The Return Trip

Our week-long trip home to Minnesota had its moments. In general, Mia was quite a trooper, accepting the disruptions in her schedule without too much complaint. We stayed at her maternal grandparents’ house, making the half-hour drive to Jeff’s parents’ house several times. She’d come down with a cold the morning we left for MN, and it dogged her all week.
Toward the end of the week, the weather warmed up enough that we could take Mia outside. We had a hand-me-down snowsuit from cousin Connor. We weren’t able to borrow boots that fit, so Mia wore her sneakers. That didn’t take her too far in 4-6 inches of snow.
I have to admit I feel I was relieved to be on the airplane, heading home. Daily, Mia indicated she wanted to go home. Can’t say I blame her. The relatives’ houses are far from childproof, so she heard the words “No” and “stop” an awful lot. (I know she missed Sarah as well. Every couple of days, she'd say, "Sawah, Sawah, Sawah.") The day of our departure, she woke up at 3:45 a.m., announcing to Jeff, “All done sleeping.” Fortunately, after we fed her eggs and cereal, she began to look drowsy again, and I escorted her back to her bedroom.
The return flight was largely uneventful. Mia protested having to wear the special FAA-approved child harness, but she napped most of the way home and watched a DVD for the rest of the way. When we got to our home city, the temp was about 40 degrees warmer than MN. As we waited for our baggage, it actually felt hot. Mia got pretty cranky and insisted on taking off her shoes and socks. Since she was in her stroller, I allowed it. We got some pretty funny looks as we wheeled her through the chilly parking garage. When we got to our van, she was all smiles. "Home, eat." It is the simple things in life.