Our last week in St. Louis was very bittersweet — it was great to stay the extra week in STL even though we were without a true home and driving a rental, but we missed being a family unit. It was hard to be separated from Eric, but luckily it was only for a month – a week at a time.
That final week, we stayed with quite a few different family members and squeezed in a trip to see Grandma & Grandpa Danker, a visit to the zoo with Grammie, Chuck E Cheese with Ginger and Adam, a playdate with Hope – one of Ethan’s friends – dinner with Michelle, and a picnic at the Arch — not to mention all of the lose ends that you don’t think about having to tie up until you move out of state.
The boys have been amazing during the entire process – they are both real troopers. Max slept in a pack and play for about 10 days (some of which were in a completely empty room) and Ethan crashed wherever he was asked without much of a fight. He spent a few days with his preschool buddies and Max squeezed in a few final days with his buddies Ginger, Adam and Katie.
Sometimes when driving by myself, I’d catch myself thinking about leaving home, moving the boys away from their grandparents, friends and aunt, but for the most part I kept myself so busy that I didn’t have much time to let myself think about all my loved ones that I would be missing terribly. I did drive by our old house whenever I was nearby, and I would feel a little pang of sadness. Afterall, when we moved into that house, we thought it would be for a good 10-20 years. It could have very well been the house to see high school graduations, college graduations….maybe even grandchildren. But really, home is where the heart is….and my heart is with my 3 boys so I know I will be OK.
I only slept a few hours my final night in St. Louis. By 7a I was on the way to the airport with 2 kids, 2 carseats, several overpacked suitcases, the dog and THANKFULLY my sister. Despite getting to the airport a full 2 hours prior to takeoff, we almost missed our flight. (NOTE: Checking a dog can be a long, tedious process — be sure that it’s not too hot on the day you fly somewhere with a pet.) In any case, we made it to the gate shortly after they were paging for us.
Max did great on his first flight – he only slept for an hour, but he was incredibly happy throughout the flight – as illustrated in this video. Ethan slept through at least half of it, but he loves to fly, so no issues there.
Ready or not, California here we come!