Our CRAZY month in the West

Playing at the beach... the water
was COLD

Although this is partially so I can remember what we did in April when we came back to the U.S. to see family, I also thought others might be slightly entertained by our crazy lives and the amount of travel this toddler of ours can handle. My sister, Mariah, was graduating from BYU at the end of April. Austin had a week left of work in the Netherlands so he dropped us off at the Amsterdam airport on Sunday, April 19th. Landon and I flew to Chicago, where I had a midwife appointment scheduled for Monday, April 20th. 

We had to pay for the hotel because Austin and I were separating by choice and so Austin booked me at a hotel close to the storage unit. It was not one that we typically stay at, and it was dirty and gross. On top of that, Landon and I were super jet-lagged so we fell asleep early and woke up around 2, went back to sleep at 3 and slept until 5. A grab and go breakfast was set to start at 6. We went downstairs right at 6 starving to find packaged muffins and granola bars and fruit. There was supposed to be oatmeal, but the hot water did not come out for half an hour. Which means that I watched Landon run all over the tiny lobby of this hotel for half an hour waiting for hot water. It was SOOO FUN! 

I also found out that there was not a business center at the hotel for printing my airline tickets. They seriously told me to go to the nearest FedEx store. So, I sent the tickets to our local library and planned to print them there. The problem was, the library system online lost them somehow, so I had to log-in to my email and re-print them at the library. This would normally not be a huge deal, but Landon wanted to play in the kids' area, and I was in the computer lab in the adult's area. I had committed and logged into a computer that seriously took 10 minutes just to boot. It was the slowest computer experience I have had in a very long time. Landon was flailing, screaming, taking his shoes off and throwing them, and generally making a scene along with running away every time I put him down. Needless to say if there was a baseball bat nearby, it would have gone into the computer at that moment. I finally got the tickets printed after letting Landon run away and hoping that he would find his way to the kid's area and not get stolen. It was awesome. Then, I had to pull him away from the kids' area to go to my appointment way before he was ready. 

Landon poured apple juice in his hair and
went to sleep, and woke up like this:

At this point, I thought that Landon and I were following Austin to China after Emily's graduation at the beginning of May. They told me at the midwives' office that this first pregnancy appointment was kind of an "exam and confirmation of pregnancy" appointment, and that in order to get into the system as a normal prenatal patient I had to do a nurse's appointment and a ton of blood work. Fortunately, the midwives know me from my previous pregnancy and gave me the orders for blood work for me to get done somewhere, and allowed me to do my nurse's visit over the phone. So after the appointment, we had a leisurely lunch at Panera and then headed back to the airport. We flew to Salt Lake City to hang out with Mariah for a few days. 

Mariah graciously allowed us to sleep on her living room floor on an air mattress until the rest of my family came into town and we had rented a house to stay in for graduation. It was great until that first night, when Landon got a bloody nose. I think this was his first bloody nose, and it was a gusher! It did not help that he was asleep, so as I tried to get the blood to stop gushing he was screaming and flopping around like someone was trying to suffocate him. Needless to say, along with another bloody nose the next night, the poor sheets and blankets looked like we had been practicing animal sacrifices!

Mariah's graduation went well and we started the long exodus back to California by car. I did not want to fly alone with him again, plus there were two vehicles already going to California so it just made sense. I drove with my sister, Hannah, in her car while my mom took on Landon duty in the middle seat of the van. Her knee took a beating over the drive and we were so happy to be back in California! Landon had a few days of pure bliss playing outside half naked in the yard and doing car wash, mud pies, and lots of trampoline jumping. I spent much of my time organizing my dad and siblings into a work force that could take care of the house while my mom was out of commission. Hannah and I split driving duty for my mom's and grandma's doctor's appointments. While not as restful as my normal California visits are, it was nice to get some baking and cooking in after having limited kitchens and ingredients. I also enjoyed feeling useful and getting a ton accomplished each day. I would be lying if I didn't admit it was also exhausting. We made it to the beach, though, which is always a must, and took many walks and runs around the neighborhood trying to tire out the dogs so they would stop running away. That didn't work very well, though, because Landon figured out how to unlock the deadbolt and would take off for the driveway to try to drive Hannah's car, with the dog not far behind. We figured that Landon and our escape dog, Wesley were plotting these escapes together!

Landon and his wings

Next up on our tour was a drive to LAX and a flight to Denver on Saturday, May 2nd. Everything went smoothly with that flight (I think?) and we had just a few days in Denver with Austin's parents. We visited grandparents, bought some new clothing items that we needed, and prepared for the first time to go to China (Austin was going to fly with us to Beijing on Saturday!) I got my blood work done in Arvada and then on Wednesday we drove to Salt Lake from Denver. Just coming off the long drive to California, the drive through Wyoming to Salt Lake didn't seem to take too long. We made it in time to check into our house we rented in Salt Lake and pick up Austin from the airport. It had been almost three weeks and four states since we saw him last!

We learned that Thursday that we were not in fact leaving Saturday afternoon for China. This delay was a total relief for me, because it meant we were not going to have to do a quick trip to the storage unit to pack up all our stuff the morning of the flight! However, the next two delays were a little more frustrating as I was prepared and ready to go for both of those delays. Anyway, on our way back from Salt Lake, Landon was admiring the airplanes like he always does and an Alaskan Airlines pilot was sitting nearby waiting to board his flight. He asked Landon if he liked airplanes and gave him a pair of wings to take with him! Landon was so excited about those wings!

In conclusion, we spent the night in four states, crossed three others by car, and slept in five different beds in the last three weeks. It was crazy, but also fun to see family. For me, it was actually a little more relaxing than our normal traveling because I had helpers to entertain and take care of Landon. Because of our tight schedules and busy times with family, I neglected to take ANY pictures on our good camera from our trips to California and Colorado. I only took a few on my phone! All of the travel hours were made possible by our Nabi 2 tablet, which Landon loves with all of his heart and doesn't get to play unless he is traveling. Although he does watch movies on it, he also spends a ton of time on educational apps and games. It is a lifesaver and parent sanity-saver!