Prepare yourself for an onslought of pictorial evidence from our recent travels. Feel free to skip if you aren’t related to me. =) I promise I won’t be offended.

Kent had his final Medical Acupuncture class in Phoenix, so we tagged along and turned it into a family vacation.

We were completely packed the night before, all we had to do was load up the luggage and the kids in the morning and go. The airport is less than an hour from our house, we didn’t hit any traffic, as soon as we parked in long-term parking and unloaded everything, the bus showed up. It seemed like things were going perfectly. But when we arrived at the ticketing area, with about an hour and a half before boarding, the line was really long. And the line at security was really long too. We arrived at our gate with just a few minutes until the boarding time and they had already given our seats away. Kent got on the next flight (he had to be at his class), but the kids and I we unable to get on the next two flights (it’s hard to get three standby seats on the same flight!). After that, I was pretty much wrecked. The kids had been screaming for a while, I had run out of food for Everett, and I was ready to give up on the whole trip and head home. But then I realized that my carseats were in Phoenix- with my husband and the rest of our luggage. The baggage claim department wouldn’t give me loaner seats because that wasn’t my “final destination” and they couldn’t get my carseats sent back until 11pm that night or maybe even the next morning. So we tried for the 10:45 pm flight into Denver with a two hour layover then another flight into Phoenix. We made it! I had to wear both Ergo baby carriers to get my two non-walkers on and off the plane by myself. Like so:

I texted that pic to Kent and he says (while relaxing and drinking wine in Phoenix): “nice face”

 

Here’s Everett asleep in my arms while at a restaurant in the Denver airport. This boy only rarely falls asleep when not in his bed. You can tell he was desperately tired!

I texted Kent the following: “There is no part of me that is even remotely interested in flying with any children ever again. Seriously. Italy is out.”

Well, the journey out to Phoenix was certainly rough, but we actually had a wonderful trip and I am so glad we went. Parts of it were hard, but the other parts were totally worth it.

 

Since Kent read American Pie by Peter Reinhart, we had to check out the wood-fired pizza at Pizzeria Bianco while we were in Phoenix. We took Adele out on a date with us (she was our photographer) while Gary and Nancy watched the littles (who were sleeping).

Kent’s sister had a Hawaiian luau at her house in Phoenix and Kent’s parents were there too. And, our friends the B family drove down from Prescott. We had such fun! Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures! =(