Sending a big Texas hug back home

After an early morning in our beloved mountain town, we drove to the Flagstaff airport for the first leg of our trip to Phx – love that! Aunt Jaina brought freshly baked pumpkin muffins to send us off with (thank you Jaina!). We decided the weekend prior to get Aspen one of those “harness backpacks” (read: leash) because of her spontaneous desire to bolt away from us at any moment. This one looks like a cute little monkey hugging her back. A great idea which led to a handful of tantrums as it had to be taken away to run through the multiple security scanners. How do you explain that to a 2 year old? The flights went well and Elden slept through most of it.

Check out Elden’s plane outfit – cute! Aspen was pleasantly occupied by goodie bags from friends Becky, Georgia, and PJ. San Antonio welcomed us with warm humid weather and a sleek white Dodge Grand Caravan with more cup holders than we knew what to do with.

Our first trip was to the hospital so that Pat could donate blood for Elden. Mom, Aspen and myself stayed in the cup holder bus and waited. I forgot to send the camera with Pat to document his experience, bummer!

We then drove to the rental house – which turned out to be a nice house – but – not very clean. This is about Elden, so I’ll save those stories for another blog entitled “Odd things you find at vacation rental houses, and the things you have to buy that should be there”. Anyway, my mother bear mode had me wiping everything down with clorox wipes and washing the bedding. Another day in the place, and it felt like home.

Today (Tuesday) we got up late, had a relaxing morning and then went to the Riverwalk for lunch. We ate some super yummie BBQ and fed the ducks French fries. It was a nice and relaxing time before our hectic day tomorrow (Wed.). Elden had a good time, he is just such a smiley, happy little guy! Papa Tony is coming tomorrow to join us in our adventure. Thanks for reading and keeping us in your prayers. So many things are going through our heads right now, and we are tired! We’ll post more soon.