Warm Adventures: Back home - The 1st 2 weeks

Grandma and Miles

We ventured back across the pond a few days after Christmas. This time with two kids in tow; our cute, spunky two year old and a new tiny man that many back home had never met. I was quite nervous about the long (10+ hr) trip on the plane but once again the kids surprised us and did great. Alison was mesmerized with movies and slept a bit, while Miles slept a tiny bit and flirted with the flight attendants. We were greeted with a cold rainy day our first day back and then rare temperatures in the 50's on our second day. Which by Florida standards was downright cold. We were all suffering from jet lag and off our game for a few days. Unfortunately our family and friends reunion party was scheduled outside on a lake that fateful Sunday. Needless to say everyone was shivering and miserable. But it was nice to see everyone who braved the weather to stop and say Hi.

Reunion of WPHS friends and new additions

And then things went downhill. Alison came down with a chest cold the next day, while I came down with the evil flu several days later. It was pretty much a miserable first week. I felt bad as Erik's sister and her family were only in town until that 1st Friday, so I got to see very little of them. The flu had me bed ridden for several days and sick for weeks longer. I can honestly say I never had the flu before and it was really horrible. There were times I thought I would never stop coughing. Poor Erik who was only in town for two weeks was stuck taking care of me and the kids, which took away precious time from his visits friends and family. Although he did get to see some of his friends on different occasions and there were a few pictures floating around of all the cousins together. So cute.

All the cousins

So cute on the canoe

Erik was sweet and kept reminding me that we've had plenty of great vacations together and to stop worrying about this one. We had such big plans of movie dates, yummy dinners at our favorite restaurants and multiple trips to the beach, those things we don't/can't do in Switzerland. He did make friends with the Walgreens pharmacist since he was there several times a day. And we did get out for one date before he left but it was nothing great as I was coughing pretty much the entire time and trying really hard not to fall asleep. We did a few fun things as a family before Erik left, including taking Alison canoeing on the Wekiwa river and one overcast day at New Smyrna beach. Besides not seeing Erik's sister and family that much, I missed an awesome get together with my long time work girlfriends and their kids that I was really looking forward to. One of the girls even flew in from Canada. Stupid flu. There is happy family news to report in that Erik's sister and my brother's wife (both of my SIL's) are pregnant, both due in August. So new cousins to play with next time we are back stateside.

The first two weeks went by fast and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Erik. I was really sad to see him go as this would be the longest period of time away from him. Plus I was just feeling so bad about his vacation being such a drag. On the Friday Erik flew out, we took the kids to the Tampa Children's Museum and had a fun time. Then we met up with his friends who live in Tampa and also have a new little boy. It was really nice to visit with them and the wife took some priceless family photos of us despite Alison not being too cooperative. We explained to Alison where Daddy was going and that he would be gone for a while. She thought about it and said "No Daddy stay here". It was cute and sad at the same time. It was really hard to say good bye.