..The Virklers..: Visiting Home

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Visiting Home

We (minus Joel) had the opportunity to visit my family in Phoenix one last time before the baby comes and Liam is no longer a lap child... gotta love those free Southwest RR tickets :)

Of course we couldn't begin a vacation without a little bit of adventure though, could we? So since I've been flying high and feeling good for the past month (yay!), Liam decided it was his turn to get sick. And boy did he ever. Tuesday evening (the night before our flight) consisted of my little boy vomiting 7x in a 3 hour period. Not what I call fun. So after a few EXTRA loads of laundry, cleaning his carseat, and talking with my husband, we decided that if he puked anymore during the night or following morning, we would not fly on our Wed afternoon flight. And he didn't. This is what he did. All night. All morning. In the car to the airport. And in the airplane... on BOTH flights (mind you, my son has never slept for more then a half hour on a plane before- too much to see).

In typical God's humor fashion, he waited until we were getting off the plane before he decided to vomit twice. On me. I'm just thankful that God kept his stomach calm til then! And we had understanding stewardesses on the plane. And a fellow passenger who must have thought I looked quite pathetic, because she handed me a package of wipes, saying, "Here, I think you will need these more then me". Praise the Lord too, for an extra change of clothes packed in the carryon! :)

Although he didn't really vomit after that, the next few days consisted of PLENTY of diaper changes and blowouts, as he recovered from the stomach flu. My poor family! I was counting my blessings that God spared me of this bout, as everyone else in my family got sick while I was there (and poor Joel was bedridden back in Michigan!).

But we still had time for a little bit of fun. We went to the railroad park, the MIM, the Ostrich festival and Desert Ridge. Got to have a surprise birthday celebration for my mom (sans my mom, as she was sick that day) with my Aunt and cousins. We got to catch up with Chad and his wife Jordan. And Katie took Liam on a date to Trader Joe's, where he had a blast (I'm not kidding) and came away well-loved by the employees there.

And he made up for the flight out, by not sleeping a wink on the way home. :)

WARNING:

As in times past, there will be a lot of pictures that follow, for the sake of my family...

McCormick Park (aka the Railroad Park)

Liam loved the horses, but had a death grip on my sister during the actual carousel ride

The Ostrich Festival

He was so excited about the "copter" until we got in it... then, not so much

Sporting Papa's hat while watching the ostriches line up

Waiting in the summer (I mean springtime ;) heat for the races to begin

Ostrich races... need I say more??

A hot day calls for sno-cones

He loves helicopters... but after he freaked out in the grounded one, we weren't about to pay money to have him scared in one that actually flew. And he was content just watching. :)

Not the most flattering of shots, but this is how my son likes to sit in his carseat.

Date Night with Katie

Katie had to buy a couple things at Target and wanted to look at the hats. This one was Liam's favorite.

Grocery shopping for meatballs... and bread... and anything else within reach that he could stick in his cart.

Frozen yogurt... he was still sick though and didn't eat any. I didn't complain :)

MIM (Musical Instrument Museum)

We never made it up the stairs for the main portion of the museum... we spent our entire time in the cafeteria (amazing gourmet food) and the hands on section.