Back From Vaca!

Hey All!

I'm back from our vacation to the southwest!  

We spent 4 days in Las Vegas.  My large extended family rented these two "mansions" (not sure if they officially were but they were pretty big and rediculous) which were side-by-side.  On my side were my parents, my two cousins who each have babies near Jamey's age (one 13.5 months, one 15.5 months), their parents, and my great-uncle and his 19-year old son.  In the other house were my 3 sisters, and my 3 other aunts/uncles who all have (unmarried) daughters (my cousins) between 18-25, and my grandma (mom of all these people, LOL).  So it worked out SO great because our side was sort of focused on the kiddos--we were up early and quiet during the day night--the other house was up partying late and quiet in the mornings  . . . 

Anyway, I was worried about the flights and while they were exhausting, they weren't that bad.  We were on the flights with my parents and two sisters so there were lots of laps for Jamey to crawl around on and jump all over.  There was a lot of J jumping up and down on us, which is hard on the preggie belly--I was thinking fondly of the days when all me and DH had to do was watch TV, sleep, snuggle, read, play cards . . . those days are apparently long gone!

The other thing I was worried about on the trip was what to do in terms of potty-training--he is mostly diaper free at home which he couldn't be there because everyone would be paranoid of him going on the floor.  But he did SO GREAT--on the flight there we put a disposible dipe on him but he literally didn't go in it once.  He went in the airport, in the plane, he was great.  And at the mansion he was great, too--we brought his little potty and everyone was very amazed that he would go in it consistently--even poop!  We did have a few accidents in underwear but they had a washing machine there so even that was NBD.

One thing I was really looking forward to was spending time with my Cozs with kids--but I swear between all the kids naps/beds/and people doing some out-of-the-house things I feel like I barely saw them!!   But the house was great because it had a huge pool surrounded by stone and crazy waterfalls and stuff--our side even had a "sandy beach walk-in" which was PERFECT for the kids.  Jamey practically mastered swimming--he would wake up at 4am (thanks, time change) and immediately want to start swimming with Grandpa!  He spent a TON of time in the pool and got awesome at kicking and learning to move his arms.  So that was the best part.

The second half of our vaca was at a house we were renting in Kanab, Utah, for 4 days, just with my parents, sisters, and one sis's BF.  This is along the border of southern Utah and Arizona and almost equally spaced (about 1-2 hours) from Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon NP, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We spent one day at each of those three parks.  I had never been anywhere like this--I have never been in the West at all, never been in the desert--so it was very new and exciting for me.  Each of the parks were SO different.  We all agreed Bryce was our fav--it seemed the quietest--and even though the Grand Canyon was by far the most spectacular, it was also the least "interactive"--it felt SO far away and distant and just like you were looking down into another world.  We did more hiking at both Zion and Bryce and felt like we were more "in it".  

Jamey was sick at this point (got a cold from the coz's) which was annoying because he was unwilling to walk a lot--normally he is a great and energetic little hiker so it sort of changed our plans.  We had to stick to more stroller-friendly walks or extremely short hikes where DH could handle carrying the 35 lbs of him, baby carrier, and all the stuff we needed for him (including SO MUCH WATER--MAN it is DRY out there).  These days of driving 1-2 hours each way in the car+ a lot of time in stroller, carrier, more car time touring the parks, actually did have an impact on the potty-training.  He ended up increasingly going in the pullups we were using and now that we're home he's doing much worse in undies than he was doing though I'm very glad that he's pretty much accident-free while naked.  He both pees and poops in the potty every single time now (if he's naked), which is so awesome.  

So that's what I've been up to!  My (brand new, 3 months old) comp also crashed after going through the first security in the airport but it seems to be working again now that we are home--DH restored to original condition and was able to back up everything first so that was good.

I missed you all!  Glad to be home!