12 hours on a Saturday

In 12 hours on this Saturday we:

1. Drove into three states (only a few more miles and it would have been 4)
2. Drove past a sign for George 12 (hi dad)
3. Drove past the highest elevation point in Iowa at 1670 feet (it still seemed flat to me)
4. (I) had my first experience at being a road kill leaver (not a deer but some smaller animal -- hope it wasn't someone's dog, that would be horrible)
5. Met our grandson for the first time!!!

We had a great day even though we got a late start because Lilyana and I slept till 10 and got woken up by Dan. We only stopped once on each direction of the trip. Calsey looks great (within 5 pounds of her prepregnancy weight -- who does that???). She is a great mom, very attentive, protective and caring. We've seen real growth in her these last nine months and we are looking forward to seeing it continue as she nurtures Ayden.

We met her biological mom and her boyfriend and young son. They showed us some great hospitality and kindness. We are very grateful that Calsey has a great support system there especially as Tuan (Ayden's dad) gets ready to go through training this summer and deployment in November. The only thing better would be for her to live in MN.

We arrived home at 2 am because I wanted to spend as much time with Calsey and Ayden as I could knowing that leaving at 10 pm would be me driving as that is my time of the day. We'll see if we make it to church in 8 hours. Calsey was successful in giving me directions to the highway, something that didn't always happen in the past. YAY, Calsey!

Calsey, we love you, we miss you and we are so glad we were able to see you. You are doing a great job and you have great instincts. Listen to all the advice and use what you can and leave what you can't. I hope that you'll get a chance to visit soon as Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa need to see Ayden and there are oodles and oodles of other people who want to see you and him too.