Trip to New Mexico-Day 1

A few months ago, my parents called to tell me that they had bought a house in Arizona. Buying a house in Arizona meant that they were going to sell their current house, the house I grew up in. I really wanted to see "my house" one last time before it was sold. Jason and I talked about it and decided that the best idea was for the girls and I to fly out without him. He would stay here and we would save money by not having to buy a fourth plane ticket and he wouldn't have to take time off work. We figured that if I was going to go through all the trouble to go out there, I may as well make it worth my while and stay awhile, so the girls and I went for 2 weeks. We had so much fun! We were able to spend a week with my parents, and a week with Jason's family. The girls loved seeing their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I really wish we were closer to everyone!

Last time we flew with the girls it was horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. I REALLY did not want to fly with them ever again (okay, I didn't want to fly with Kaitlyn. Kinsey is an exceptionally good traveler) and I especially didn't want to fly with them by myself. But this was really the only option (4 days in the car by myself with 2 girls is NOT an option) so I decided to just go for it. I was smart this time and borrowed a car seat from a friend for Kaitlyn. The car seat we use for Kaitlyn is big and bulky and would have been hard to carry onto an airplane (not to mention the bags and 2 children I also had to get on the plane). I knew that Kaitlyn need to be strapped down or else it would be chaos. The car seat made all the difference. Kaitlyn's used to a car seat, so she just sat there, and enjoyed the ride. The girls were soooo good on the planes (yes planes, it took 3 different planes to get to New Mexico). After the first plane Kaitlyn said, "OK! All done plane! See Grandma Grandpa!" She was so confused when I stuck her on another plane, and then another. But we made it, the girls did great, and we made it to Albuquerque with no problems. And I finally got the "WOW! Your kids are GREAT travelers!" comments again. We didn't get any of those last time we flew...

A business woman never rests




Thank goodness for LeapFrog!




The Nashville Airport had a play place. Why don't all airports have these?
There should be one at every gate! We flew out on the 4th of July, hence the patriotic attire.

So the girls did great, until we got to Albuquerque. Jason's sister and her family live in Albuquerque. We usually spend a day or 2 with them when we fly in our out, but they were in the process of buying a new home and were staying with family, so we decided to share a hotel room for the night. We figured the kids could play and swim, and it would be fun. We went to Applebee's to eat dinner and Kinsey started to say she didn't feel good. At the same time, Kaitlyn started acting clingy. I figured they were just tired and hungry, so we sat down and ordered. Kinsey told me she had to throw up, so we ran to the bathroom. Nothing happened, so we went and sat back down. Within a minute, she said she need to throw up again, so we went back to the bathroom, and this time she did throw up. I knew we needed to head back to the hotel, so I asked a waitress for a to-go cup. I went back to the table and was trying to get everything picked up when Kaitlyn threw up. ALL OVER THE TABLE. Thank goodness I had a to-go cup and that my sister-in-law is a nurse. She helped me clean it up and stuff everything in the cup. She seriously didn't even hesitate, it was amazing. Kinsey then said she had to throw up again, and I no longer had a useable cup, so we ran back to the bathroom. She threw up again, I got another cup, and then took the girls to the car. In the rain. Ugh. The day had been going so well. Kinsey threw up for the rest of the night, Kaitlyn was fine and never threw up again. Based on the symptoms of both girls, and the fact that no one else ended up getting sick, we are pretty sure that Kinsey was reacting to the altitude. Silly sea level girl.


This is the only picture I have to document our first horrible night in NM. We ended up not sharing the hotel room that night and had plenty of room, so we all ended up with our own beds--though no one stayed in the same bed the whole night.