Before heading off to Saudi Arabia Naomi and I made a quick one-week trip back home to WI. While seeing some family and friends was great, the main reason for the trip was so that both Naomi and I to get in some important Doctor visits and for me to run some essential errands.
Naomi’s First Flight
Thankfully I had my parents with me as a backup for Naomi’s first plane ride just in case things got a little hairy. But all things considered, Naomi’s first plane ride from DC to Appleton was uneventful and very successful. Naomi sat on my lap and was very excited about the plane going “up up up” and she enjoyed playing with the few toys I had packed. She watched Coco just long enough for it to put her asleep for the final hour of her flight. (Look for a future blog post on our NOT successful first flight out of the U.S. and other tips and tricks I learned for flying with a toddler).
This trip home was made kind of last minute. Since this trip wasn’t really planned ahead of time, I had actually said most of my goodbyes to family and friends when we left in January. So any time spent with family and friends this time around was a complete bonus.
Time with family is time well spent
Naomi was able to spend every single day with someone from her family, whether it was her grandparents, aunts and uncles or cousins. She had the absolute BEST week. My parents live about a 10-minute walk from a small little hobby farm so every single day she went there and saw the donkey, horse, chickens, pigs and turkeys. It was a BIG deal and it was a great way for her to expend some extra energy with her relatives.
I was able to get together with some work old work friends. It was so fun because it was a visit that we secretly planned so only one of friends knew about it. Lauryn organized the get together and we successfully surprised everyone. No one had any idea that I was coming home! My heart needed that little bit of time with them more than I realized, it was so special.
While Naomi had all this bonus time with family, I was able to run some very important errands on my own. One of the main reasons for this trip was for me to see my Rheumatologist in Green Bay. I have an autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis, and while currently my disease is very stable, it was only a few short years ago when I was in constant continuous pain, so seeing my Rheumatologist was essential.
There’s no place like home
I know this one is a shorter post, but this trip home filled my cup in a way I didn’t know that I needed. I was so thankful for all the extra time that Naomi and I had with family and friends. It’s a trip home we will never forget.
