd that we all had kids in the first place, to the zoo. Luckily Mike finished his training so he was finally able to play and relax. We went to the Lincoln Zoo which is much smaller than Omaha so it was perfect for our 2 and under kids as well as for us.
It has been at least 10-15 years since Christina had been there, but they still had one of her favorite
things...the Lion! He eats the small trash or leaves that you put up to his mouth. The kids loved this as well, and kept trying to put large sticks into its mouth.
After being worn out from the zoo we all kind of crashed back at the hotel until dinner time, which was with Krissy and her husband Mike. We went to Old Chicago which was just across the street from us. Mike had tried it earlier that week and wasn't that impressed, but we got a pizza this time and it was delicious! After stuffing ourselves silly Nate's family, Aaron and his boy Zachery came to swim at the pool. Us girls didn't get in, but it was fun to see all the dads with their little ones. The kids absolutely had a ball and we had the whole pool to ourselves so it made for a perfect ending to the day.
Saturday we tried to sleep in but Carter doesn't let us go to long. Oh! We forgot to tell you that we had Carter just sleep on the pull out bed and he did pretty well, although he fell off the first night and some nights it was hard to get him to stay in bed since he knew we were right there, but overall he did pretty amazing. We think that experience helped him transition to his toddler bed easier.
Anyway, our last day came quickly and it was bittersweet. Mike was definitely ready to be home after training all week, but we had such a great time with family and friends. We ended our Saturday off by viewing some sites in Lincoln such as the State Capitol. We even got to go the top floor! They have all these old elevators, but only one goes up to the 14th floor.
Then to end off our visit we went to Dan and Liz's house in Waverly and enjoyed a deep fried turkey dinner. It was delicious! The kids loved all the toys to play with and Carter actually got a handle over the battery operated 4-wheeler. He was so cute on it! Abby was a pro driver, and Josh has some moves on the skateboard. It was just so great to see all the family!
Christina also had 2 sisters-in-laws that were pregnant at the time, and due in September. The funny thing is the last time Christina was pregnant, so were these 2 same sisters-in-law and Sarah as well. This time though they are due a month before Christina, but it will still be nice to have all of our kids close in age. Karen and Aaron were expecting their 2nd, and they had a little girl on 9/15, Ashley May. Then Ha and Hoa had their 4th and little Hunter was born on 9/8. We're so happy for them and a little jealous as well that they have their little ones, but soon we'll be able to hold our little girl as well! Thanks family for such a great visit!
Carter is just so much fun! He has such a personality and a funny side to him. While we were in the kitchen cleaning up and things, Carter comes rolling in with his wheelbarrow FULL of toys!!! He had carefully placed most of his toys into the wheelbarrow and came all the way from his room. Of course he had to dump them out on the clean kitchen floor when he got there, but he's been super good at cleaning up too. :) We just love all his little antics and humor. He makes us laugh every day and we can't wait for his sister to come along. Carter will be a great big brother!
