On the plane, on the way to Phoenix. The headphones stayed on for about 45 seconds.

At the park by Auntie Nan & Uncle Josh's house. (My deepest, most sincere apologies to the woman in the background. I don't know who you are, but this was one of the only decent pictures of Jack at the park. My husband was taking pictures. Again, I am sorry. I hope you never know this picture exists.)

Nana and Jack at the pool at Nana & Chuck's condo.

Shanna with the biggest slice of pizza EVER.

Pooped.

Uncle Josh & Jack at the piano at Mimi & Papa's (my grandparents') house.

NOW - Right about here is where I thought about posting some pictures taken the night before my mom and Chuck's wedding. My better judgement said not to. Let's just say that some people had a little bit much to drink and the photos weren't exactly flattering. Lots of half-closed eyes and wobbly smiles. So....we'll just keep those in the family.

Do you see my boogie?

"Adult Time" at The Cheesecake Factory with Josh & Shanna.

They're just too cute.

Also, I need to apologize to my mom and Chuck. We did not get one good picture of them together. All of our pictures of the two of them were either taken on the night-we-shall-not-speak-of or they were taken when my mom didn't have any makeup on...and I don't think she'd appreciate the internets seeing her without makeup on.

There's our vacation pictures in a nutshell! I wish we could've gotten some of the wedding ceremony, but Lonnie was busy keeping Jack out of trouble and I was busy melting in the sun with the rest of the participants.

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. :)

"Vacation"

I don't really think it can be considered a vacation when you bring your toddler with you. Maybe for some people...but not us. Not with OUR toddler.

We knew going into this that Jack doesn't do well sleeping somewhere other than home. He held true to this and slept horribly the entire time. He was tired. He was grouchy. Which made mommy (and daddy) tired and grouchy.

Here's a few highlights of our trip -

*We got to visit Nana and Chuck. Jack was so excited to see them. He clapped his hands excitedly when we would pull up to their house or when we would visit Nana at work.

*We got to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Jack loves playing at their house and being able to wander around the two sides of the house. He also loves the little keyboard (piano) that they have. He's going to be a rock star.

*We got to visit Danyelle (Lonnie's sister) and her two daughters. Yay! Jack had so much fun with Grace and Allison. They are such precious little girls and are so good. They brought a pink doll stroller with them and it was Jack's favorite toy....ever. We're trying to find a blue one right now.

*We went to the pumpkin patch. Actually, we went to two. The first was with Nana and the second was with Grandma, Danyelle and the girls. Jack behaved the same at both - tired, grouchy, and full of tantrums. It was a blast.

*Jack did pretty well on both flights. It took constant entertaining, a portable DVD player, a bunch of new toys, lots of chocolate, candy, and other bad-for-you snacks...but we made it. Only a few outbursts. Oh, but don't worry, we still got plenty of eye-rolls and dirty looks from the business travelers around us.

*We aren't doing this again for at least three years. Seriously. We were all so tired and grouchy by the end of the trip. And, we all picked up nasty colds too. Stupid airplane air. Jack still isn't back to his "regular" sleeping routine at home and is just being a real challenge right now.

Here's some pictures from our "vacation!"

On Nana's computer

He's watching a movie. "Cars" to be exact. Do you think he's tired here?

Jack and Mommy feeding goats

"I'm taking a call right now, please be quiet." Taken at the airport.