Welcome Home Dad

Will it always be this way? Will my kids always stand with anticipation at the airport meeting place, holding a brightly decorated sign that reads: "Welcome Home Dad!" because their dad has been away on a business trip for 2 weeks? Will they shower him with kisses and get teary when we suggest the 'possibility' that Dad and I might go out tonight to see "Praise to the Man" even though he just got home that day? Or will they be indifferent to it one day? This morning, Lucy climbed into our bed with her dad to give him a cuddle...something she hasn't been able to do for weeks. She even woke up early to do it. Tyler asked her if she would always cuddle with him and she promised "Forever and Always". He said he'd hold her to it.

So Saturday was filled with frantic energy and excitement. Dad was flying in a 2pm. We did a crazy quick job of tidying the house (So it didn't look like all we did for 2 weeks was play), threw some chili into the crockpot, and headed out the door just before 1pm. I checked the Calgary Airport website the night before to check which gate we had to meet him at, and it said gate A...also checked the map so I would know exactly where that was. I didn't want to be backtracking with 3 kids in tow.

His flight landed about 12 minutes early, and we got to meeting place A to realize that this was NOT where he was coming in. Because they were early, they had to switch the gate. So now it was meeting place B...upstairs and a few blocks away. RACE! We made it there on time, and waited patiently with our sign. The kids had suggested the day before that we make a sign and decorate it with 'argyle' for their dad. Because he is the KING of argyle. I thought it was perfect.

The anticipation was killing them. They waited for about 2 minutes like this:

And then the other 6 minutes like this:

Asking me every 30 seconds, "Mom, when is he going to get here?" It was torture. At one point they wandered over to the arcade that was a few feet away and nearly missed his grand entrance. But there he was in all his shining glory. (Picture isn't that great).

Because they had gotten interested in the arcade, the hugs were quick and then it was back to check it out. Dad had a few coins leftover from doing laundry mid-week, so he gave Max a turn racing. Then we headed downstairs to get his luggage, play in the play-place for a few minutes and throw a coin or two in the fountain. Oh, and check out the horses.

My brother texted me while we were there to say they were heading to my parent's with their new baby Eli and asked if we would be around - so we quickly changed our plans to have a quiet evening at home and instead headed to see the baby! Yay. He is so handsome! I actually got to hold him to...I still need a turn holding Callum.

Burgers and chips for dinner. A game of Whoonu with Dad plus a trip to the park and the kids were completely satisfied with their awesome 'Dad-day'. Tyler decided to extend the evening by creating a Pajama Dance Party on our bed for a few minutes before scriptures and prayers. I was hopeful that the late night wouldn't prove to be a mistake come Sunday morning.

Tyler and I chilled for a few minutes before heading to bed ourselves. We were exhausted. Since he was still on Kingston time, he was 2 hours ahead of us, so going to bed at 11pm was like 1am for him. (This explains the Sunday afternoon nap...plus his falling asleep in sacrament meeting!)

We are so happy to be reunited again. And even happier to know that he won't have to make another trip until we can all go with him. It'll be difficult to organize him working from home for the next 2 months, and helping the kids understand that even though he's at home, he's still working...but we'll figure it out.