Trip to Arkansas for Thanksgiving

First leg of our long trip.

The people mover really freaked Elliot out at first, but then he wanted to play on them all day! This is Phoenix.

Darin lugged these 2 car seats all over the airport in Phoenix. We needed them for our car rental in OKC.

Plane ride!

Esther's first airplane ride.

He was such a good traveler! He slept on both flights and never cried.

Flying the kite in the front yard.

Following Grandfer in the front yard as he flies his custom kite.

Watching and waiting for the fish.

Esther swinging on the tire swing that Grammie and Grandfer hung up in the tree.

Grandfer hooked a bass on his rod for Adrian to reel in. It was the first fish Adrian ever landed.

See it tugging at the pole tip!

Here it comes....

Here he is pulling it in. What a catch!

Here's the bass that Adrian landed.

The boys climbing a tree in Grammie and Grandfer's back yard.

Daddy kissing Esther under the mistletoe.

Grandma and Pa pa with Seth.

Esther got a Raggedy Ann Doll from Grandma and Pa pa

Pa pa found a bunch of hotwheels cars in the storage facility where he works that had been abandoned. So he gifted a large box of about 48 cars each to Adrian and Elliot. Elliot was so thrilled he was shaking and would hardly let anyone look at his cars for fear they would disappear. He carried them around all day and never let them out of his sight. He still carries them around but doesn't play much with them for fear that "they might get ruined." He sure LOVES cars.

Pa pa "racing" the boys at the playground.

Carol Ann Cross park on Monday morning.

Cavanaugh road Pizza Parlor. The whole gang.

Hailey read books to the boys.

Hailey is just at the right age to really like babies. Seth was like a big live baby doll for her and she had a good time holding him and pushing him in the stroller.

On Monday night we ate at a place called "Mel's Hardluck Diner" where the waiters come by and sing to you. Esther was mesmerized and they really had a good time singing right to her.

Mommy and Elliot riding the swings ride.

Adrian and Grandma riding on the swings ride.

Seth riding on the leap frog ride. It was actually a lot more vigorous of a ride than I anticipated, so I'm glad we made it through OK. I couldn't hold him in my lap per regulations.

Adrian and Darin on the "Dumbo" ride.

Elliot and Mommy riding the boat ride at Silver Dollar City.

The tea cups at Silver Dollar City that almost did Darin's stomach in.

Esther helping Grammie make crescent rolls with Grammie's old toy rolling pin.

Adrian dishing up his Thanksgiving Jello lunch.

It almost became a Thanksgiving dinner of only Jello thanks to the stomach bug we all got!

Thanksgiving dinner 2010

Waiting for the train to pull in.

Seth taking it easy on the train ride.

Grammie and Grandfer on the train ride.

This is the hodge podge assortment of stuff that Elliot packed in his carry on backpack. We had to take a picture of it because Darin edited it afterwards because who really needs an empty perfume bottle and some glitter glue on an airplane?

We went to Arkansas to visit the folks for the first time in 3 years. We drove to Salt Lake City on Friday, November 19 and stayed with Polly and Eric. Our flight left at 7:30 am, so we had to get up very early. We had one layover in Phoenix and then on to Oklahoma City where we rented a car and drove another 3 hours to Lavaca, AR where my parents live. We stayed the night on Saturday night and then went to Darin's house in Fort Smith on Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, the kids helped Grandfer fly a kite and go fishing. Grandfer hooked a fish and let Adrian reel him in. It was a nice size bass. Esther got to swing on a tire swing. It was like 70 degrees there and so warm and pleasant and un natural. We understood that back in Boise it was the coldest Thanksgiving in long time with temps in the single digits. On Sunday, we introduced Esther and Seth to Grandma and Pa pa, and reintroduced Elliot and Adrian to them. We had a nice BBQ in the back yard with hamburgers and chips and blueberry pie. On Monday, Darin's brother, Kelvin, and his wife, Casey, and two daughters/cousins Hailey and Lindsey came down to spend the day. We went to the park to play and then to the Cavanaugh Pizza Parlor, one of Darin's old haunts. Then we just hung out and played at the house and visited. On Monday morning, Esther threw up after breakfast. Weird, but she acted normal all day long and then threw up after dinner and again during the night. Then Darin's dad got sick on tuesday. On Tuesday, we drove up to Fayetteville, AR to see Kelvin and Casey's house, go out to eat at Chick Fillet and drive up to Branson, MO where we had reservations at a Clarion Hotel. We went swimming that night in the heated indoor pool. Wednesday morning, we all got up to go to Silver Dollar City amusement park. Darin felt really queasy all day and almost threw up all day long. Bummer day to feel sick. Casey also felt sick. The rides were fun and the kids really enjoyed themselves. It was like going to the fair and not having to pay for each ride. We stayed until about 8 pm. That night, both boys were throwing up all night long. What a mess! And how exhausting. On Thursday, we got up and headed back down to Lavaca to spend Thanksgiving with Grammie and Grandfer. We thought we weren't going to have a big traditional meal on the actual day because everyone had been throwing up, but we had some amazing recovery and were able to eat a delicious thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night. Grammie had all her old toys out from when she was a girl and had the boys and Esther cooking in her tiny little toy oven and using all her old dishes. On Friday we went on a 3 hour train ride from Van Buren, AR to Winslow, AR. Then, back in the car on Saturday morning and headed back to Oklahoma City, on the plane at 12:30 to Las Vegas and then to Salt Lake City at 6:30 pm. When we got back to Polly and Eric's house, Eric told us there was a big storm that was going to dump on SLC at 10:30, so Darin decided we would strike out and try to beat it by leaving immediately. So, we got the kids dressed in their jammies, and struck out for home at 8:30pm. Polly called us about 30 minutes later to tell us that we had left the kids' coats hanging in their closet! DOH! Well, we got an hour and a half down the road and the storm hit with blowing snow over the road. Darin didn't feel that it was safe to continue, so we stopped in Tremonton to stay in a hotel overnight. In the morning, they had closed the road I-86 and we had to detour through Pocatello. So, the 5 hour trip turned into a 7 1/2 hour trip. So tiring! We drove through a winter storm most of the way home. We started to see asphalt on the road around Twin Falls which is only 2 hours from home. Phew, what trip. Then when we got home, I discovered that all the beautiful cichlid fish that our friend Brian had given us were almost all dead. They had been poisoned by the automatic fish feeder over feeding them and also the water had gotten too cold because we had turned down the heat in the house. So, it took another hour and a half to clean up that mess when we got home. Not exactly the house warming you want to have after being gone for 9 days. So, the boys got to visit these states on their trip: Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri,and Nevada. Getting to be quite the travelers!