vacation! (part 1)

Believe it or not, but I survived my first solo flight across the country with two small children. And, I didn't even take a Xanax - which I strongly considered the evening before when anxiety started to set in a little bit. The girls & I are spending the week in PA with Grandma & Grandpa. We left SLC last Wednesday afternoon & caught a (thankfully on-time, no delays, direct) flight to BWI. Cassidy spent most of the flight asking the guy beside us the same question over & over while Kalea wiggled, ate goldfish & flirted with the grandmother who sat across the aisle. Overall it was way too easy...I'm a bit frightened that we've used up all of our good flying karma & the next two flights (down to Atlanta & then back out to SLC) will be quite a bit trickier. But at least then I'll have backup, since Michael comes to join us on Thursday. Anyhow, it's been good to be home for a bit. Cassidy can't get enough of the pool (she says, "I fish Mama! Look!) or spend enough time bossing playing with her cousin, Sean. She's right at home here, which is really nice, since I was worried she'd be a little shy. It has been almost an entire year since we visited! But, I had nothing to worry about. She already owns the house & is queen of the world as usual. 

Kalea has hit three major milestones in the past few days: her 1st tooth broke through, she began to crawl & now pulls up to standing by herself in the crib! With all of those new, exciting things sleep hasn't been on her priority list lately, nor has independent play. So, I'm using this opportunity to build my arm muscles & carrying her around sun up to sun down each day. The only person, other than me, who has been totally successful in holding the little miss is Aunt Jenny. If you remember, Aunt Jenny lived with us for a total of 18 weeks this year while doing two Physician Assistant rotations. But, she moved back to Scranton to work at Dunder Mifflin finish school quite a while ago. I was suprised, but I truthfully think Kalea remembered her. (Not that this made Jenny's day or anything!) Anyhow, just saying that it is a little exhausting to be attached to a wiggly 18 lb cutie pie all day & most of the night. So, when you plan your next trip with your wiggly one, try not to go when she has her first ear infection, conjunctivis (did I mention that? fun times.), is getting a tooth & learning to crawl. Just my suggestion.

And, I am enjoying being with my family. They're pretty awesome & I don't get to see them in person quite enough. I've gotten to meet my newest nephew, hang out with my sisters & brother-in-laws & see a few extended family members & good friends as well. More later...when I'm not half asleep & didn't leave the camera (with non-iPhone/blurry pictures!) in the same room as sleeping baby.