Scottsdale

One of the days we drove to Scottsdale and did a little shopping and site seeing in Old Town.

The Grandma's

The Grandpa's

The Fam

Someone got pink cowboy boots and a hat

Phoenix Zoo

Us ladies went to the Phoenix Zoo and had lunch in Tempe one day.  At the zoo we saw two baby calf that had been born just a couple hours prior.  Also Z got really close to one of her favorite animals a Duck that really liked NaNa.  We also saw a Black Swan and the biggest turtle I have ever seen.  The Zoo was so big after two hours we gave up it was way to hot and we were way to hungry.  We also got a little lost once too.  Maybe next year we can see the other half of the zoo.

A little peoples play area

Z loved this bird

New baby calf

The tortoise shell on the right is the size of the giant tortoise.

The biggest Turtle ever!

Hi Duck!

The Plane

Sooooo

Ya that plan of mine did not really go as planned, which of course I figured would be the case.  We left Bowling Green around 6 pm which is about the only thing that followed my "Plan".  Zoë did sleep about 2 of the 3 and a half hour drive to Derek's parents in Dalton Georgia.  Once there she would not go back to sleep and the only thing that would keep her from crying was watching videos on my phone.  Finally she fell asleep about 3 am and then woke up about 5 am.  I got her back to sleep about 7 am just in time for me to have an anxiety attack.  I took a shower, composed myself then tried to figure out if it was best to let her sleep or wake her up so she could nap later before the flight.  Finally decided to wake her up about 9:30 am.  She was happy as could be and had Aunt Misha and Uncle Stephen to play with.  She slept about an hour or a little more on the drive down to Atlanta.

We got through the airport fast and got some food, which Z ate a lot of.  She had a blast wiggling while she walked around our gate.  Once we loaded on the plane she had fun waving to the guys on the tarmac then got embarrassed and turned away when one waved back.  She was so hyper I could barely hang onto her while she flipped and flopped around.  She has become very clingy to me so she wouldn't let anyone else hold her for very long.  The Cheerios necklace lasted for a little bit mostly she would try and feed the photo of Blu in the little photo album I made her.  All the apps and videos I downloaded on my phone were useless for the most part.  One of the apps "Peekaboo Barn" did last for a little bit.  The one thing that took her attention the longest was stickers, she would stick them on her face, my face and her shirt.  Some of the toys she played with, but mostly she literally just flipped and flopped around while babbling.  When we started to descend she had fun looking out the window trying to find Grandma and Grandpa's house.  When we touched down she said "Weeeee Weeeee" and made her Wow That's Cool face.  Sadly we arrived 15 minutes early which for some reason meant sitting on the tarmac in the plane for an extra 30 minutes.  She spent that time playing peekaboo with the young girl sitting behind me.  When we made it to baggage claim something happened to our entire flights bags and it took them an hour to deliver them.  This is when Z started to get pretty pissed, how could you blame her I was super pissed.  She was in the Ergo on my back leaning back trying to get out.  It was funny our whole flight was stomping around and rumors kept starting "Ya I heard they got delivered down on 4" "They didn't get them off the flight before it left."  We did get our bags and did not get a reason for the delay.  I really thought Z would get extra mad when I took her straight out of the Ergo to get strapped into a car seat, but the opposite happened she was laughing and chatting up a storm for Grandma.

Talking to Blu

We had a late flight home, arriving in Atlanta at 11 pm.  Zoë was a world calmer on this flight.  And the bonus was the flight was only half full so Z and I had a row all to ourselves at the end.  Derek sat with us the first half of the flight and Z sat and watched Calliou and Spongebob for a while.  Then she played with her toys for a while.  I got her two new books while in Phoenix, and she loved them.  I read them a few times each.  Of course we played with stickers again.  I wish they would have turned the lights in the cabin off sooner because as soon as they did she started to fall asleep about the last hour of the flight.  She slept and stayed asleep until these bitches on the tram to baggage claim started yelling, then the tram stopped for a couple minutes.  I got glares from the other people on the tram for a screaming child located on my back.  She calmed down and was fine going through the rest of the airport, then fell back to sleep once we started driving.  She did pretty good that night and slept in until about 10 am.

She did great traveling and I am glad as she will be flying a minimum of once a year for many years to come.  I may kick myself for saying this but I really feel like this age until about 2.5 would be the most difficult to fly with.  When we flew last year and she was 4 months old it was really easy and she slept or nursed most of the flight.

Before Flight

Thought I would document my pre-flight mood and what I have done to prepare.  Also I would like to see how far from my "Plan" we stray.  That way I can easily make fun of my mistakes or give myself a high-five for the success's.

I am beyond freaked out about flying with my toddler on Saturday.  We are flying out of Atlanta on a direct 3 hour flight to Phoenix.  So this means we will have a slightly messed up schedule starting Friday night.  Which if all goes as "Planned" it should work out just fine.  (This is the part I will laugh at later, many many weeks from now.)

So on Friday Z will get dinner about an hour early and bedtime routine will still happen.  Instead of going to bed in her crib she will go to bed in her car seat.  I hope to keep her asleep all through the night so she can still get her 12 hours.  This will be a little tricky once we arrive at Derek's parents, but it can be done.  Saturday morning I plan on getting her as exhausted as possible.  Then she will get lunch about an hour early.  Then a little more playing before getting loaded in the car.  We will drive her around a little before we leave to get her to sleep before we have a car full.  With people riding in the back seat with her it could be hard to get her to sleep.  It will take us about an hour and a half to get to the Atlanta airport from Derek's parents so this should give her a good nap, if she falls asleep before we leave.

I have no worries about getting through the airport, she will be in the Ergo and will have plenty to look at.  Once at the gate I plan on letting her run wild until we board.  I am hoping we can get boarded in the first group.  We will be traveling with NaNa and Pop so Z will be out numbered 4 to 1.  Our flight is with Southwest Airlines so I have my fingers crossed it is not a full flight (this is the part that I say: "I was so naive" when I tell the story)  I hope to have two of us take a row of three and plop her down as though we have paid for a seat for her, and have the other two in the row behind us.  I have not yet figured out what would be the best seating arrangement.

For the in flight entertainment I have a backpack full of surprises.  I have 2 Cheerio necklaces one for take off and one for landing.  Hopefully this will help keep her ears from hurting.  An obscene amount of snacks and books.  I have pulled her favorite books so they will be extra special when she sees them again (during story times she has been looking for them).  A few small toys, a new sticker/coloring book, her backpack which she has not seen in a day(this is kind of her lovely item), the stuffed Zoe she got at Sesame Street Live and has not seen it since.  She has been really into straws lately so I got her a new fun sippy cup that has a straw on it.  My phone is stocked full of cartoons and new apps for her to play with.

Hopefully 3+ hours of entertainment

Some of the items I did not get that I would have liked to but ran out of time or thought it was not worth the cost:  I was going to get the Ergo backpack that attaches to the carrier but I have so many backpacks and saw no reason to spend $50 on a backpack I would only use a few times.  Also my Kelty backpack has lots of straps and I was able to attach it just the same.  It looks a little awkward but really most of the time I do too.  Another item I found out about on Monday and really wish I had time to order and receive it from an Etsy site is a "Quiet Activity book".  After seeing them I thought I could find one around town, I searched everywhere and no one had any.  The books are cloth and have all kinds of snaps, zippers, and ties to keep little hands busy.  The last item I almost got but decided it was not worth it and I was running out of room in my carry on is a Travel AquaDoodle.

A couple things I did make last night after a glass of wine was a photo book of old photos taped to crate paper and a piece of felt with beads and buttons sewn onto it.  They took me about 20 minutes to make both and like I said I was drinking wine so I will not be posting photos of them.

Zoë is usually pretty well-mannered and should handle this just fine.  She enjoys new places and seeing new things so this should be fun for her.  I know it will be way harder on me then her, so once arriving in Phoenix I plan on drinking a Mirror Pond as soon as I can get my hands on one, or two, or three.

Easter Day

 We had a great Easter this year!  The Easter Bunny brought Z some new books, bubble bath, a bubble gun, and a bath toy.  The whined up frog for the bath was her favorite.

Next was the Mahagan's house for Brunch.  Zoë got to play with puppy's!  She wanted to play with them but was a little nervous since they jumped on her as soon as she arrived.  Carrie was so nice to give Z her old doll house.  The set came with a mini van, Z enjoyed playing with it but got frustrated when she could not pull the seats out.

Easter evening was nice and relaxing.  I thought I would see if last years Easter outfit still fit her, as last year it was pretty big on her.  We squeezed her in it and took some photos.

Egg Hunt #2

The Friday before Easter I did an egg hunt in the back yard.  I let Z into the back yard and she went to her basket to grab it.  Once there she saw an egg, dropped her basket and headed for it.  The Saturday prior we had gone to an egg hunt and I showed her how to squeeze the plastic egg to pop it open.  So once she arrived at said egg that is exactly what she did.  Of course the first egg she opens has Jelly beans so why on earth would she do anything other then eat all the Jelly Beans inside.  This was her first time having Jelly Beans and well saying she loved them is an understatement.  The next egg had stickers so she tossed it aside and headed for another.  The next one had gram crackers so she had to eat all those.  At this point I realized unless I was going to let my child consume an unbelievable amount of sugar I need to get rid of these eggs ASAP.  So I snatched up the rest of the eggs and put them away.  I learned a lot for next year!

Over the course of about 4-5 days Z got much more sugar then she has ever had.  This brought on some major tantrums.  So we are going sugar free for a little while, already today we made it through the day with zero tantrums.

Interesting behavior

Z is really developing her personality these days.  Last week we were painting with water on crate paper.  Olivia was hanging out with us and that girl loves to drink water, so when I give them small containers with a little water in them she drank all hers.  I poured a little more water into Olivia's container so she can paint.  Zoë wanted me to put more water in her container, I explained to her she already had water in the cup.  So she turned her container over dumped the water on the floor and then asked for more water.

We have been walking to the park each morning and I can not believe how she can manage the park all by herself.  She can climb up and go down the slide all by herself.  Every time we go to any park she always has to hit the swings first, they are still her favorite.  The Merry-go-round is always second on her list, the weird thing is she has to clean it off before she can get serious about having fun on it.  She likes to stand and say "Weeeee Weeeee"

I guess hats are in this spring for toddlers.  Zoë loves loves hats these days and most days can not leave the house without one on her head.

Cleaning

Egg Hunt

Chaney's Dairy Farm had an Egg Hunt last Saturday.  We met Olivia there and fought the crowd to get some eggs.

Checking out what she got

Dancing