Swell

We all made it back in one piece! Whew! We all caught a nasty cold the day before we left to come home...not a good thing when you're traveling, let alone traveling with a toddler. But, we made it home and are glad to be back in familiar territory. :)

Flight to Phoenix - Great. Couldn't have gone better. Jack shocked us and did wonderfully. I think we were all a little surprised.

First days in Phoenix - We were so happy to see Uncle Josh and Auntie Nan! We stayed at their beautiful house near Phoenix and got to meet their puppy, Beckett. Jack was leary of Beckett's barking at first, but eventually warmed up to him. Another shock - Jack slept on an air mattress at their house - and he actually SLEPT! It was very hot there (surprise), but we managed to stay cool most of the time. We went to a park near Josh & Shanna's house that has a water play area and Jack really enjoyed it.

Drive to San Diego - Eh. 7 hours or so in the car with Jack isn't exactly the way I'd chose to spend my day, but we didn't have much of a choice. He did great most of the way and only had a couple of meltdowns. It was nice that we were able to "share" him with Josh & Shanna toward the end of the trip - I think the change of scenery was good for him. We made it to my mom and Chuck's condo in the afternoon and enjoyed the awesome pool there!

6 Days in San Diego - Oh, how I miss San Diego. It is beautiful and warm - and then there's the beach. We went to the beach and Jack LOVED it. He had so much fun jumping in the waves. It was hard to leave. My mom's wedding was on Friday and it was wonderful. It was H-O-T, but we survived. She looked beautiful, the ceremony was very touching and we all had a great time during the reception. Chuck made the food and it was yummy. Jack stayed up until 11 pm - the latest he's ever stayed up! He was a trooper though, and danced until the last song. :)

We had a great time visiting my extended family. This was the first time I've seen a couple of my cousins' children and the first time several family members got to meet Jack. We wished we could've stayed longer (or moved down there!). :)

Drive back to Phoenix - I won't even mention it. We were all tired and miserable and just wanted to go to sleep. It was hot. We'll leave it at that.

Last 2 days in Phoenix - We got sick. :( Jack caught a cold and shared it with the rest of us. But, we still had a good time just relaxing with Josh & Shanna and even got to enjoy an awesome Mexican restaurant. It was so hard to say goodbye to them. We miss them so much and Jack talks about them every day. When we picked Buster up from the kennel, Jack kept calling him "Beckett." It's hard being away from family...hopefully it doesn't last forever.

Flight Home - Fine. Not great, but fine. We were all tired and now we were sick, so it was much less enjoyable than the flight to Phoenix. My ears just about killed me on the way down...I was in tears and just wanted to land. It felt like someone was stabbing me with a knife in the sides of the head. Ouch. I was so glad to get off the plane...and even happier to get home and take some Sudafed.

All in all, we had a wonderful trip (I know...how many synonyms are there for wonderful, good, great, fabulous, etc.?....Oh, I just looked it up on http://www.synonym.com and here are some good ones - bang-up, cracking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing.) So, all in all we had a nifty trip. No, a swell trip. Swell is a good one.

Pictures will be coming soon, I promise. It took me long enough to get all these words down. :)