Ashleigh's big trip

 

Ashleigh got to spend a couple weeks with her Aunt & Uncle in Alabama. She was so excited when they invited her to come visit and had been looking forward to it for quite a while. They even offered to split the cost of her plane ticket with me.

The worse part of my train being delayed a couple days was I only had a couple days to spend with Ash. before it was time to put her on a plane and see her off.

I was nervous to send her on a plane alone. I was a little younger than her when I started flying alone back and forth from Utah to California during summer break & holidays to visit my Dad. I loved it, and I knew she would too. Delta has the best unaccompanied minor's program so I felt confident letting her fly.

She had a wonderful two weeks with Charsty, Josh (who I think the world of, he has been so supportive of Ashleigh. He sends her texts all the time reminding her how beautiful she is, or just asking about her day. He always makes her feel special) and their two sweet little ones.

They spoiled her rotten by taking her out to eat all the time, going on adventures and even a took her on a little mini vacation within her vacation by staying in a hotel for a couple days to visit historical sites, the zoo and amusement park.

Charsty took tons of great pictures and I was happy to see Josh uploading some to Facebook so I could see pictures of the fun she was having. Of course they wanted her to stay longer, and tried telling me they were keeping her and just sending me back a clone. haha

She called me every night to tell me about her day and say goodnight, (sometimes she would call throughout the day) but after her being gone for two weeks, after only a very short reunion from my trip, I couldn't wait for her to get back.

I didn't get teary eyed when I dropped her off the airport but I sure did when I picked her up. I was only able to get two kisses before she decided she was too cool to be mushy around her mom in a public place.

I had her fly back on July 3rd so she would be home in time to celebrate the 4th with us. As she was flying into Salt Lake, she could see fireworks going off across the entire valley, and told us and it looked amazing.

Ashleigh and I walked out to baggage claim where she was met by Rusty and Jackson with a bunch of flowers and a big welcome home hug.



She's already talking about going back again next year.