Ticket To or From Paradise

This is where I was today



This is where I will be Thursday


After suffering lengthy and pitiful grandchild withdrawal during the holidays my mother couldn't take it one more minute. She traded her frequent flier miles to get me a ticket so I can bring Lily to her. My mom wasn't able to come to Hawaii and I was missing the whole family so it worked out well. Chris is going to be in Dallas part of the time anyway so now I won't have to be alone. . .he will. . .sorry Chris.
As excited as I am to see my family, the scars of last winter still burn hot. The nebulizer, the days and days housebound with sick baby. The swearing up and down that I will never, ever return to the tundra. But here I am, Utah bound in the dead of winter. I am nervous about the cold but at least she is older now. Who takes their two month old thousands of miles into the dead of winter? I do. I can only hope that this trip is a happier one.
I took Lily to the beach today so we could get our fix. It was amazing. I always think "why don't I come everyday?" but then I remember that gas is closing in on $4 a gallon and that answers my question. It was a perfect beach day. . .but I forgot my camera!! Lily played her usual 'scam the beach toys from the tourists' game and made friends with a brother/sister team who were building a pool for the ocean to fill up. She had a ball running up and down the beach and chasing the tide. At one point she face planted in the dry sand and her entire face was covered in sand. Just her eyes (that she closed milliseconds pre-face plant thank goodness!) were sand-free. That would have made a great pic. As I took her naked, sandy body into the clear water I stepped in a little hole and we both went down. Not being as agile as I once was with my two bum knees I had no hope against the divot in the sand. It must have looked hilarious but it was a little traumatic for Lily. She goes underwater all of the time but usually with good warning and not at 1000 miles an hour as her mother is clotheslined by the thigh-high water. At least all the sand got washed off and she didn't cry for long. Interesting that she wasn't bothered at all by the sandy face plant.