Travels to Tucson!
Friday, March 15: (My brother's birthday!) Today was the last day of parent conferences. I had one at 7:30am, one at noon, and the last one at 1:05. Right after the last one, I literally ran out the door to pick up Audrey and hit the road to Encinitas before traffic got bad. We made really good time.
We visited with my dad and mom and had a spaghetti dinner. Audrey had fun swinging and after she went down, I watched "Elementary" with mom & dad. They got me really into a BBC TV series called "Sherlock," which I LOVE. So "Elementary" is America's version of pretty much the same thing - Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century. British TV won.
Saturday, March 16: Audrey slept in until 6am and then we had breakfast and hung out in Encinitas for a few hours before we needed to leave for the airport. While we were on a walk, I realized I'd forgotten a copy of Audrey's birth certificate! *SHOOT!* I needed that to proof Audrey could be a "lap baby" and thus fly for free. Jeff came to my rescue and emailed me a cell phone photo of the certificate. (It worked!)
Dad drove us to the airport and when we arrive, Audrey was soooo giddy with excitement! She was giggling and kicking her feet in her little umbrella stroller. I'd been hyping up the fact that we'd be flying on an airplane for a while so once we were actually there, she really got excited! We got checked in all right and Dad left us at the security gate. Audrey did a great job and, if I do say so myself, Meg did too! I had to get out all my tiny bottles of liquid for Audrey - snack pouches, juice, sunscreen, lotions, etc. I thought for sure they'd want to search my bag but no! I'm glad I had read that you're allowed to bring on snacks for kids - that made packing easier. :)
Once we got through security, our flight was already pre-boarding. I wanted to buy a water bottle for me and Audrey to share and then run to the bathroom. After the bathroom, I realized I didn't have my boarding pass!!! I had left it on the counter where I bought the water bottle! I was the rude mother pushing and shoving her stroller through a crowd of people to get to my destination... I felt bad about that but what would have happened if I'd lost my boarding pass?! Everything worked out and we made it on the plane ok. (*Note: This is instance #1 of severe Mommy brain syndrome.)
We got an aisle seat towards the front of the plane next a friendly young man at the window. We almost took off with the middle seat empty but a teenage guy took it at the last second. The flight was fully booked so it felt a little squishy. But Audrey did great! She was so excited when the plan started moving and kept asking for "more airplane." haha! It was really fun watching her take everything in. We played with stickers and colored a little bit during our 1 hour 15 minute flight to Tucson.
Jim, Cassie, and Jackson were on the other end ready to help us get our luggage and get checked in to our rental car. Hertz also rents car seats, which was very handy. We followed Jim to our hotel and Audrey fell asleep for the 40 minute car ride. Once we were at the hotel, Jim sat with sleeping Audrey in the car while I checked in. Then I tried my hardest to get Audrey into our room quietly - hotels are not reputable for being quiet... Between the family who joined us in the elevator to the heavy slamming hotel door, Audrey woke up. And she never fell back to sleep... Oh well! 40 minutes will have to do!
Around 3ish, we headed over to Jim, Cassie, & Jackson's house (referred to as JCJ from now on!). Before that, Audrey fell in love with the elevator! It had a glass window so you could see how high or low you were going. That was a hit! Audrey was in good spirits the whole time we were at JCJ's home. We played with all kinds of toys and also played at a playground. Audrey enjoyed playing the kid piano while sitting in a tiny rocking chair. She also enjoyed playing with Jackson's sand toys at the playground and swinging like a big girl. :)
For dinner, we had chicken, mixed fruit, and steamed veggies. Jim also shared some of his ice cream birthday cake with the adults. Audrey took a bath at their house since the hotel does not have a bath (only a shower). We then returned to our hotel, read a story, said our prayers, and Audrey fell asleep promptly at 7:45. What a fun day!
Sunday, March 17: St. Patrick's Day - flashback to one year ago:
Haha! No silly outfits this year!
Audrey woke up at 5:20 (as usual). I thought she'd have a rough time last night because *I* had a rough time - lots of noisy neighbors around 10:30... but she slept through the night like a pro! Once we were dressed, we headed over to Starbucks for breakfast. This was after I closed the hotel room door with my card key inside! (*Note: Instance #2 of severe Mommy brain syndrome!) Thankfully, this is a super quick fix and we were on our way. We shared oatmeal (Audrey's current favorite breakfast food) and a banana at Starbucks and hung out for a bit. We called Jeff to check in - Audrey said "good morning" to him. He misses her so much!
Around 8:15, we were at JCJ's house. We packed up and headed out to the zoo! It was only about 10 minutes away but Audrey fell asleep in the car! It was a quick catnap as she awoke when we arrived and was once again giddy with excitement! I let her hold a zoo map and she kept saying, "animals! More animals!" We saw tigers, giraffes, zebras, a rhino, tons of peacocks wandering around, elephants (including a baby, which Audrey called Dumbo, of course!), flamingos, turtles, monkeys, and big bugs! What fun!
After the zoo, Audrey picked out a souvenir in the gift shop - she chose a train! There was a small train, similar to the ones they have at malls (which Audrey had ridden on several times), that went around the park adjacent to the zoo. We had a picnic lunch and then Audrey fed some ducks with Uncle Jim. Jackson was tired at this point (around noon) so JCJ headed home and Audrey & I rode the train. She loved it! On the way back to the hotel, I kept talking really loudly to Audrey to keep her awake - the rental car is a real smooth ride! Audrey took a 1.5 hour nap and was a little fussy upon waking. She was better once we returned to JCJ's home.
The kids played and played, Jim put "Dumbo" on the TV, we walked to a greenbelt and let the kids run around, played some more, and had dinner (turkey burger, fruit, avocados). Audrey can say "avocado" almost perfectly! Jim & Cassie opened their birthday gifts from us, then Audrey took a bath, we returned to the hotel, brushed teeth, read a story, said our prayers, and went to sleep at 7:40. It was a good day!
Monday, March 18: Audrey was up at 5am and didn't want to go back to sleep. It turned out she had a bloody nose! :( She has gotten these before at home - it happens when the air is really dry, which it is in Tucson! Once I cleaned her up, she was good to go. So we headed out to breakfast (just the two of us) at IHOP! Audrey loved coloring and impressed the waitress when the waitress brought the coffee and Audrey declared, "coffee!" After breakfast, Audrey discovered pockets in her windbreaker and paced around outside the restaurant with her hands in her pockets. So cute!
We met up at JCJ's house a little after 8am and got ready to go to a wildlife museum. The original plan was to go to a children's museum but much to our dismay, we found out last night that the museum is closed on Mondays - bummer. The wildlife museum had a bunch of taxidermy animals on display. Audrey was a little confused at first but got into some of the kid-friendly activities, like petting some of the animals, crawling like a ferret through a tunnel, and walking under the belly of a giraffe! We had a snack at the end and then went back to JCJ's for lunch.
Then it was nap time - Audrey slept almost 3 hours! I guess all the traveling had finally caught up to her. When she woke up, she had milk & a snack and watched The Ellen DeGeneres Show (only decent thing on at 3pm...) while I got some packing done. We went over to JCJ's around 4 and went for a walk to the grocery store - Audrey pointed out buses, a blue truck, and an orange car. She also liked waving to her shadow :)
Back from the store, we watched the kids run around on the green belt again. Audrey played "1, 2, 3, GO!" (a favorite daycare game) and was inspired by Aunt Cassie to do a handstand (with Mommy's help)! We had an early dinner since Jim was going to bowling and then we played and played. We ended the night with a bath, hugs & kisses goodbye, more packing, and bed time. She was down by 7:40. Just as I was getting ready to go to sleep, a really loud obnoxious woman checked in to the room next door. She had her phone on speaker and was literally yelling into the phone. I could hear her entire conversation through the walls! I thought for sure this would wake up Audrey - nope! I turned up the a/c so I could drown out her noise myself. Around quarter to ten, I fell asleep and did not wake up until Audrey started coughing around 4am. It's a good thing I fell asleep - I would have called the front desk if that lady had continued her yelling into the night! *sheesh*
Tuesday, March 19: As I mentioned earlier, Audrey woke up at 4am coughing. I brought her into bed with me and she fell right back to sleep. I, on the other hand, already had thoughts of the day streaming through my head and knew my alarm would be buzzing at 4:45 anyway so I just got up and started getting ready. Audrey woke up herself at 5:15. I rushed her slightly to drink her milk and get dressed so we could be on the road to the airport by quarter to 6. We had to drop off the pack 'n' play to Jim before we left and then we were on our way to the airport.
It was still dark and I don't know Tucson and I was wearing my glasses (which have a weaker prescription than my contacts) so... I got lost. I hit all kinds of construction areas which made using my navigation app on my phone a real pain! Audrey heard me say a couple bad words... oops. She repeated "darn it" and then I knew I had to compose myself. I told her, "Mommy is frustrated because she is lost. I need to choose better words to use when I'm frustrated. How about 'sheesh'?" She repeated "sheesh" to me and we were on our way. (*Note: Instance #3 of severe Mommy brain syndrome!)
Before getting to the airport, I stopped to fill up the rental car with gas. The car is newer and had a fancy way of getting the gas cover opened, which I could not for the life of me figure out! I hastily got Audrey out of her car seat and ran in to the convenience store to ask the clerk for help. She said to just push the cover and it should pop out. I ran back, pushed, pushed, HIT that cover and nothing happened. I think she saw how flustered I was getting and came out to help. She eventually found a button to open the cover somewhere under the seat! It took her a while to find it so I didn't feel so bad! It was not labeled and I didn't have time to read the entire manual to find out where it was! (*Note: Instance #4 of severe Mommy brain syndrome!)
After filling up, dropping off the rental car, checking in, and passing through security, we were finally on our way. We had a little more time before boarding so we looked out the windows at the airplanes and cars and people working on the runway to get the planes ready for takeoff. Audrey was intrigued about walking down the "tunnel" to get into the airplane. This flight was much MUCH less crowded so we took advantage of that. We sat all the way at the very back and had an entire row to ourselves! Once again, Audrey did great during takeoff, in the air (she played with stickers and read a book), and landing. The San Diego airport (where we flew in to) was very crowded. But we got our luggage and Dad picked us up. What a fun adventure, traveling with my little girl! :)
We visited with my dad and mom and had a spaghetti dinner. Audrey had fun swinging and after she went down, I watched "Elementary" with mom & dad. They got me really into a BBC TV series called "Sherlock," which I LOVE. So "Elementary" is America's version of pretty much the same thing - Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century. British TV won.
Saturday, March 16: Audrey slept in until 6am and then we had breakfast and hung out in Encinitas for a few hours before we needed to leave for the airport. While we were on a walk, I realized I'd forgotten a copy of Audrey's birth certificate! *SHOOT!* I needed that to proof Audrey could be a "lap baby" and thus fly for free. Jeff came to my rescue and emailed me a cell phone photo of the certificate. (It worked!)
Dad drove us to the airport and when we arrive, Audrey was soooo giddy with excitement! She was giggling and kicking her feet in her little umbrella stroller. I'd been hyping up the fact that we'd be flying on an airplane for a while so once we were actually there, she really got excited! We got checked in all right and Dad left us at the security gate. Audrey did a great job and, if I do say so myself, Meg did too! I had to get out all my tiny bottles of liquid for Audrey - snack pouches, juice, sunscreen, lotions, etc. I thought for sure they'd want to search my bag but no! I'm glad I had read that you're allowed to bring on snacks for kids - that made packing easier. :)
Once we got through security, our flight was already pre-boarding. I wanted to buy a water bottle for me and Audrey to share and then run to the bathroom. After the bathroom, I realized I didn't have my boarding pass!!! I had left it on the counter where I bought the water bottle! I was the rude mother pushing and shoving her stroller through a crowd of people to get to my destination... I felt bad about that but what would have happened if I'd lost my boarding pass?! Everything worked out and we made it on the plane ok. (*Note: This is instance #1 of severe Mommy brain syndrome.)
We got an aisle seat towards the front of the plane next a friendly young man at the window. We almost took off with the middle seat empty but a teenage guy took it at the last second. The flight was fully booked so it felt a little squishy. But Audrey did great! She was so excited when the plan started moving and kept asking for "more airplane." haha! It was really fun watching her take everything in. We played with stickers and colored a little bit during our 1 hour 15 minute flight to Tucson.
Jim, Cassie, and Jackson were on the other end ready to help us get our luggage and get checked in to our rental car. Hertz also rents car seats, which was very handy. We followed Jim to our hotel and Audrey fell asleep for the 40 minute car ride. Once we were at the hotel, Jim sat with sleeping Audrey in the car while I checked in. Then I tried my hardest to get Audrey into our room quietly - hotels are not reputable for being quiet... Between the family who joined us in the elevator to the heavy slamming hotel door, Audrey woke up. And she never fell back to sleep... Oh well! 40 minutes will have to do!
Around 3ish, we headed over to Jim, Cassie, & Jackson's house (referred to as JCJ from now on!). Before that, Audrey fell in love with the elevator! It had a glass window so you could see how high or low you were going. That was a hit! Audrey was in good spirits the whole time we were at JCJ's home. We played with all kinds of toys and also played at a playground. Audrey enjoyed playing the kid piano while sitting in a tiny rocking chair. She also enjoyed playing with Jackson's sand toys at the playground and swinging like a big girl. :)
For dinner, we had chicken, mixed fruit, and steamed veggies. Jim also shared some of his ice cream birthday cake with the adults. Audrey took a bath at their house since the hotel does not have a bath (only a shower). We then returned to our hotel, read a story, said our prayers, and Audrey fell asleep promptly at 7:45. What a fun day!
Sunday, March 17: St. Patrick's Day - flashback to one year ago:
Haha! No silly outfits this year!
Audrey woke up at 5:20 (as usual). I thought she'd have a rough time last night because *I* had a rough time - lots of noisy neighbors around 10:30... but she slept through the night like a pro! Once we were dressed, we headed over to Starbucks for breakfast. This was after I closed the hotel room door with my card key inside! (*Note: Instance #2 of severe Mommy brain syndrome!) Thankfully, this is a super quick fix and we were on our way. We shared oatmeal (Audrey's current favorite breakfast food) and a banana at Starbucks and hung out for a bit. We called Jeff to check in - Audrey said "good morning" to him. He misses her so much!
Around 8:15, we were at JCJ's house. We packed up and headed out to the zoo! It was only about 10 minutes away but Audrey fell asleep in the car! It was a quick catnap as she awoke when we arrived and was once again giddy with excitement! I let her hold a zoo map and she kept saying, "animals! More animals!" We saw tigers, giraffes, zebras, a rhino, tons of peacocks wandering around, elephants (including a baby, which Audrey called Dumbo, of course!), flamingos, turtles, monkeys, and big bugs! What fun!
After the zoo, Audrey picked out a souvenir in the gift shop - she chose a train! There was a small train, similar to the ones they have at malls (which Audrey had ridden on several times), that went around the park adjacent to the zoo. We had a picnic lunch and then Audrey fed some ducks with Uncle Jim. Jackson was tired at this point (around noon) so JCJ headed home and Audrey & I rode the train. She loved it! On the way back to the hotel, I kept talking really loudly to Audrey to keep her awake - the rental car is a real smooth ride! Audrey took a 1.5 hour nap and was a little fussy upon waking. She was better once we returned to JCJ's home.
The kids played and played, Jim put "Dumbo" on the TV, we walked to a greenbelt and let the kids run around, played some more, and had dinner (turkey burger, fruit, avocados). Audrey can say "avocado" almost perfectly! Jim & Cassie opened their birthday gifts from us, then Audrey took a bath, we returned to the hotel, brushed teeth, read a story, said our prayers, and went to sleep at 7:40. It was a good day!
Monday, March 18: Audrey was up at 5am and didn't want to go back to sleep. It turned out she had a bloody nose! :( She has gotten these before at home - it happens when the air is really dry, which it is in Tucson! Once I cleaned her up, she was good to go. So we headed out to breakfast (just the two of us) at IHOP! Audrey loved coloring and impressed the waitress when the waitress brought the coffee and Audrey declared, "coffee!" After breakfast, Audrey discovered pockets in her windbreaker and paced around outside the restaurant with her hands in her pockets. So cute!
We met up at JCJ's house a little after 8am and got ready to go to a wildlife museum. The original plan was to go to a children's museum but much to our dismay, we found out last night that the museum is closed on Mondays - bummer. The wildlife museum had a bunch of taxidermy animals on display. Audrey was a little confused at first but got into some of the kid-friendly activities, like petting some of the animals, crawling like a ferret through a tunnel, and walking under the belly of a giraffe! We had a snack at the end and then went back to JCJ's for lunch.
Then it was nap time - Audrey slept almost 3 hours! I guess all the traveling had finally caught up to her. When she woke up, she had milk & a snack and watched The Ellen DeGeneres Show (only decent thing on at 3pm...) while I got some packing done. We went over to JCJ's around 4 and went for a walk to the grocery store - Audrey pointed out buses, a blue truck, and an orange car. She also liked waving to her shadow :)
Back from the store, we watched the kids run around on the green belt again. Audrey played "1, 2, 3, GO!" (a favorite daycare game) and was inspired by Aunt Cassie to do a handstand (with Mommy's help)! We had an early dinner since Jim was going to bowling and then we played and played. We ended the night with a bath, hugs & kisses goodbye, more packing, and bed time. She was down by 7:40. Just as I was getting ready to go to sleep, a really loud obnoxious woman checked in to the room next door. She had her phone on speaker and was literally yelling into the phone. I could hear her entire conversation through the walls! I thought for sure this would wake up Audrey - nope! I turned up the a/c so I could drown out her noise myself. Around quarter to ten, I fell asleep and did not wake up until Audrey started coughing around 4am. It's a good thing I fell asleep - I would have called the front desk if that lady had continued her yelling into the night! *sheesh*
Tuesday, March 19: As I mentioned earlier, Audrey woke up at 4am coughing. I brought her into bed with me and she fell right back to sleep. I, on the other hand, already had thoughts of the day streaming through my head and knew my alarm would be buzzing at 4:45 anyway so I just got up and started getting ready. Audrey woke up herself at 5:15. I rushed her slightly to drink her milk and get dressed so we could be on the road to the airport by quarter to 6. We had to drop off the pack 'n' play to Jim before we left and then we were on our way to the airport.
It was still dark and I don't know Tucson and I was wearing my glasses (which have a weaker prescription than my contacts) so... I got lost. I hit all kinds of construction areas which made using my navigation app on my phone a real pain! Audrey heard me say a couple bad words... oops. She repeated "darn it" and then I knew I had to compose myself. I told her, "Mommy is frustrated because she is lost. I need to choose better words to use when I'm frustrated. How about 'sheesh'?" She repeated "sheesh" to me and we were on our way. (*Note: Instance #3 of severe Mommy brain syndrome!)
Before getting to the airport, I stopped to fill up the rental car with gas. The car is newer and had a fancy way of getting the gas cover opened, which I could not for the life of me figure out! I hastily got Audrey out of her car seat and ran in to the convenience store to ask the clerk for help. She said to just push the cover and it should pop out. I ran back, pushed, pushed, HIT that cover and nothing happened. I think she saw how flustered I was getting and came out to help. She eventually found a button to open the cover somewhere under the seat! It took her a while to find it so I didn't feel so bad! It was not labeled and I didn't have time to read the entire manual to find out where it was! (*Note: Instance #4 of severe Mommy brain syndrome!)
After filling up, dropping off the rental car, checking in, and passing through security, we were finally on our way. We had a little more time before boarding so we looked out the windows at the airplanes and cars and people working on the runway to get the planes ready for takeoff. Audrey was intrigued about walking down the "tunnel" to get into the airplane. This flight was much MUCH less crowded so we took advantage of that. We sat all the way at the very back and had an entire row to ourselves! Once again, Audrey did great during takeoff, in the air (she played with stickers and read a book), and landing. The San Diego airport (where we flew in to) was very crowded. But we got our luggage and Dad picked us up. What a fun adventure, traveling with my little girl! :)