A few months ago, my brother and his wife had a baby! So once school was out, the boys and I got the much appreciated gift of airfare via GG and went back for a visit to meet the little fella and see Rudy's family. Kyle had been counting down the weeks, days, and hours until our departure. When packing day finally came, Kyle was only too happy to be as helpful as possible. ;)
Over at LAX we waited and waited. After not getting on another viable option (tickets just seemed to sell right out from under us), we waited hours for the next plausible flight that happened to be delayed by an hour. Boo. Fortunately, my sister was flying with us in order to help me and with all the waiting, she was invaluable. The boys did pretty well considering the circumstances but it was tough and we worked non stop to entertain and pacify them. Though Kyle enjoyed watching all the activity outside the window, he struggled to understand why we had to wait "sooo long" and why our kind of tickets wouldn't get us on the plane (after all, we had started our travel early on in the day and by nightfall we still weren't on a plane). Gavin, on the other hand, was running all over the place and after a few hours into our wait, I'd all but exhausted our packed tricks for the flight. Fortunately, our flight was so late, Gavin went to sleep soon after boarding and slept the entire direct flight into Chicago. Whew.
We were picked up at 2am and made it back to Aunt Donna's house by 3am. We are so fortunate that Donna is the kind of person who places family in such high regard, that she didn't bat an eye about picking us up so late. We were so grateful. We woke up to see this beautiful sight out the back window. Usually we are here for Christmas, so it was so surprising (and gorgeous) to see all that green!
Cousin Donovan has a cool tree house and was so sweet to share all of his things with the boys.
And we really appreciated this... we don't see skies like this at home. And I hadn't remembered the last time (in years!) I'd heard thunder or saw lightening. I also hadn't felt rain drops like these in years as well. The 4 of us Californians just stood outside watching and feeling the storm. We were total foreigners delighting in the rarity of a "real" storm. (It wasn't even that big of a storm to a local but it was so unique to us.) :)
Inside, the boys had a blast playing with all of Donovan's cars, trains, and Legos. This kids table was a huge hit with Gavin for some reason. He seemed to think it was his job to move the chairs all over the place. So with determination, he shuttled those things back and forth and all around.
Then, we got to meet our nephew, Ethan Michael!!!! So incredibly thankful we got to see him at this young phase. He was precious. And my brother and his wife were adorably in love.
The boys got to meet their first 1st cousin! We all score big time in this deal. :)
Back with GG and Great Grandma Sally, we got such a fun treat out at a train restaurant that sat right in front of a real train station. The boys got to watch several trains pass through and we even got served our food from this little locomotive train going by...
Happy.
Over at the house, we hung out with even more family (how cute is it that GSal is next door neighbors with her sister and brother in law?). The boys enjoyed riding around on this tricycle and though most of the cutest pictures turned out blurry, these ones melt us.
One of our favorite memories was at this water park/pool. Funny, but they call it "the pool" and I expected to find a rectangular concrete hole filled with water. Instead, we were introduced to another Midwest thing ...and really enjoyed this kid's playground, a dirt/sand/river play area, some pools, water slides, a lazy river, and a zipline! I totally got my zipline on and went on water slides like I used to some 25 years ago!
Kyle and his GG.
Check out this huge birds' nest! Gavin loves birds and nests. :)
Back at GG's place the boys loved singing and dancing to a country song over and over and having "pop-sics" in the bath. ;)
Flying on buddy passes is always quite the adventure, especially with young children. We weren't able to get on our first choice of flights out of our local airport and instead headed over to LAX. Before we left we let the boys watch some planes land from a nearby parking structure. Gavin was squealing and saying, "airplane!!!" over and over.
Before a storm was supposed to roll in, we sneaked a little bike ride over to a park. Walking through this wooded path made me realize we really do live in a desert back home. I loved all the beautiful greenery.
By this point, I think Kyle had a pretty bad headache, but he really enjoyed all the train things this cute place had to offer.
Gavin loved being with Grandma Sally, calling her "Saaally" over and over.
And in case you're wondering if we purposefully match our boys, Kyle actually asks to match his brother and will ask to buy matching clothes. Kinda cute. But back to the family... I loved watching Grandma Sally chase after Gavin. He enjoyed her and she is so cute with little ones.
Gavie was in heaven with all the water play/mud making he could do.
We stayed from lunch to dinner time and had a blast. It was a big highlight. Also special, was spending time getting to know cousin Aito.
The next day GG took us to a beautiful nature spot with a river, some falls and a big water wheel. We explored a little bit and really enjoyed the children's indoor nature center before picnicking for lunch outside.
And before this becomes an even longer post, I'll end Part I here. Next up, our day in the city with Auntie Ray and Uncle Ben!!!
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