Goodbye Italy, Hello Texas!

     Aaron and I were both so ready to move back to Texas, so it is no surprise that we hardly slept the night before our flight. Connor was wide awake from the moment we woke him up that morning. I think he was really excited too. We had to leave the hotel by 3am so that Connor and I could catch the shuttle to the airport. Aaron went with a friend and he took both the dogs and all of our luggage. By the time Connor and I arrived, he was already waiting in line to check in. It went mostly smoothly, and the dogs were pretty nervous, but we got them checked in and my worries subsided some.

DFW, Texas: Our Last Week

   October 20: I had to say goodbye to my family today. It always makes me so emotional, but thank goodness it's the last time for a long time since we will be moving back to Texas in May for a few years {at least}. My dad drove Connor and me to Waco to meet Aaron's sister so she could drive us back to DFW. It was the perfect meeting spot since my dad could work out of Waco that day. We had lunch at Whataburger before parting ways. When we got to DFW, Connor napped and then went swimming with Pappy. We went out later that night for sushi and ice cream.

Love this picture of them.

San Antonio, Texas: Week 2

    October 17: We went to our friend Karen's house for a breakfast play date with her littlest boys. We met Karen {and her hubby Henry} while we were stationed in North Carolina and we became good friends. Connor and Elliott are only 3 weeks apart and spent their first year growing up together. Of course they didn't remember each other, but it was so great to catch up.

 Cuties!

Kingsville, Texas: Homecoming Weekend

     October 14: One of the main reasons I visited Texas in October was to see my dad receive his Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas A&M University Kingsville. I was so proud of him and really wanted to celebrate with him. They held a dinner celebrating the recipients and I am so glad Connor and I were able to attend. Connor was probably the youngest kid there and he got so much attention. I think the main reason is because he was so funny and made EVERYONE laugh that talked to him. Not to mention he looked so cute all dressed up! Look at him... is he seriously not one of the cutest kids you have ever seen?!?

My adorable date and I.

San Antonio, Texas: Week 1

      I am so behind on blogging, but really want to document the time Connor and I spent in Texas, so I will continue where I left off almost a month ago. 

    October 9: After spending the weekend in Dallas, Pappy and Omi drove us to our new home site where we met my parents. From there we drove to San Antonio where my sisters family surprised us with a quick visit on their way home to Corprus Christi.

 It's not everyday we are able to get all the grand kids together.

Dallas, Texas: A Day at the State Fair

    We had such a blast while we were in Texas. We did all sorts of fun things, including going to the Texas State Fair. It was Connor's first time ever going, and sure to not be his last. He had so much fun eating junk food, feeding the animals at the petting zoo, and riding rides. Pappy and Omi spent a pretty penny on us that day, but we all had so much fun! I  took a ton of pics, so enjoy...

 On our way to the fair.

Flying to Texas and Back

     At the beginning of October, Connor and I made a trip to Texas. We did it because: 1) We miss family and since we aren't going for Christmas, this was the perfect opportunity to go. 2) I really wanted to go to my dads Distinguished Alumni dinner where he would be presented his award. 3) We are building a house, so I wanted to be there to pick everything out in person instead of over the phone and on skype {like we have been doing}. We are super excited about #3 and I will talk more about it in a later post! 

     If I could visit Texas more often, I would, but the flight there and back is just exhausting and so much work. Especially with a little one. I have flown by myself with Connor a few times, and we survived just fine, but this time I prepared a little more beforehand to make sure I had enough stuff to keep him entertained. Here's what I did this time that made the flight go much smoother: I bought a few new toys and books for him and wrapped them so he could open them throughout the flight. They worked as great incentives for him to behave and keep quiet. I also bought a container with dividers for his Legos and taped a Lego board on the lid. You probably think I'm crazy for taking Legos on an airplane, but he really loved playing with them and he didn't loose any of the pieces. We also loaded his kindle with movies and games. That helped a lot especially when he was getting sleepy or bored. The final and best part of my planning was the snack containers I purchased for about $3 and had personalized with his name. He loves snacks, so the huge variety he was able to chose from kept him content.  I highly recommend them to anyone who travels with kids. ** Just be careful when flying international and taking fruits of veggies into another country. We had a little run in with a food sniffing dog {I have no idea what they call them} going through customs. I thought I got rid of all the fruits and veggies on the airplane, but I forgot the carrots and that little dog sniffed them out of my bag and totally gave me away. Don't worry, we didn't get into trouble. The guard even  let me keep them for Connor.**

 His snack boxes filled and ready to go!

San Antonio Visit

    Last week I posted about our trip to North Texas and South Texas. Now I am posting all about our time we spent in San Antonio. We arrived on the January 15 and stayed until the beginning of February. We had a wonderful time and stayed very busy.

 We had relaxing nights at my parents house.

South Texas Visit

   After spending a week in DFW, I flew to San Antonio to spend some time with my family. Since I have close to 1,000 pictures from our visit with my side of the family, I'm separating our trip there into 2 blogs: South Texas Visit {Corpus Christi and Freer} and San Antonio Visit. First I am going to do South Texas where we spent a weekend with my sister and her family and then another weekend at the ranch in Freer.

    We went to Corpus Christi over our first weekend to celebrate my nephews birthday and so I could meet my new nephew. He was so precious and reminded me so much of Connor was a baby.  

He's precious!

North Texas Visit

      At the beginning of January, Connor and I went to Texas for a month long visit. Aaron had training in Germany, so just the two of us went. Getting to Texas made for an extremely long day for us: a 3 hour drive to the airport in Milan, 2 hour wait at the airport, 10 1/2 hour flight to Miami, a 4 hour layover, an almost 3 hour flight to DFW, and 1 1/2 hours at the airport waiting for a lost piece of luggage}. We were so tired when we finally got home that night!

 Our long day of travel....

Day 16-18 In Texas: Last Days in Texas and Traveling Home

Day 16: Monday 12/29

    Today was our last full day in Texas. We ate breakfast at Pappy and Carol's house and then went to Buy Buy Baby to pick out a new jogging stroller for Connor. The one we have is horrible on the streets in Italy, so we wanted one with rubber tires. Afterwards, we dropped Carol off back at home and went back to Chrissy and Ryan's house. We picked up grandma and went to our favorite Chinese restaurant in Southlake. It was the last place on our list to go to before we left the states. We did a little shopping after and then went back to the house. 

Rockin' my shades.

Day 14-15 In Texas: Christmas With Pappy and Girls Brunch

Day 14: Saturday 12/27

    Today was our Christmas with Pappy and Carol. We woke up early and ate breakfast in our room so we wouldn't wake anybody else up in the house.

Day 11-13 In Texas: Christmas Eve and Christmas With Mimi

Day 11: Wednesday 12/24

     Today was the day to say "see you later" to my parents. It's always tearful, but knowing that we are going to see them in a few months made it a little easier. We packed all our bags, put them in the truck, and took a few pictures before leaving.

Day 8-10 In Texas: Christmas With My Family and Time With Big Grandpa

Day 8: Sunday 12/21

    As soon as everybody woke up in the morning, Ellie and Timmy started begging us to open their presents from us. We told them we would do it the night before, but since we didn't get home until late, we never got a chance. Since Nick was going back to Corpus today, we went ahead and did it first thing in the morning. 

Day 7 In Texas: Get Together at G&P Ranch

Day 7: Saturday 12/20

   When go to Texas, we love seeing all of our family and friends. The hard part is finding the time to see everyone. My parents had a great idea to have a get together with both my mom and dads sides of the family at my aunt and uncles ranch. This made it so much easier to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins without having to drive all over South Texas. Thank you to everyone that came, I loved seeing each and every one of you. Connor had a really great time playing with his cousins and getting really dirty!

Day 4-6 In Texas: Eating Cookies, Playing Catch, and Watching Deer

Day 4: Wednesday 12/17

    After waking up to play at 3am and going back to sleep for a couple more hours, we started our morning by eating breakfast and talking to my sister on her way to work. Connor wanted to take over the conversation, so we let him talk to her for a good 5 minutes. I was shocked she stayed on the phone for that long!

Day 1-3 In Texas: Airplanes, Suprises, and Pictures With Santa

Day 1: Sunday 12/14   

     Early in the morning before the sun even came up, Aaron, Connor and I drove to Malpensa Airport in Milan. Aaron and I decided it would be best for Connor and me to leave a few days early because the flights were starting to fill up. Our chances of getting on a flight as a standby passenger would be much better on 12/14 then 12/18 {when Aaron got off for winter break and was planning on flying}. 

     My wonderful father-in-law offered to fly to Milan to help me with Connor on the long flight. Our plan was to meet him at the airport and he would help me check my bags and go through security. Well, that sort of changed when his flight to Milan was delayed by 5 hours! Aaron helped me get all of our bags to the ticket counter, but I had to wait in the line for the next 2 hours to get checked in and put on a different flight. Our original flight was going to JFK and there were several unsold seats and we were pretty much guaranteed a seat on that plane, but we weren't going to be able to make it since Pappy wasn't going to land in Milan on time. Our only other option {since there are only 2 flights to the US out of Milan a day} was to fly to Miami. The flight was delayed 2 hours, and we were told we probably wouldn't make it because it was so full. I had them take our luggage anyways and as I was on my way to security, here comes pappy to the rescue! He saw just how much work it is to go through security with a baby! We walked what seemed like 5 miles to the gate, and waited for them to call our names.

 Watching the airplanes go by.

Our {Dallas} Christmas

    Today we had our third Christmas. This time it was with Mimi, Chrissy, and Ryan in Dallas.

 Chrissy got new glasses, so we were having fun and trying them on. C looks pretty darn cute in them!

Cousins

    Connor had such a good time with his big cousins, Timmy and Ellie. They were so good with him and were constantly playing with him!

My Parents

    I am really close with my parents, so I was really excited to see them! My mom has been to NC a couple times since Connor was born, but I had not seen my dad since we were in Texas just before Connor's 2 month birthday. We video chat with them often, but it's just not the same. 

 Spending time with his Grandpa.