Whirlwind kind of Summer

A week after we returned from vacation, Brady had his 6th birthday...

 

And then 8 days after that, Juliette had her 3rd birthday...

 

And then we boarded a plane headed for the good old USA!  We landed in North Carolina, Greg's sister, Juju, picked us up at our hotel, and then we drove to meet my dad who took us home.  I certainly was glad to be in one spot, for at least a few days.  The kids entertained themselves by peeling paint, enjoying my parents, and hanging out at the park...

 

We then ventured to Greg's brother, Chris and his wife Michele's house where we practically lived in the pool.  Greg was probably the biggest attraction...

 

 Brady, Mary, Morgan, Jay, and Juliette

Heading back down towards my parent's house, we needed to make a side trip to Virginia Beach because Juliette had a doctor's appointment at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters.  We are fortunate enough to have friends living close to the hospital and enjoyed spending time with them and eating at Doumar's... a total necessity when in the area!

 

Ok, so then it was back to my parent's for another couple of days and then we were Louisiana bound.  Are you keeping up so far?

We stopped off in Tennessee.  We went on a bit of a goose chase, but found a replica of Davy Crockett's childhood home, spent the night at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo (the hotel lobby is the old train station.  Very cool!), and then took a drive up Lookout Mountain to visit Ruby Falls...

 

We finally made our way into Louisiana and the first stop was a Safari park where we took a tour through the park feeding the animals...

 

Making our way to Greg's parent's house, and we were so happy to see the rest of the family!  We enjoyed a night in the pool and a nice meal together.  The very next day, Monica, Greg's mom was admitted to the hospital and was there for the duration of our visit.  The highlight for the kids was of course the pool and also a pinata...

 This is the only one I have of Laurel and Fen.  Shameful, I know!

 

Our sweet Caroline!

That's Juju in the background.  We really should have been better about getting pictures of each other!  So when the big stick didn't break the pinata, the kids tried a couple different stick options, but in the end it was necessary to call in the cavalry...

 Greg and his war cry and me and my 3 month pregnant belly

Moving on to our next location, we went to Natchitoches (I love that the spell-check word for Natchitoches is Scratchiness!), Louisiana.  We met up with Greg's friend, Brian and his daughter, Harper.  The guys went to college together here and it was great fun walking the campus, eating meat pies, and walking downtown.  There was also great fun to be had at the Alligator Park!

 

Who knew an ATM was so entertaining!

 

Brian and Harper

Brady's favorite part was getting the goats to eat his shirt!

Ok, so finally we drive back up to my parent's house for my sister's wedding.  A couple days after the wedding, we get back on a plane, land in Naples, Italy, rent a car, then drive to Calabria to catch a ferry, ride the ferry to Messina, drive to base to pick up our car, then rush to the airport, navigate the craziness that is the Catania airport, return the rental car, and FINALLY make it HOME!  

What a wild and wonderful summer we had!  So many places, so many memories we made, and even more importantly was so much time together as a family!  And we still love each other! 

 

USA bound!

The call came on a Thursday morning.  Juliette did not have a diagnosis for Lupus and her ANA level was higher than before.  This left us at a crossroad.  We either needed to go to a pediatric Rheumatologist (our choices were a doctor in Germany, one in Venice, or back in the States) or begin re-running tests here.  It did not take much to determine we needed to have her seen by the Specialist.  But where?  That choice also did not take long as the States seemed the best option. 

My parents live fairly close to Duke, so the process of trying to get her an appointment with the Pediatric Rheumatologist began.   By Saturday night, Juliette and I were on a cargo Space A flight (aka: free military flight).  By cargo, I mean we sat in seats along the walls of the airplane and the rest of the space was filled with cargo boxes. 

I have motion sickness and the thought of flying sideways made me nervous.  There were no meals or drinks served, no handy trays to fold down in front of us, and no warm towels to refresh our faces.  However, armed with a backpack of snacks, warm jackets, a sleeping bag, and ear plugs (no insulation = extra noisy airplane) we had an absolutely wonderful flight.  We could move around and be as loud as we wanted because you couldn’t hear anything anyways!   J sat on her suitcase using her seat for coloring and playing. 

 

After a 3 hour flight we arrived in Rota, Spain and were to be back at the airport the next afternoon for our flight to Norfolk.  Before we left, Greg had made us reservations at the Gateway Inn on the base to spend the night.  It was close to midnight and I was exhausted.  J had been so good and was holding strong while we made our way to the hotel.  We walked through the hotel doors when a lady on the phone said “Are you Anna Harris?  I’m sorry, but we don’t allow children under the age of 12 to stay here.”

To Be Continued…