Dave and Violet are off to Texas!

Its 5:45 in the morning, but I couldn't go back to sleep just yet! Dave scheduled this work trip with Violet for the first time ever. It is only going to work because Dave's sister Lisa lives in Dallas where Dave is working, and they are going to stay at their place. Violet with stay with Aunt Lisa and her three cousins (Kristina, Emma and Anja) during the day while Dave is working. They left this morning, and he'll work Mon and Tues and fly back home on Wed morning. I can't tell you how much Violet was looking forward to this trip. Two weeks ago when Dave asked her if she'd like to go with him on the airplane some times, she beamed and said "yesssss!" and jumped up and down like a crazy girl. Almost every sad moment for the last two weeks has resulted in her wanting to go on the airplane with daddy. She kept saying "everything just takes too long". Dave was just in CA last week for work (Sun thru Fri), so he got home on Friday late, then had to turn around and leave again on Sun morning. He knew she wouldn't be a big fan of him turning around so quickly and leaving again and felt bad for her, so this time he made the extra effort to take her with him because she would have a place to stay during the day. And it gives her a chance to bond with her three cousins that she doesn't know real well. I know they are looking forward to seeing her, they will have all sorts of fun. So, this morning their flight takes off at 6 am. We woke up Violet at 5 am, and we had talked to her many times about having to wake her up in the middle of the night to prepare her, knowing that she could very well be a big cranky pants. When our alarms went off, we got up and walked to her room, and woke her up. Dave gave her a big hug and picked her up. She woke up immediately, and he said "Its time to wake up, get dressed and drive to the airport so we can get on the airplane and go to Texas." She said "ok! I'll wake up now!" and immediately went into cheerful mode. Dave got in the shower and I helped her get dressed in the clothes we had picked out the night before. She just kept up the cheerful mood the whole time getting ready, offering to help with things and get her shoes on right away. She had packed all her favorite shirts in daddy's suitcase the night before and packed her little back pack with all her favorite things to do: her CD player with favorite music (lots of favorites here, I'm noticing, lol), her coloring book, colored pencils, a few sticks of gum, extra batteries, three tubes of chapstick, a notebook and a pen. Daddy just couldn't get ready fast enough. She knew as soon as he got dressed that they were going to take off. She anxiously waited til he was packed up, and in the mean time, we packed all her blankies, pillow and baby into his suitcase. I decided to put her pink blankie in her back pack so she could sleep with it if she got tired on the airplane. She had a little drink of milk, brushed her teeth, and soon they were out the door. I managed to stop them for a second to snap a picture of them together. I can tell that Dave is really excited to take her with him this trip. He loves knowing this is special and she is excited, and he just loves to spend time with her, I'm so happy about that. She was really missing her daddy a lot this past week since he was gone so this is a great time for them to reconnect. I wonder if later in life she will remember this. Soon they were in the truck and heading off. She told me to be brave if I started to be sad and to give Calvin a big hug and kiss if he gets sad. I'm a little worried that Calvin isn't going to understand all this (well, of course he won't, he just 1)...I just know that he won't and I hope he gets through the next 3 1/2 days with out too much anxiety about daddy and Violet being gone. I am gonna try get some sleep before I have to wake up in an hour and a half. I'm a little sad because I will really miss having Violet around. She's a big personality that fills this house up quickly. But I have to appreciate the break as well, knowing that this could be a very good thing, too.