Carson's Baptism

We were back in Iowa for Palm Sunday to celebrate the baptism of our nephew and godson Carson James Thomas. We also got to spend some quality time with Brian and Katie as well as Opa and Oma. Jayne and Jerry came out Sat night to play a little. We also had a bunch of Thomases and Fuersts come out for the main event on Sunday.

This is how our kids entertain themselves in the airport. This was actually taken in Chicago which wasn't our original layover. We were supposed to go to Saint Louis but our plane was going to be 3 or 4 hours late into Denver so they routed us through Chicago which put us into Cedar Rapids, IA at 10pm instead of 9pm.


This is Bryce in his PJs in Opa and Oma's front window.


Sydney loves to play dress up at Opa and Oma's house.


This is us with our nephew Carson. You might not be able to see it, but that is a Green Bay Packers symbol on my shirt.


I brought along Settlers of Catan and Brian and I put in many games. We tried starting one with the girls but couldn't keep them interested long enough to finish. It's actually an awesome game if you haven't tried it.


The Thomas cousins sitting on the couch. I don't know what Bryce thought was so funny but at least he was smiling!


Sydney and Grandma Jayne got some playtime on Sat night. The more I look at Sydney's smile the more I'm freaked out.


More game playing but this time it was Citidels. No one told Brian we were taking a picture, that's just his normal game playing face.


Finally a picture of Brian without a goofy face. Aren't the new parents so cute!


Here is the happy family after the baptism. Carson actually did great during the actual event. I (Jason) was holding him the whole time and he didn't even cry when I leaned him forward for the baptism. Then I got to parade him around the church for everyone to look at him. What can I say ... I'm the Godfather.


Sydney got to hold Carson briefly after church was over. You can barely see Melissa's blue sweater in the background ready to grab Carson if Sydney suddenly decided she was done holding him.


This is a classic shot of us trying to control our kids for a picture. They were both mad for unknown reasons and they certainly did not want to take a picture.


Amazingly, we managed to calm them down long enough for this shot which turned out pretty good.


Here are the god parents and uncle and aunt of Carson.


Brian and Bryce enjoyed a little round of WWF in the basement. I can't remember if the ballon survived the impact but Bryce did anyway.


This is what Bryce did basically non-stop while he was at Opa and Oma's house. Matchbox cars and more matchbox cars. It was fun to see all that stuff again that we used to play with.


Sydney mainly played with the little people stuff and did dress up with whoever she could rope into it.


We finally decided to get a picture of Opa and Oma with the grandkids right when Carson was feeling grumpy. Oh well, if you don't look close enough you can convince yourself that he is smiling, not crying.


Katie and Carson sporting one of his classic toothless grins.


The Thomas cousins sitting together long enough for a decent picture! Yeah!


Brian had Carson doing all kinds of crazy moves and Sydney thought the whole thing was hillarious. This was at the Cedar Rapids airport. We ended up saying goodbye, making everyone cry, going through security, until we reached our gate and they said "Who wants to be bumped because we're overbooked?" I said sure and they gave us two $200 vouchers and let us fly out anytime we wanted the next day. I would have paid them to stay an extra day ... suckers!


Opa and Oma saying goodbye to Sydney and Bryce at the Cedar Rapids Airport. This was before the crying that took place between Oma and Sydney. Then we had about another hour of "I miss Oma" from Sydney. I think this was our second attempt at leaving because our first attempt was thwarted by fog in Cedar Rapids and bad weather all across the midwest. Luckily American put us on a direct flight to Denver on United so we totally lucked out.


Melissa and Sydney on the plane.


Bryce and I on the plane. He was pretty excited by the carmel corn on his tray.


Last picture of us on the bus to the long term parking place where we left our car. I only posted this one because I think Bryce looks so funny. He was totally wiped out and he's got the best blank stare going. He pretty much feel asleep instantly once I started the car.