This post needs a name -- Please vote from the list of 10 below!

I have been writing this post in my head for days. The first thing with any post is to have a decent title. I have been rolling around titles and been unable to settle in on one. Here are some other titles -- and if their meaning is not clear to you, you will just need to keep reading. Please leave a comment and vote for which title you like best!

1. All's well that ends well.
2. It isn't fun if there isn't a little blood
3. Heidi, Aaron, their 3 boys, and some of their stuff come to visit
4. Lesson's learned
5. Check, check, and double check
6. Humanity not lost, honest people still abound
7. Live right because someday you may really need a few miracles
8. Don't worry about losing something -- you will always get it back
9. Lost and Found, well actually Lost, Lost, and Found, Found
10. Lost in the Big apple

There is just a sampling of post titles in the running.

First, let me say what a great time we had. My kids are in heaven when their cousins are here.

The Baker family arrived Wednesday night at JFK. Trent picked them up. They were all excited to be in NEW YORK CITY to see the hustle and bustle -- everyone except their DVD player, case, dvd's, and IPOD touch which must have a social anxiety disorder so they hid on the plane in a bag together and were able to go unnoticed. Heidi and Aaron disembarked and only while waiting at the baggage claim did they realize their important "surviving a plane with 3 small kids" bag was missing. Thus began a series of phone calls which nearly always lasted too long and accomplished too little.

On Thursday we laid low, got re-acquainted, watched the kids play, took them to the Stamford museum and nature center (with the awesome park my kids love), had pizza and a movie (Journey to the center of the earth). Aaron got to spend a fair bit of time on the phone (with little or no progress on finding out if anyone found the bag).
Here are some pictures from the park.


On Friday, we caught the 7:27 am train in to the city. (yes AM! -- for all of you in the family who over the years have given Heidi a hard time for being late -- you should be ashamed -- we made the train with time to spare!) We saw -- grand central, rode the subway, went to ground zero, saw wall street and the New york stock exchange, trinity church and then went on the staten island ferry so we could see the statue of liberty, ate lunch, walked through battery park, rode the subway to 86th street, walked through central park, saw the met, the pond, the castle, took the subway back to grand central terminal and rode the train home. In the morning I waited in line at the 1/2 price place to get tickets to Saturday's matinee of The little mermaid. (Aaron still spent some time on the phone, but by Friday evening, he had word that they had found the bag, but he had to call and identify it)



On Saturday, we took the 10:27 train in to the city. The advantage for going on the early trains during the week is that you don't change trains, but on Saturday you always have to change trains in Stamford. We were all so excited about the day. Everyone, but Adam, Jared, and I were going to The Little Mermaid. Trent and I were then bringing all the kids home while Heidi and Aaron went to dinner and to see Wicked. We got on the train. We successfully changed trains and the train was so crowded we all had to stand. Right after the train started, Aaron looked around and said, "I left our backpack on the first train!"

Now, in that backpack was Heidi's wallet, credit cards, photo ID's (so she can take the plane home on Monday), diapers and wipes for the baby, changes of clothes for the boys, bottle, formula, Heidi's cell phone, Heide's makeup, and more! I started calling the MTA police to see if they can help us. Trent and Aaron are looking at the train schedule trying to see how quickly they can get someone back to that other train. I finally found a very kind police officer on the phone who agreed to try and reach the conductor of that train on his cell phone. Right then, Trent suggested we call some of our friends who live close to the train. It all worked out -- the train was headed back to New Canaan, the conductor was looking for the bag, our friend was at the train station and he was able to find it and take it to their house. It just left us in the city without any of those things. But we survived!

We ate lunch and then in the pouring rain the big group made their way to the Little Mermaid and I took the babies to Madame Toussaud's wax museum. We met up and went up to Trent's office and then headed back home. Trent and I took all the kids home and had a fun evening. Heidi and Aaron had a great time at dinner and Wicked.

We had a beautiful Sunday. The kids looked for Easter Eggs, we went to church where we were reunited with the lost train backpack. After church we had a yummy dinner, did another easter egg hunt outside and then Trent and Aaron drove to JFK to pick up the missing luggage. By Sunday's end -- everything had been found. Not one thing was missing. Just like Easter is the celebration of Christ's spirit reuniting with his body -- we had our own celebration of the reuniting of missing stuff with the owners. (OK, that may be stretching the analogy of Easter, just a bit!)


On Monday, the kids just played while Heidi and Aaron packed up. Julianne and Catherine were back in school. At one point Andrew got bonked in the head and bled profusely everywhere, but it turned out to be just a small gash. He was just fine, but it did look scary when Heidi rounded the corner holding him with the blood dripping everywhere.

We really had a good time. The kids are missing their cousins. We are missing the company. So everyone, come visit us.