Arizona, Here We Come!

In early November, we packed up our bags and took Laine on her first plane trip to see the new snowbirds, her Grandma and Grandpa Good. They had just three weeks to get settled before we descended upon them--with an official toddler! The plane ride down was a little rough for Laine--we bought her a seat and strapped her into her carseat, and she was none too happy about it. It didn't help that the plane was over a half an hour late leaving Seattle.

"Don't forget me, or Mommy's birthday gift!"

We got there in one piece, however, and were ready for the sun! Grandma and Grandpa had gotten the house together quickly and things were looking good. Laine was excited to see them, and they were amazed at how she could walk with no assistance.

In front of Grandma and Grandpa's new house...

just kidding, this is the clubhouse!

Jayson even got in a round of golf at the course in my parent's community. He had a great time and got to see a part the "neighborhood" that we didn't get to see. He thought that seventy-five degrees and golf was a much better way to spend the day than at his desk in cloudy Seattle.

Laine loved the fountain in Grandma and Grandpa's courtyard.

We also got the opportunity to enjoy a little fall ball! The players are all of the major league prospects--we watched a game with the Saguaros vs. the Scorpions. We didn't last the whole game, but Laine sure enjoyed walking up and down the steps (with assistance) and around the complex. We got a kick out of the fact that in Peoria, Seniors paid admission and got a friend in for free; a little different than usual!

Laine loved picking up rocks in the courtyard
and just walked around holding them.

One afternoon, we went on a short road trip to Carefree, where we made a pitstop at a property of Jayson's bank for a quick site inspection. We had lunch in town and enjoyed a pretty drive.

Ready to run!

The trip home went much smoother than the way there. Instead of facing backwards (I thought it would be easier to get at her,) we faced Laine forward as we had just started doing in the car. She didn't reach for me quite as much, slept for 45 minutes instead of 15, and spent much more time crawling around in our laps. She munched on ice chips, played with all her toys and exhausted our ideas--playing with an empty babyfood container, the unopened snack wrapper from the flight attendant, and opening and closing the window shade. She LOVED takeoff (that was the 15 minutes she slept the first time). I'll never forget the huge smile on her face, and I think if she could talk she would have been saying, "Faster! Faster!" To sum up the trip, let's just say we can't wait to come back in March!