Our Twin Nephews' Baptisms - Minneapolis, MN - October 3-5, 2015

Almost 5 months had passed, and I still had yet to meet my new sweet little twin nephews, William James and Aiden Thomas. They were born on May 14th, 2015, and I have been ancy ever since to introduce myself to them! When I found out when their baptism was, I booked a flight so quick, you couldn't even say "Early Bird Check-In" fast enough! Robbie wasn't able to make the trip with me, but we all missed him that weekend!

I flew out of San Diego on Saturday for the first time as a California resident, and I did it practically for free, thanks to my Rapid Reward points on Southwest! I had a quick connection in Denver, and before I knew it, I was on the ground in Minneapolis! As soon as I stepped foot into the airport, I whipped out my phone to call my brother to come pick me up!

By the time I got to the house, JG (the older brother, almost 2 years old) was already sleeping, so seeing him had to wait until the morning. I couldn't wait to see how much he had grown. Last time I saw him, he wasn't walking or talking, and now he is doing both! I was anxious to have a conversation with him!

 I had gotten there just in time to see William and Aiden before bed for the very first time, and it was love at first sight! William was a little fussy, so as Momma was calming him down, I just stared at Aiden while he stared back, just cooing and giggling. I put my index fingers in both of his hands, and he was hanging on for dear life! Then I was able to meet William and love him up for a few minutes before they went off for sweet dreams! I only got to see them for a little bit, but I was wrapped around their tiny little fingers already! It was a top 5 best moment of my life!

                                     

After all the boys were down for the night, it gave Johnny, Maura and I the rest of the evening to catch up. Minneapolis just got a Giordano's Pizzeria, one of the best deep dish Chicago-style pizzas around, so we ordered out from there, and had a delicious dinner to boot! It was the best way to end any day!

Sunday morning I was able to sleep in as long as I wanted, but I didn't because I still had yet to see JG! I set my alarm for 8am (6am PST!!), and right when it sounded, I shot straight out of bed to find him. He was getting a bath at that time, so I helped with that, and played a bit. JG likes the bubbles, and he asked for more, twice! He sure is a chatterbox! He can follow instructions, answer simple questions, and he knows his brothers' names! He calls Aiden 'Ay-en,' and he calls William 'baby', because William fusses more than Aiden. It's super cute! He knows his reflection in the mirror, and when he looks at himself, he points and says 'JG!' with a cute surprised voice! He can drink and feed himself, which I know is super helpful for Johnny and Maura when they have the twins to care for! There were times when one of the twins would be laying in a little rocking bed, and JG would just go over to him, put his hand on the bed, and just look at him. JG is the best big brother I've ever seen. He must get his older brother skills from his daddy! ;) And as I found out after he got out of the tub, he can walk/run like a crazy man!' In addition, he can climb and descend stairs by himself, too! There literally isn't anything he CAN'T do! I'm so proud of him, and was in continuous awe all weekend with how smart he was!

Shortly after, William and Aiden came down, and I got to spend more time with them. It took me a while to tell them apart, but I got the suggestion to look at their hair. William has darker hair than Aiden, so after that, it was a breeze! After having almost the whole morning to get better acquainted with the twins, family started to arrive for the baptism. My step-mom and step-sister Gloria and Kori came first, then my mom followed not long after. It was great to see all of them after what had seemed like so long! Maura's parents and sister came, and before we knew it we were headed to the church. We packed up 3 cars, and I was able to sit in between both twins, and in the same car as JG, Johnny, Maura, and mom. Yep, the Kasper's are now a mini-van family! Soccer, here we come! Chris and Kim, the Godparents and Maura's close friends who she sees as a brother and sister, met us at the church. The men of the hour were dressed so cute in their baptism whites!

On the way to the church, William and Aiden fell asleep, and they looked so peaceful. I could literally stare at them all day long. How Johnny and Maura get anything done is beyond me! Haha!

The actual baptism ceremony was held after Sunday Mass, and it's a community baptism, where there were 7 other babies to be baptized as well, all at the same time! I liked this version a lot because then you could share the joy with so many others. Each family with a child to be baptized and their sponsors and Godparents stood around in a half circle in the middle of the church, and the priest went around and blessed each child first. Then he called each child and family up individually to be baptized into the church. It was a sweet moment, and William and Aiden were the only twins! Considering there were 9 children to be baptized, they all did very well, and I don't think one of them started crying. Way to go babies!

After the baptism ceremony was finished, I took myself out of all the hype of taking pictures, etc for a moment to remember the true reason we were all there, and I was overwhelmed with such joy to know that we were there to celebrate William and Aiden being baptized into the church. I will forever be comforted to know that they will walk and grow with Christ for the rest of their lives. They will always be in good hands! That is what brought tears of joy to my eyes!

After all the family photos were finished at the church, we headed back to the Kasper's to have lunch and converse with each other. They had a great spread of light lunch food. It was during this time that I was able to catch up with mom, Gloria, and Maura's parents as well. Also early on, I wanted to get a photo holding both twins at the same time, so as I was holding each baby, they were both so content, and Maura swears it was the best they both have ever behaved. They were just chilling out in my arms without a care in the world! It was a great Auntie moment for me!

After a while it was time for cake, and Gloria made a wonderful one to commemorate the occasion. As we ate cake, baptism gifts were being open. Robbie and I got William and Aiden personalized baseballs engraved with a bible verse on one side of the baseball, and their names on the other. Both baseballs came in a casing, and we just knew they would be the perfect gift for a baseball-loving family!

As the afternoon became evening, people started to head out, leaving the Kasper 5, mom, and me. Mom was going to be spending the night on Sunday, which was a great chance for us to catch up. Right before JG went to bed, I was able to read him a bedtime story, which he normally doesn't sit through according to Maura, but he did for me! Am I becoming the baby whisperer?! That would be just fine by me! I also got some last minutes facetime with William and Aiden before they went off to bed!

The evening was very relaxing, but I was super tired. After some great adult conversation, it was bedtime. We gave Johnny the go-ahead to have JG wake us up whenever he wanted, and apparently around 730a on Monday, he was shouting my name down the stairs, 'Aaa-tee Jak-in.' From there, it was play time. I took the sheets off my bed, and mom taught him how to jump on it. He loved that, but I'm sure Johnny and Maura won't! Then we played peek-a-boo in the fort that we made out of the bedspread, and then it was onto playing with blocks and puzzles! JG is like my cool little playmate! I can't wait until William and Aiden can join in the fun....it won't be too long!!!

Johnny parted ways with us as he had to go to work that morning, and JG was by the door to see him off. It was a sad goodbye, but also a proud moment, knowing that he, my older brother, co-created this amazing family!! I probably look up to him more now than I ever did!

After everyone was dressed and fed, including us adults, we all went for a walk. Johnny and Maura have a double stroller for the twins, a seat one in front of the other, and a smaller stroller for JG. It looked like a stroller brigade as we all darted from the house! Within walking distance is a library that Maura frequents with JG for children's reading and play time. It was closed when we went, but that didn't stop us from letting loose in the courtyard in front of the library. JG absolutely loves it there, and he has his stepping stones that he likes to walk on. Mom again taught him a new trick, to stand on the bottom wrung of the gate! He was really good at it! It amazes me how impressionable he is at this age; he is like a sponge! The library is right across from a school, so JG was able to see a few school buses go by, and we would wave at them. He loves big trucks, and a school bus can be placed in that category.

On our walk home, I was able to take some pictures of the fall colors that were just starting to appear on the trees. In fact, in California we get that, too! It is however, nice to see Autumn in the Midwest!

After we got back, it was almost time for me to pack up and make my way to the airport headed west! I loved William and Aiden up one last time, and gave JG a big hug right before he tried to say 'Robbie.' It came out more like 'Wa-be.' I know he knows who his uncle is! It was so great to spend this special occasion with the Kaspers, and it is something that I will remember for the rest of my life! Mom took me to the airport around noon, and we said our final goodbyes! I was on my way to what would be the worst travel day I have ever had!

I was returning home on Southwest, with a 30 minute stop but no change of planes in Denver, then a connection in Las Vegas, due back into San Diego at 7:25pm. My flight from MSP-DEN was perfect, and it went by quickly as I was editing my photos from that weekend. Right as we landed in Denver, the captain came on the PA system and said he had bad news. He said that there was an Air Traffic Control issue in Vegas, and all the flights were being grounded there, so we would be stuck in Denver for at least an hour. He instructed us all to get off the plane because we were being stopped for over an hour. Being that I am a travel agent, I knew well enough that a ground stoppage means it's weather-related, and sure enough, I checked the TV and it was green over Vegas, indicating rain. My first stop was to the gate agent to see just how long my flight from DEN-LAS was going to be delayed, and if I was going to mis-connect from LAS-SAN. I knew I had a 1 hour and 50 minute layover in Vegas, so even if my LAS-SAN flight wasn't delayed, there was still a shot at making the connection in Vegas. The gate agent told me that there was another flight open that would go directly from DEN-SAN that I could get on, but there became the issue of my bags. I checked a bag, and if I was going to take that earlier flight from DEN-SAN, I would've either had to wait for my luggage to get to SAN later, or go back and pick them up the next day. I decided to stick with my original itinerary for now. After about a half hour, an announcement was made that the flight from DEN-LAS was going to be delayed at least another hour, so it was at this time that I knew I would miss my connection in Vegas had it departed at its original time. I was in constant contact with Robbie through all of this, and once I knew the DEN-LAS flight had been delayed another hour, we devised the plan of just having me obviously miss my connection (I wouldn't've had any other choice), stay over night in Vegas, and rent a car early Tuesday morning and drive back to Temecula then, and pick up my luggage in SAN on Tuesday night. It wasn't ideal but I was out of options. There was a last flight that left from DEN-SAN at 940pm, but I wasn't going to wait that long; I was going to at least make it to Vegas on this dang plane! At least then I would be in driving distance of home! Before the DEN-LAS flight left, I found out that the LAS-SAN flight had been delayed as well, which I was pretty much expecting, with all the ground delays in Vegas. So I called Robbie back and told him to wait on booking the hotel and car in Vegas cuz I might just make it to SAN tonight! My LAS-SAN flight was only going to be an hour late getting in. I knew that was going to be too late for Robbie to drive an hour to the airport to come get me on a weeknight, so we decided it was best for me to rent a car, just one-way, from the San Diego airport to drop off at the location here in Temecula. Fast forward about a half an hour, and we were on the plane en-route to LAS! And that's when I lost it. Tears just started pouring down my face, and if anyone saw me, they probably thought I was a huge baby. I guess the stress of the bad travel day all by myself combined with the little amounts of sleep in had in the previous 5 or so nights just got to me. I swear I was blubbering half way to Vegas. Luckily I had a window seat and could shield myself for the most part. When we touched down in Vegas, I had a text saying that my flight from LAS-SAN was leaving at 7:15pm, which was about 15 minutes from that exact moment. Thank goodness I was sitting in Row 2, so I just shot out of that plane like a bat out of hell, ran to my gate, and realized that the LAS-SAN flight wasn't due to leave for another 40 minutes. I lost it again! That's when I called Robbie and said that there was no way, after the day and night that I was having, that I could possible drive myself home. I know it wasn't ideal for him, but he agreed to drive to the airport to come pick me up. What a guy! :) After we boarded the plane, I thought we would have to wait in a long line to take off, but we didn't which was good. If there was ever one thing that made me strongly dislike Vegas, it was this! We lived in Vegas for 4 years and I swear it rained only 7 days. And, being I am a travel agent, I get all the communication for ground stoppages, and I think it only happened once before in Vegas. Just my luck, no pun intended! When we finally landed in San Diego, I could not have been more relieved. As I made my way to baggage claim, a lady came on the PA speaker and said that the bags from the Vegas flight were going to be back-logged as there were 3 other flights in front of ours waiting for bags. Luckily, 3 minutes later she came back on the PA and said that our flight's bags have been moved to a different carousel. Praise the Lord! When I got my suitcase, Robbie was right there waiting for me! I was sooooo happy to see him! It turned out, though, that he got there ahead of my plane, and he couldn't just wait for me, and the security guy said that he couldn't temporarily park without paying, so he ended up looping around the airport 23 times before he saw me! He counted. My travel day from hell was finally over, and the lesson was learned that we will take non-stop flights to wherever we can no matter the price, because my travel day was completely not worth it! It was fun, however, to talk about my trip to Robbie on our hour-long drive north to Temecula!

"When we think of our family...let us see them as a gift from God." -Dillon Burroughs