Arizona Trip: Part 1

I have come to realize my days of leisurely travel are behind me.  No more listening to music and reading or doing Sudoku puzzles because now, we have a baby.  Let me just give an apology to all the parents out there who I silently cursed as their child was fussing on an airplane.  Please forgive me because now I am one of you.

We left for Boston around 10am on the 19th.  However, just as we're getting ready to head out the door, we notice Kathryn has spit up on the floor and is playing with it, spreading it around like a painting and getting it all over her pants.  She seemed quite proud of herself.  I hastily changed her, forgoing her cute travel outfit for old faithful: cherry onesie given to her by Auntie A and a pair of magenta pants.  Once she was changed, we were off.  The trip to Boston was uneventful, even if we did have to wait a little long at the parking lot for the shuttle and a terrible Massachusetts driver ran a stop sign and nearly smashed into us.  Point is, we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. 

I was terrified to go through security.  However, it wasn't as bad as I thought (thanks for the helpful tips my TSA bro-in-law Derek), we just had a lot more bins!  Once through, we grabbed a bite to eat and waited for our flight.  Just as we were getting ready to board, Kathryn started throwing a fit.  For those of you who know my darling daughter, she does not throw fits.  It wasn't an ear-splitting fit, but one bad enough for me to want to crawl in a hole and hide.  Thankfully she stopped as we were boarding.  We got a seat in the very back of the plane (our plan all along) and tried getting Kate settled.  She was very excited about everything.  I felt badly for the poor man next to us, but he was a trooper.  There were a ton of kids on the flight, so there were lots of understanding parents.  As we were taking off, the engines got extremely loud and Kathryn fell asleep.  I thought, "Ahhh....she'll sleep and I can read."  I did read for about 25 minutes until she woke up and remained awake for the rest of the flight.  We did everything to keep her occupied and I have to say, overall, she did pretty well (I feel badly for the poor in-flight magazine though...she tore it apart, like an angry child ripping up a napkin...an IT Crowd reference for the fans out there).  Her vampire paci was a big hit with all the passengers who walked by to use the bathroom and she made a friend too.  7 year old, Katherine, who was going to Arizona to visit her grandma.  Katherine made Kathryn smile and laugh.  When it was time to land, my darling daughter decided now was a good time to take a nap.  She even slept through a very bumpy landing. 

It was the longest 5 hours of my life, but looking back, it actually went by fairly quickly and she did well considering she had to be confined for such a long time, especially since she's crawling and exploring everything lately.  She only cried once and it wasn't for very long.  We had two wonderful flight attendants.  One man in particular, Stefan, was awesome.  He got us warm water for our formula when we discovered Kathryn wouldn't take it cold. He was a lifesaver!!!   Everyone said she did a great job.  (Silly me forgot my memory card for the camera at home in Connecticut, so Jared got some shots of Kathryn on the plane with his iTouch.  Those will be posted once he sends them to me.)

Once we got our luggage, we went to get our rental car and headed to Bekki's.  Unfortunately, the Tolman's were stranded in Washington state awaiting the repair of their van.  We were bummed they wouldn't be there, but it might've been a mixed blessing.  We were able to relax and try and get Kathryn settled.  Bekki and Adam have a terrific house.  It's so big and has so much space for Kathryn to crawl.  She loved it! 

Jared was absolutely exhausted and the time difference was catching up to me too, but K was wide awake.  We went upstairs to lay down and Kathryn was laughing and having a grand ol' time.  Finally, around 9pm Arizona time, she curled up next to Jared and fell asleep.  I moved her to the pack & play and she slept there till 4:45am AZ time.  It sounds early, but it's actually not too bad considering.  We got up and got ready and were on the road to Safford to visit Colleen, Chris and Ben by 7:15am.  Our visit with them will be my next post. 

Kathryn playing when she should've been sleeping!

Kathryn under Bekki's table.  She loved all the carpeted crawling space!