cheyenne chronicles: Maryland

We recently got back from a trip to my old stomping grounds in Maryland. It's always a treat to go home and be among family and friends. This was Ellie's first trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa Chu. My parents and my sisters have been to Wyoming so it's not their first time seeing her. It was however the first time some dear friends and my Aunt Rose got to see her, which was very fun.

We got to stay with the Fergusons, a wonderful family for whom I used to babysit. Their three daughters are now grown up; their youngest, Michelle, just graduated from high school. It makes me feel old that the kids I babysat for are all graduating from high school and going to college! The Fergusons lived a few minutes drive from my parents' so it was very convenient.

Our trip started off with a little more excitement than we'd expected. First off, right out of Cheyenne we missed the exit to the highway down to Denver which led to a 10 minute detour. Luckily, we had left home with plenty of time to get to the airport for once (most people know we're usually running late). When we got to the airport parking lot, I suddenly realized my driver's license was not in my wallet. Usually it is but this one time it wasn't because I'd taken it out a couple days earlier and had put it back in my purse but not in my wallet. When I was packing, I didn't pack my purse and just brought my wallet. Dan thought that for sure I wouldn't be able to board the airplane without a photo ID and that we'd have to reschedule our flights. He suggested that we just leave the luggage in our car and take the bus to the airport terminal to get our flights rescheduled. I said that we should just bring all our luggage just in case they do let me on the plane. Amazingly, when we talked with the Southwest agent about the situation, she said that Southwest doesn't require a photo ID to fly and that the security personnel would just do additional checking on me. I was so glad we brought our luggage along anyway and didn't have to pay extra money to reschedule flights which we would've had to do if we left our luggage in our car because there wouldn't have been enough time for us go back to get the luggage.

So, with a sigh of relief we got to the departure gate in time for our flight. However, our adventures were not over! On the airplane, Ellie got sick and was very fussy. We didn't know what was wrong with her. She cried a lot and wanted to be held. Then she threw up. Fortunately, we'd traveled enough with our kids that we were prepared and had packed a change of clothing for everyone. I cleaned her up as well as I could and changed her soiled shirt. Everything seemed fine for a bit, although Ellie was still a little fussy. A while later, she threw up again. This time it was a bigger mess and I didn't have another clean shirt. So, I used one of Charlie's shirts. It was obvious something was wrong but we still were clueless. So, I just held her and tried to get her to drink fluids and be as comfortable as possible. By this point, I was looking forward to getting to our destination ASAP! However, we had a stopover in Cincinnati and then another one-and-a-half hour flight to Baltimore. After the stopover, we continued on in the same plane to our destination. I was not surprised when Ellie threw up a third time. What a mess!! I got to clean it up again because Dan was sitting across the aisle from us. With no clean shirts left for either child, Dan had wisely decided to wash the first soiled shirt since it wasn't too badly soiled. So, by the time we needed it it was pretty well dried.

Sorry to bore you with all the details of our trip there! We were just glad to get there in one piece and to look forward to having our visit go a lot better than our experiences thus far. The next day we were able to take her to a walk-in medical clinic and have a doctor look at her. They couldn't tell what was wrong - it was probably a virus. We figured as much but wanted to have her checked out just in case, especially because she was wheezing a little and seemed to be taking quick breaths. We got a nebulizer for helping her inhale some medicine for the wheezing. We only had to use it a couple times but that seemed to help her breathing get back to normal.

Anyway, we did have a great trip overall. Besides seeing my parents and sisters, we also got to see my dear friend, Jaya. I'm so glad we were able to see her since she is super busy. Jaya and I were best friends in the fourth grade and have been good friends since then. It's amazing that we've been friends for so long despite living in different states and leading totally different lives. Seeing her again made me realize why we are friends and that we will remain friends always. She is a great person!! Love you, girl!

It was wonderful to spend time with my family. We were crazy enough to go down to DC one day. It was SOOO HOT and HUMID!! I'm not used to the climate anymore. We went to the Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. I can't believe how many people were at each place - it seems like there weren't very many people all the previous times I'd gone. We didn't stay long at the Air and Space Museum because the kids were just really tired and Ellie needed a nap. Before we went to the Air and Space Museum, we saw a carousel and I went on it with Ellie and Charlie. Ellie just LOVED it and cried when we had to get off.

Aunt Rose was off on Monday so we went to lunch with her at the Wheaton Mall - a place at which I've spent a lot of time as a teenager. On the way from the restaurant to the park, I showed Dan the neighborhood where we lived when I was a child. It was strange to see all the changes that had been made since my family and I moved to the house where my parents live now. The Catholic high school right by the apartments we lived in has been replaced by a new development of townhomes. There were more storefronts and other buildings in the area. The library still looked the same though! Ah, what a trip through memory lane!

After lunch we went to the park. Ellie was really excited to see that there was a carousel there and, of course, the kids got to ride on it with my dad. There was also a miniature train and we rode that too. I had ridden on it as a child. Charlie was in heaven! I was amazed that it was about 10 minutes long - a lot longer than any little train ride I'd taken Charlie on.

We also got to see some wonderful friends of mine from church, the Connors, the Fergusons, and Charlene Weaver, who was in Young Women's with me. Brother Connor was my seminary teacher and my employer for one summer. I also babysat his kids during high school. Sister Ferguson was also one of my seminary teachers and Brother Ferguson used to drive me to seminary. Can I just say these are amazing people? I count them among my eternal friends.