A trip “home”

Last weekend the kids, Jon and I headed “home.” Caldwell, OH – my hometown! It is always great to catch up with everyone. Although the weather and then seizures did keep us from seeing everyone we had hoped to see! Our weekend started off on Friday meeting up with another amazing little girlie with Rett Syndrome, Xayia. It is always so great to spend time with my Rett Syndrome family!

This BY FAR is my favorite picture from the weekend. Brooklyn was sitting in the swing with Jon and the sun hit her face just right….amazing.

We spent the weekend at my Uncle Phil and Aunt Suzy’s House – here is Boston watching him make a paper hat.

Too cute!

Relaxing….

Blowing raspberries.

This kid has so many sweet expressions, I just can’t get enough!

We ended our trip with a visit with the Riddle family, Courtney has been a buddy of mine for as long as I can remember. She was the first kiddo that I knew with Down Syndrome. She and her mom had an influence on me way before Down Syndrome became a part of my life. She was my first little Down Syndrome Hero. I spent a summer as her life coach, one of the best experiences ever. She will always hold a special place in my heart!

Someone was a bit worn out from the weekend!

I am not going to lie….the trip was hard.
Traveling with the kids was hard.
Having them out of their routine was hard.
Being back in a place that I grew up – around people that knew me “before” Rett Syndrome and Down Syndrome was hard.

It was great to see some of my best girl friends and laugh about old times…..for a split second I found myself longing to be back in those old times – back when my biggest worry was being late to volleyball ball practice or figuring out how in the heck I will ever learn enough spanish to survive fourth year. Ahhhhh those were the days….

But then I think about videos like this one and am reminded that these kiddos are the best things that ever happened to me.