We were warmly welcomed home by our friends from Mars Hill Church community group with an All-American party complete with chocolate chip cookies. The girls from the group gave me flowers, another sweet friend gifted us with a Starbucks card, and Jackson has been savoring the grapes from the fruit basket that Dan's mom gave us upon arrival.Coming home has been surreal. It's amazing how quickly 3 months passes when you're enjoying yourself in Europe but how lengthy the amount of time can seem when you return home and realize how much you've forgotten. It took me awhile to remember where I keep the extra soap and toilet paper here at the house and on our first trip to the grocery store I had to think long and hard before I could remember what phone number to punch in during checkout to get my extra savings.
Jet lag is quickly losing its grip on our family. Dan seems to have had the hardest time with it, waking after only a few hours the first night and getting progressively better throughout the week, just in time to return to work today. Jackson still wakes up at least once during the night thinking it's time to start his day but thankfully he's been easy to get back down for the most part. I've barely had any jet lag signs at all so that's been a real blessing.
Jackson returned to his home and toys with a familiarity and ease that greatly exceeded what we'd hoped for. The crazy thing is seeing how differently he plays now that he's 3 months older, wiser, faster, and bigger. We'll have to raise his basketball hoop up another notch unless we want him dunking every shot. He can now adjust the knobs on the stove with ease so that means we're on our toes at all times for fear of him burning the house down.
He can hop on and off of his Buzz Lightyear car and can "drive" himself across the living room forwards and backwards without an ounce of help from us at all.
We jumped right into a busy Blankenship schedule. We've bought new shoes for Dan and for Jackson, whose feet we'd been cramming into shoes a size and a half too small for his growing feet! I've already been to Starbucks so many times that Jackson thinks we're on our way to "Barstucks" each time I put his jacket on him and head for the door. Dan's already managed to do an overnight hike on the beautiful Pacific Crest Trail with his brother Rob and sister-in-law Beth. 
They weren't the only ones who got to hang out in a tent though. Jackson and I had fun here in Edmonds while Daddy was out in the mountains.
I was more than excited to break in my kitchen again by trying my hand for the first time at making a batch of The Last Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. WARNING to chocolate chip cookie lovers like myself: this cookie will change your life. It has CHUNKS of chocolatey goodness and a light dusting of sea salt for that perfect balance of salty & sweet. 
Jackson was quick to volunteer as my taste-tester.
Although, he was NOT happy about the blockade I put up between him and the kitchen while I baked. One by one, he thew his toys into the kitchen in hopes that I'd stop baking to bring them back to him and play with him.
We're happy to be home and back within US cell phone range but we definitely miss our friends that we left behind in Italy. Jackson is suffering through withdrawals from his Italian "family" at Sunrise Bar. Several times throughout each day he asks for CaCa, Gaga, Mimmo, Lela, Victoria, and CoCo. Each time we have to remind him that they're still in Italy. Francesca ("CaCa") says they're all missing him just as much and that Mimmo eats a gelato each afternoon in Jackson's honor.
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