Post Deployment Leave part 1 - Ohio

So I'm only a month and a half late with this post, but last month was Mick's post-deployment leave. We went to Ohio for a week and from there, we went straight to Florida for 5 days. It was a crazy trip - there were tons of people to visit, tons of flying and unfortunately, quite a few trips and calls to the doctor. It was a long trip, but it was definitely well worth it. We flew from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, to Pittsburgh, to Atlanta, to West Palm, to Philadelphia and finally back into San Diego. After all that flying, I can EASILY say that it will be a LONG time before we get on a plane with Mason again, so if anyone wants to see us, you're going to have to come to California haha

So let me tell you about poor Mason's entire travel experience. Our trip to Ohio started on June 3rd. We needed to be home by the 4th for one of my best friend's weddings! (Congrats Mandy and Matt!) On Sunday the 5th, Mason woke up vomiting. Everywhere. He threw up 5 times in an hour. My mom was making comments about how pale he looked and that his breathing was shallow and all those comments were making Mick and I nervous, so we went to Med Express. Wouldn't you know it... as soon as we got there, the kid was feeling better and acting fine?? The doctors chalked it up to a virus, but we think he had to have eaten something bad, because we ALL got puked on and not one of us ended up getting sick. haha

So anyway, he was fine for a couple days, then on Wednesday, we went to my aunt's to go swimming. It was HOT that day - in the 90s with some bad humidity. We noticed Mason was cranky (but that's nothing new) and we also noticed that when he got out of the pool, he was shivering and had goosebumps. Normally, I wouldn't think anything of that, because when you're wet and the air hits you, it's cold, but this day was HOT, so we all found it odd for him to be shaking. After the pool, he went down for his nap and when he woke up, he felt like he was on fire, but I thought maybe it was just because he had been napping on top of Mick, so their body heat together just overheated him. We met family for dinner that night and Mason didn't eat and was just completely lethargic and laying on anyone who would take him (which is totally unlike him, because usually he only wants mommy or daddy) Everyone tried to tell me "oh he's just tired, stop stressing" but I knew better. We took his temp when we got back to my mom's and the poor kid had a fever of 104 :( He's NEVER had a fever that high. We got his temp under control for the night and went back to Med Express first thing thursday morning. It was just as I had suspected - ear infection.. more than likely caused from teething, since he's finally getting that last set of molars.

We told the doc we were getting on a plane Friday morning to Florida and were concerned about the pressure on his already sore ear, so he gave us the strongest antibiotic he could give, so that it would kick into gear within 24 hours to help make Mason feel better. Sounds great, right?

Wrong. The flight to Florida and the first day was fine, but then, thanks to the antibiotics, diarrhea kicked in! and the diarrhea lasted the rest of our trip, including the flights back to California... one of which was 5 straight hours and quite a few dirty diapers long. *sigh* So, while it was AWESOME to see our family, it was, in some ways, the trip from hell haha by the last flight (the LONG one) Mason was crying saying "no mo plane, mommy" and he was a holy terror the whole time on that flight.. kicking, hitting, biting and pinching us the whole time, except for the last hour and a half when he finally fell asleep. Normally, Mason is a sweet boy, and being aggressive is not like him, but he had had enough and that was just his way of reacting to the situation, so we tried not to be too hard on him (but made sure he KNEW that behaviour was unacceptable)

whew! so that was our trip. Despite all of Mason's sicknesses, we did all still enjoy ourselves! Aside from that last flight, Mason was such a trooper and I could not have expected him to do any better. Even when he had the fever, he was still playing (like when we first got back to my moms, I was anxious to take his temp, but Mason was having way too much fun pretending to drive pap-pap's boat in the garage) so here are some pictures from the first part of our trip: OHIO! (florida pics will come soon)

Mick and I all ready for the wedding:


The bride:


My nephews play baseball and my brother is the coach. They knew we were coming to a game (so glad I finally got to see a game), so they planned it all out, that in between innings, they called Mick to the pitcher's mound. My brother gave a speech about how he'd just gotten back from 7 months in Afghanistan and he was so proud of him and said "if there's anything this guy loves as much as his family and his country, it's baseball, so I couldn't think of a better way to thank you" and then my sister in law's cousin sang the national anthem! (and sang it beautifully!) All the kids from both teams lined the 1st and 3rd baseline waving little flags. it was really cute, and despite what Mick might tell you, he was tearing up out on that pictures mounds :) It was so sweet.. I wish I would have been let in on the secret, so I could have been prepared to get better pictures! oh well =)



Karri singing, Mick at attention and I love how the guy in the backround is saluting! (he was retired airforce and came up to us to thank Mick later)


(my nephew)


they love their uncle mick-mick


after we got home, my mom had a cake for Mick


Tuesday night dinner in Zanesville with my bests and their significant others haha Love these ladies =)


Wednesday swim and fever fest. On the way to my aunt's we saw this sign at the bank in Flushing =)

Having fun with uncle Karl

He was cranky, but still had a blast, so you probably would have brushed off these goosebumps too at the time (although I still feel awful for not paying closer attention to it, knowing that he had a fever that whole day :(



Mason had lots of fun with his cousins, aunts, uncles, gi-gi and pap-pap =)






The last night, we finally got to take Mason out on pap-pap's boat for his first fishing trip. That's all pap-pap wanted to do the entire time... take his lil buddy out on the boat =)

Mason got to drive the boat


This one obviously didn't get resized, but it took me SO Long to do this, thanks to stupid photobucket, that I'm not going back to fix it haha


and caught his first fish! (actually caught 4 before the night was over)




so there you have it. That about sums up the first leg of our trip. Whenever I feel like fighting with photobucket again, I'll get around to the Florida pics haha