all the wragge: travel to chicago...

or as Addie says, "papa, nana in KA-go."

The preparations for the flight were a breeze, my sister and I worked out a timeline and we were actually EARLY to the cab/airport! YAY! Addie was a dolly on the plane - she chatted it up for a little while and then crashed out before we left the state of California. Avery on the other hand... she was not a happy camper. She screamed for about 45 minutes, finally went to sleep for about 10 minutes when the captain got on the loud speaker and that set off the Avery scream bomb all over again. She calmed down after awhile, but it was a long flight.

When we finally made it to G&G Pettenuzzo's house we were greeted with hugs and kisses and an amazing spread of goodies {authentic Italian sandwiches, fried chicken, the works!} Both the girls ate up the attention and it was fun sitting around the table hearing stories from what I feel is the greatest generation. Grandma was telling stories from when she met her husband of 60 years and didn't miss a single detail. I love that about her, she pays such close attention to the details that most people might miss. My Grandpa joined us at the table after he made an entrance asking for his bride - could that be any cuter that after 60 years he still calls her his bride! Grandpa has so many one-liners and his timing is spot on! I feel like I could just sit and listen to him all day... in fact, I had to grab a napkin to start writing down some of his jokes because they were so darn funny!

The first night we were here Addie had it rough - she had just finished her double ear infection meds and was doing great... only to have the flight add additional pressure and she tugged at her ear all night long saying in that precious voice "owie, ear hurt, mommy mommy, ear, ear hurt mommy!" Ear infections are the worst because you can't do anything - so the next morning I called a friend {thanks AC!} to try and see their doctor which ended up not working out, then me calling/dad driving around to three other "clinics" to ultimately end up in the coolest ER for kids in Arlington Heights. The doctors were great and very attentive and because of Addie's experience in hospitals {i feel weird saying that} she was a trooper and cooperated like a champ. After they looked at her the discovered a puss-sack behind her ear that they were shocked didn't pop on the plane. She went on to describe what to expect and poor baby, just wish that pressure would go away.

Funny story though - when they {insurance lady, nurse & doctor @ the ER} asked us {dad & I} background info like where we live I said CA, then she asked for a picture ID with that address and I had to tell them I didn't have one, then she looked at me funny and asked where my drivers license was and I said AZ... then she looked beyond puzzled. I then said "do you want to scoop to where this all makes sense?" After telling them our mini-life story and explaining that my husband plays for the niners they turned to dad and the insurance lady said "oh, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you!" They thought my dad was my husband - ha ha ha! His quick whitted response was "I'm the long snapper, no one ever sees my face... just kidding, I am her dad and her {Addie'} grandpa." It was so funny... so funny!

Please keep Addie in your prayers, she is doing better with the medicine but still not sleeping as much as she needs too. Hope all is well with you and I will update more when I can... for now, I am going to go enjoy some more of the great stories...

PHOTOGRAPH UPDATE:

Playing softball in G&G's backyard...