Gramma's House: Part I

Addison and I are back from our trip to the beautiful Berkshires...and we are, shockingly, in one piece. Our trip started off last Saturday. In the early morning she went to Grandma Patty's so that I could finish the last minute anal retentive things that I feel the need to do before going on vacation.

Yep, I am that person that must clean out the fridge, vacuum, make sure the beds are made and the kitchen is clean. This is one of the many traits that I have inherited from my mother, and one my many traits that Andy does not understand. If I leave on vacation with a messy house, I usually leave crying. The one exception was when we left on our honeymoon, in that instance I left my apartment in such a mess that I am sure my mother's heart would have stopped.


The point being, I did my flight of the bumblebee and then headed to pick up Miss Addie. I knew it wasn't a good sign when Grandma said, "She's just not herself today". I braced myself for a long day.


Addison slept almost all the way to Indianapolis and woke up in a pretty good mood. We made through security, and waited for our plane to board. While waiting Addison tried to make friends with a young woman also boarding the plane - she primarily wanted to be her friend so that she could get a bite of the woman's egg croissant. In all fairness, it looked like a delectable breakfast sandwich.


Unfortunately, our flight to Chicago was FULL. We boarded in group A and still had to slide into an aisle seat next to a very unamused couple. I could read the look on their collective face, and it said, "Oh shit, why us?".
But, really, overall, Addison did well. She sat on my lap or stood between my legs and looked at her books or out the window. Once or twice she tried to touch the tattoos of the woman next to us, but I was able to catch her in the nick of time.


Enter Midway...our layover was just long enough to shove down two hot dogs from Gold Coast Dogs. We boarded a fairly empty plane and managed to get a whole aisle to ourselves. For the majority of this flight she was wonderful. Coloring, watching The Lion King, reading books and looking out the window.
Side note here: on Valentine's Day Southwest offers complimentary vodka cranberry. WHAT? Awesome. I did not partake in one on the first leg of our trip, but rewarded myself with one on the second. That turned out to be a genius idea, being that for the last twenty minutes of the flight Addison went a little cuckoo. After much screaming, crying, thrashing, kicking and blubbering I got her calm for the final descent by having her hunt for kitties in SkyMall. Additional side note: SkyMall has a fair amount of product for cats and many lovely feline photos. I think this stroke of genius was fueled by my lovely vodka cocktail, therefore both of my side notes are pretty darn relevant.


Addison and I got off the plane, she waved buh-bye to the flight attendants and we headed in search of Gramma Kathy.


Addison searched and searched as we walked through the terminal...no Gramma. But when we rounded the corner to go through security, there was Gramma.


And little Miss Thang wiggled out of my arms and ran full speed ahead into the arms of her Gramma...and thus was the perfect beginning of our vacation week.



**Addie went home with Gramma that night and I met Andy at Albany's Club 525 for wine, a fabulous dinner, and a slight hangover the next morning. Thanks, Sean and Ali, for putting up with us, I mean for putting us up.