2 years ago today...

Ian 1st birthday

Ian 2 1/2

Two years ago today we headed to Arizona to celebrate the long life of my Grandma Meier. We boarded the plane in Milwaukee and flew to Phoenix. As we were taxiing to the gate in Phoenix, I checked my cellphone messages. Our social worker, Anne, had frantically been trying to get ahold of us. She had left several messages on my cell phone, called Justin's work, etc. She was thrilled to tell us the news we had been waiting about 17 months to hear..."Your son is ready to come home!" The paperwork was finished and visas and passports processed. Our baby was ready for us to come and bring him home. Justin, Ben, Cami, and I flew over 10,000 miles in just 2 days. Not one tantrum by any of us! :)

I can't believe how the time has flown by. My baby is now talking, walking, strong willed and quite the comedian. We love him so much and are very thankful that he is a part of our family

Are you ready for some Wisconsin Football?

Justin and I have been looking forward to a day out watching the Wisconsin Badgers football team take on Michigan. A few weeks ago, Justin was invited to bring me along to the AT&T suite to watch the game today. Our friend, Jason, was kind enough to offer to drive to Madison and take care of the kids for us. The kids LOVE hanging out with him. They always have a lot of fun going places with him. Unfortunately, on Friday, Ian's little cold turned south and he started having a lot of coughing fits where he was wheezing and having a hard time breathing. The food he managed to consume the last few days ended up coming back up when he started coughing. We tried calling our doctor's office several times and was immediately put on hold and never actually got to speak to anyone. We are fortunate enough to have a friend, who is a doctor, agree to stop by and check him out so we would not have to run him into urgent care.

With Ian's illness, we decided that I should stay home and monitor him on Saturday in case he needed to be taken to Urgent Care. Also, with having to give him nebulizer treatments for his breathing, we did not have to want to place that responsibility on someone else.

Justin had a great time at the football game. It is always a treat to be able to sit in a suite and have lots of great tasting food and beverages available.

Now that all 3 kids have been sick in the last 2 weeks, we are praying that illness stays away from our house for a while. We pray for a healthy rest of 2009 and and a healthy start to 2010!

Our friend, Bill, was able to join Justin in the suite.

Heading toward the weekend

Our family picture taken in October

I always enjoy reading other people's blogs. I find inspiration to jot down things from our day. Unfortunately, I rarely get all my thoughts down and published in our blog. I love the honesty and the humor that most have. I also enjoy seeing pictures of friends as their kids grow, especially of those we don't see often.

Our last 2 weeks have been filled with illness or maybe I should say fevers. I have to believe that the spinal correction/chiropractic that we have been doing has helped our bodies fight a lot of germs that have been around us. Having various kids over during the week exposes us to many illnesses, not to mention whatever the kids bring home from school. The kids have traded off high fevers the last 2 weeks. It is hard waiting for another symptom to show itself only to have 2 or 3 days of high fevers and nothing else. I am thankful for the added snuggle time I have had with each of my kids. I love just sitting with them or having them fall asleep in my lap. The thought crosses my mind that I should utilize the quiet time to do housework or accomplish something else, but then I remind myself that the times of snuggling are getting more rare as the kids grow and exert their independence. Ben will return to school tomorrow after 3 days off for a fever. Yesterday he slept over 16 hours and today he thankfully is back to about 95%. God has given us an amazing body to fight infection. Everyones immune systems are getting stronger and hopefully we can avoid a lot of illnesses this winter.

55 days until we leave for LA to attend the People's Choice Awards. We found out the airline tickets were booked, our hotel is reserved, we received a check today to cover gas and parking, and are looking forward to finding out if there are even more surprises in store!

We are thankful that we will be able to spend a belated Christmas with my family while we are in LA. We are looking forward to spending time with Mike and Allison and the kids and also spending time with my mom and Bruce. We are also looking forward to all going to Disneyland together. Mickey and Minnie....here we come!

Washington DC Trip

I finally posted the story of our Washington D.C. Trip. You can read all about it here:

http://ianhank.blogspot.com/2009/08/ben-and-justins-adventure-to-washington.html

So long Midwest Airlines

In July of 1997 I began my journey with Midwest Express Airlines as a part time reservations agent while I attended Concordia University. I enjoyed my job and quickly mastered the basics. I was promoted to a Quality Assurance Agent and then to a Schedule Change coordinator. For 2 years I worked in all 3 positions and loved every minute of it, ok, maybe not EVERY minute, but most of it. A year and a half after I started, I graduated from Concordia and started working full time. I quickly realized that working 5 days a week in an office was not very exciting. Two of my friends applied for a job in Inflight. They both got hired and kept telling me how wonderful and fun it was. The pay was better, the people were great, better flight benefits, and you did not have to be stuck in an office. I applied, interviewed, and trained for what would become one of the best jobs of my life.

Several hundred employees wait for the final flight to arrive

A few YX friends and coworkers

In the 10 years in Inflight, I experienced a lot of good times (traveling to different cities, hotels, Mardi gras, etc), bad times (9/11, passenger threats, engine failures, etc), meeting celebrities (Bette Midler, Bea Arthur, Ludacris, Taylor Lautner, etc), politicians (every single one from Wisconsin - Feingold, Kohl, Sensenbrenner, etc), chartering sports teams (Brewers, Bucks, NJ Devils, Admirals, Royals, etc), and the list goes on. I loved my job and think I was pretty good at it. I especially loved that I could work 8-10 days a month, once we had Ben, and still maintain full time employment with great flight benefits for my family and for extended family and friends. Over the years we have traveled to many great places with a lot of our friends and family including going on Girl's New York trips several times a year. We non revved to Korea 3 times, which was totally crazy, but made the trip very affordable. We have taken our kids all over the country and overseas multiple times. Ben even hit 100,000 flight miles right before his 6th birthday.

My last flight was scheduled on Monday, July 7. After working a very delayed double Denver on Saturday, I headed to do what would be my last working flight on an out and back to San Francisco. I wish I would have known it would be my last working flight, but it is probably better that I did not know. I thought I would work this trip, go on Family Leave for Ian's adoption and then head back to work in December.

Layoffs were being sent based on years of service. In September, I received notice that I would be laid off effective September 30.

On November 2, 2009 the last Midwest flight crew flew the last 717 aircraft for the last time. After the company was purchased by Republic airlines this past July, they chose to lay off the remaining flight crews and have their lower paid Republic crews fly regional jets under the Midwest name. It is a sad day as Midwest (Express) Airlines has always been known for exceptional customer service. The airline has declined since the days of filet mignon dinner served on real china dishes with real silverware and topped off with complimentary red and white wine. The cookies are still there, but most are served cold.

Flight crews from throughout the years joined together on Monday to welcome the last flight in. With over 400 flight crew members present, news crews from every station, and many friends and family we said good bye to 25 years of Midwest airlines.

My heart is sad at what was, but filled with happiness at the awesome experiences I had and awesome people that I met. I thank and praise God for a job like no other. I began a new chapter in my life last October when I was laid off and began my new career at home as a full time mom. My children and husband are my life and my "job" now. I feel blessed to have had a great career and feel even more blessed that I can now be at home with my family.

Toni and Cat served us as union reps

Midwest employees anxiously await the arrival of the LAST real Midwest Airlines flight.

Kent Weinrich (L) was my Captain during my 9/11 trip. One of the best pilots in the industry!