Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Cross country trip

For those of you who don't know, the kids and I made a trip across the country - to Arizona and back. I was a bit of a nervous wreck before going seeing how this was my first flying trip with me and just the kids. Honestly, I had nothing to worry about. The flight out was great. Both Connor and Savannah loved flying - neither were scared of any of it. The loved it! I had both of them each a bag packed of activities and toys to play with. They absolutely loved getting pretzels. They thought that was very cool. We had an hour and half layover on the way there and also on the way back. We landed and left out of the same terminal so we had pretty much the whole time for them to walk around. And since we flew into Houston we had time to get Shipley donuts - let's just say YUMMO! Anyway, we had a great trip out. And an even better time out there. The kids did great pretty much the whole time there. Savannah had a rough night the first night but then was good then on. We did so many things that the kids had never done before.

Friday morning we all went to the Desert Museum. Luckily it opened at 7:30 so we were able to go before it got too hot - 104 for the day, but it was still hot! They had a reptile museum (which I liked because it was inside) with all different kinds of snakes, spiders, scorpions and even a turtle they brought out so the kids could see it. Savannah wanted to hold the turtle so bad but couldn't. Connor did get to touch it. They let kids 3 and up touch it. Connor LOVED the reptile house. There were paths to walk down and every so often they had a stamp station. While on the path at one time a snake crossed it in front of us. Connor wanted to go after it and get it. As my sister put it, "That's our Connor - afraid of a gnat but wants to catch a snake!" They had several big steel stamps with the shape of some animals footprint with an ink pad that you could putin a book. Connor could have cared less but I thought it was fun! They also had an Atrium with tons of birds that you could walk through. Both of them loved that too - especially Savannah. Mawmaw was nice enough to get each child a toy - Savannah picked a bear (which is starting to rank up there with puppies) and Connor picked a snake - which you will see in the pictures when I get them up. On a side note: My mom even went in. She doesn't like snakes - she had four older brothers who liked to chase her with them when she was little. When we were little and would go to the zoo she wouldn't go into the reptile house. She must REALLY love her grand kids! That night mom went to a WMU conference and Dad and I took Connor and Savannah to the local high school football game. Connor was very excited to see the band, but was a little disappointed they didn't play Rocky Top. I even tried to prepare him before we went that they didn't know it. He also like sitting right by the band but didn't understand why they wouldn't talk to him.

Saturday morning Mom had to go back to the conference so Dad and I took Connor and Savannah to the Air and Space Museum. The had a ton of airplanes outside you could walk around and look at but they also had hangers that had planes and stuff in them. We stayed in the first hanger (mainly because it was so hot there) and looked at the planes and helicopters in there. They also had a room for kids to play in. They had a mock air traffic controller room, a small wooden airplane they could sit in, a couple of airplanes including a cock pit that they could get in and push all the buttons. Savannah kept saying, "butts, butts, butts" - that's what she calls buttons. As we were leaving Connor found a cool fighter jet and Savannah got.....a bear. That night Dad and I went to the Tucson Toros baseball game. It was a lot of fun to hang out. It was also a little hot. When we got there at 6:30 or so it was 97; when we left at 8:45 it was 92.

Sunday Dad, Connor and I went to church - Mom kept Savannah home to get a decent nap and somewhat close to Eastern time. Then we just hung out at the house the rest of the day. The kids had a great time just playing at the house.

We came home Monday. Once again the kids did great on the trip. Savannah actually slept off and on the whole trip from Tucson to Houston. Connor colored and practiced his letter writing and then slept the last hour. The plane from Houston to Knoxville was only about 1/2 full so Connor was able to sit across the aisle from me and Savannah got her own seat. (Did I mention that every leg of the trip was on a somewhat small plane - 57 seats total). Connor thought that was pretty cool. Savannah actually fell asleep again as the plane took off. I took that wonderful stuffed snake Connor got at the Desert Museum, put it behind her neck, gave her her blankets and she was out for an hour. Connor had fun with stickers and his cars. Then the 'fasten seat belt' sign went off and he had fun being out of his seat. The flight attendant on the plane was great! Connor loves to talk to people and she talked back. He really liked that. She got some wings for the kids and as we were getting off the plane she had the pilot let Connor up in the cockpit. He got to sit in the co-pilot's chair and push a button to make the plane talk. Savannah just stood there because there was a man.

There were both glad to get home and see Daddy, and Lightnin. We are all glad to be home and so happy to have had a great trip. Now, just a few weeks and we head to Orlando. Oh boy!!

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