Flying & First Thanksgiving

Riley went on his first major trip for Thanksgiving! We flew to Maryland to spend the holiday with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and close family friends. To be honest, I was a bit nervous about flying with a 4-month-old, but he was wonderful! He cried for maybe a total of 10 minutes round-trip! What a sweet boy!

The flight attendants on Southwest were so sweet and helpful. We asked for 'wings' for Riley and they brought us wings and a certificate which the captain signed. Such a fun way to document his first flight!

Watching the sunset on our way to MD

Needless to say, my parents were dying to see their 2nd-born grandson! The last time they saw him he was just a couple days old. We usually skype about once a week, so they've been able to track his growth somewhat through the computer, but as you can tell by the photo below, they were SO excited to see him in person!

Meeting Uncle Chad, Auntie Jill and cousin CJ for the first time

Liz and I have known each other all of our lives (literally). Our father's were in each others weddings, and once we got into high school we became really good friends. She and her husband, Dan, live in Southern MD, so they drove up for Thanksgiving day. Here's Riley with their newest addition (also have a 3-year-old, Jacob), Will. He's only 17 days older than Riley!

Liz and I with our turkeys :) (Liz's mom bought 3 turkey bibs for the babies - so cute!)

The ladies and the three turkeys!

We had such a GREAT time in MD...if only the trip could have been longer. Really, I'm just thankful we even made it there. The day before we were supposed to leave, Daniel and I both became very sick with some sort of 24-hour stomach bug. I woke up Wednesday morning (the day of our flight) with a fever and barely able to get out of bed. I thought for a while that we were going to be spending our first thanksgiving as a family in New Orleans! Praise the Lord, though, because He healed us both and gave us just enough strength to pack quickly and head to the airport to catch our flight. I'm so glad we pushed ourselves and went! I'm not sure when we'll head back that way, so it was wonderful to see everyone and spend good, quality time with family. There are a TON more pictures from the trip, so if you'd like to see them (and other pics from November), go here.