World Travelers

Our little family has had a busy few days. On Tuesday, Eben flew to Germany to be with his twin brother who was injured in a suicide bombing attack in Iraq. Despite the full body armor, he sustained some injuries and was flown from Iraq to an Army hospital in Germany. On Saturday they flew to Washington D.C. where he will undergo more treatment and will thankfully make a full recovery. Eben returned home Monday night.

Meanwhile, we had plans to attend my grandmother's memorial service in Tennessee. She was 96 and had led a full life and it was much more to celebrate her life than anything. Since we used frequent flier miles, and planned our trip around Eben's work schedule, our flight was awful - leave at 6:30A Friday from Newark, return 11:59P Saturday. So I ended up booking a hotel in Newark for Thursday night and took advantage of its location by driving to NYC early Thursday and was finally able to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I love this picture of Edison with the Statue of Liberty in the background. I did the audio tour and learned to look at the Statue in a new way. My favorite epiphany has to do with her movement - she is actually walking forward and thrusting the torch up as she looks towards the "Old World" - what a sense of purpose!
A short ferry ride from New Jersey (or Manhattan) is needed to reach the monuments. What you don't see right now is about 100 6th graders going crazy on the top deck of the ferry. But if they're excited about a social studies field trip, I'm all for it!
On 3 of the 4 legs of our flight, I had an open seat next to me and Edison rode in his car seat. This worked very well. I was worried about our 4 hour layover in Chicago Friday morning. But luckily I happened upon an exhibit sponsored by the Chicago Children's Museum. It is a mini-museum based on flight - tons of stuff to play with and climb on. Here is Edison at the pilot's controls (not on the real plane - yet).
I booked us a nice hotel in Tennessee because I wanted to use the pool. Of course, we never had the time to swim, but the fluffy comforter and abundant pillows were really fun. Can you count all seven of Edison's teeth?
Tennessee was lovely this time of year - azaleas and dogwoods blooming like crazy. I was very happy to see my cousin Matt. Uncle Matt is a big fan of Edison, even using Edison's picture for his profile pic on Facebook - too funny! On a side note, Edison is starting to play peek-a-boo. He hides himself behind a towel - holding it up high with his chubby arms outstretched. (Unfortunately I am having trouble finding a picture of this.)