Denver or bust!

This past (extended) weekend Donovan and I packed our bags and flew to Denver to visit my parents. I have no idea why I thought taking a 19 month old on 2 flights by myself was a good idea but we did it and I am so glad we did, we had a great time!

The trip out on Friday was a doozy. Donovan did pretty well in the airport but was near traumatized to death by the hand dryer in the bathroom due to its noise level (this kid does not do well with sudden loud noises). He did very well not wandering too far from me and thought all the airplanes were pretty cool but the trucks (baggage carts and what nots) were the best. He loved them. Boarding the plane was bit of a hassle because I had to many things to carry so Donovan needed to walk down the plane isle and that was too much for him to handle so luckily someone helped me out and carried his seat so I could carry him. We got settled in the plane and pulled out for take off, and then... pulled right back into the hanger. Not a good sign. Turns out the pilot's radio was not working and after maintenance came to check on it it was determined that they could not fix it and we had to deplane and find a new plane. Aaaaahhhhhh! Did they not understand I am pregnant traveling with a toddler by myself? This was too much and coupled with some technical difficulties from the cool roller thingy I had for Donovan's car seat (it turns his seat into rolling luggage and is worth every cent of it's 80$ cost) I was in tears. Luckily though after 5 minutes off the plane, I fixed the seat and they had found us a new flight. All in all it only delayed us 1hr 30 min and by the time we got to Denver and deplaned again, I was a pro! Donovan did great on the plane. The first time we were just sitting there waiting for the plane to taxi he kept saying "Go! Go!". Then when we actually took off (in the second plane) he was asleep in 5 minutes. Turns out plane engines are great white-noise machines. He only slept for 45 min out of the 2hr 20ish min flight but the rest we spent looking at books and watching Sesame Street on his personal DVD player. Thank the lord for that.

We were able to spend the rest of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then into the afternoon Monday in Denver. It was so nice to see my parents and Donovan needed a break from St Louis because other then sleeping poorly the whole time we were there, he was on his best behavior. He played lots of "Neigh" with my mom. "Neigh" means "get out your i-touch and lets play games like animal sounds or pop the bubble wrap". He also got to watch and play lots of "hockey", still an obsession for him. We also took him out to eat several times and apart from destroying the clean floors, he did well there too. My highlight was Sat when we ran 3 plus hours worth of errands and got Donovan in and out of the car lots of times and he was so well behaved! We went to DSW and I was looking at shoes and my parents were in the front of the store with Dono. 15 min later I expected some exasperated grandparents to be giving me evil stares but they weren't so I had to check out what they were doing and Donovan was laying on a low shelf underneath a purse display just kicking his legs and looking adorable. He was crawling all over and running and having a great time. And I haven't run that many errands in one day since B.D. (Before Donovan).

It was wonderful just to have a low key weekend and spend time with my parents. Donovan enjoyed hanging out with "Paw Paw" and "Bama" too. And yes! The grandma's have names now! They are called "Bama" and it is adorable. Donovan got to meet his great Aunt Theresa and Uncle Chuck and second cousin Friday night for a little bit too. And we got to add another state he has been to to the list. All in all a great trip.

Originally when my parents asked us if we could come out for a visit they asked if all three of us wanted to come or just Donovan and I if Tom didn't think he could swing it. I wanted to give Tom a break since he took such good care of both Donovan and I while I wasn't feeling so hot with my pregnancy so I told him I would take Donovan by myself and give him a little vacation. Well it turns out, all he needed was a night because by Saturday he was texting and calling a lot and obviously missing Donovan (and me a little I am sure). Here I thought he was going to have himself a little bachelor weekend and he was bored and missing his wife and kid. What a nice hubby I have :)

The flight home on Monday was great. The best part of the whole experience though was that my mom was able to get a gate pass, something neither of us knew even existed anymore, and they let her go all the way with us until we boarded. Awesome! It was great to have the help while we ate and did bathroom trips and what not. We ended up having to hurry at the end because as we were dilly dallying to our gate my mom read it was boarding already. Oops. It turns out people were just lined up so we got in our place in line and there was very little waiting. Donovan was HYPER in capital letters on the ride home but he helped me eat a chocolate muffin so that kept his mouth shut for 10 min and then we watched Elmo for the remainder of the time. Occasionally he would let out a yelp of joy but it was just too cute to get annoyed with. Before we knew it we were home and seeing daddy again.

Well on to the part most people tune in for, the pictures.

Donovan and I after finally getting to Denver. The rolly thing that you attach to the car seat was a lifesaver! He liked it too. He would say "weeeeeee!" as I pushed him around.

Eating breakfast our first morning in Denver. Blueberry muffins that were all over the place by the end of the meal. Dixie loved it though because she doesn't normally get so much dropped food. She ate like a queen! I just love how expressive he is in these three pictures. He must have been telling a story.


Donovan and grandpa playing with the ever-popular i-touch. By the way as I type this Donovan is watching over my shoulder and pointed at my dad and said "Paw-Paw". He loves his paw paw B.

My mom picked up these awesome crayons that you use on windows. We had a lot of fun playing with those.
Looking into flashlights is fun too.
One night when we were eating dinner my mom started shushing Donovan because he was being too loud. Donovan thought she was hilarious with her futile shushing efforts. So they played "Shush" back and forth for a while and he cracked up the whole time. (By the way, these next two pictures is how Donovan shushes you).

For some reason which is beyond me, Donovan found Dixie's leash and really wanted to walk her. He would go get it and bring it to you and say "Walk". When it was too cold we would put the leash on Dixie inside and let him walk her around. It is an extendable leash but when we locked it so it was short he could pull her and when she walked too far away, she would pull him, which he thought was hilarious. This is the one and only walk he got to take Dixie on outside. Pretty adorable. (You might have to enlarge the pic but he is holding the leash by himself).
Playing at the park with "bama" and Dixie.
Fun times and Mohawks in the bathtub.
And nothing like a little naked time to dry off and run around like a crazy man after a bath.
And what does one little boy do when he is naked? Well read a book of course!

All in all a very enjoyable trip. We are glad to be home but miss my parents already. Time for them to move back I guess :)