This past week the four of us, plus my Mom and Dad and Lauren, flew to Phoenix to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday. The trip had all of the makings of the perfect vacation- and it really was wonderful- but we had some ups and downs!
Most importantly, we got to be with a lot of my Bradley family to celebrate Grandma. And we all stayed safe and sound. And we're home now. :)
Our trip started Friday, June 14. This was also my last day of school, so it was a whirlwind! Once Dad and I had brought one more load of "stuff" home from my classroom, we pretty much grabbed Sadie and the boys and headed to the Dude Ranch, then to Baltimore. On the way to Baltimore, we stopped in Alexandria, VA to see Lauren and Kyle's new apartment. It is beautiful and perfect for the two of them. You cannot tell they just moved in at all; can't wait to go back and spend more time with them in DC.
After staying the night in Baltimore (Ryan drove in after midnight to join us- Saints basketball event after work Friday), we caught a direct flight to Phoenix Saturday around noon. I cannot imagine flying with the two boys just Ryan and I- let alone by myself! Our ratio of 5 adults to 2 babies seemed about right.
The boys did really well on the plane- very minimal fussing, but not a lot of sleeping, either. Mom and Lauren kept Anderson entertained for the majority of the trip. Ryan and I had Brady so that I could feed him as needed. We traded boys during the flight for a while, too.
It took us most of the day to get to Phoenix, get two rental cars, and get all 10 pieces of luggage to the resort in Scottsdale. The resort was beautiful; Ryan and I would love to take the boys back when they are older (9 and 10 maybe?) so we can enjoy the resort but do some hiking/ sightseeing in the area, too.
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| Courtyard |
I could barely notice the beautiful resort at first, however, because Brady had reached a whole new level of tired/ stressed-out. He was SCREAMING once we got to the resort. Quite the first impression for meeting so many of his relatives!
After feeding and swaddling Brady, we were fit to socialize. There is a three hour time change, so it was about 10 pm by now for all of us east coasters. Anderson and Liam had fun playing together; Liam can suddenly talk like a kindergartener! When we got there, Liam said "Put him down" so he could play with Anderson. Ha :) The boys ran around the Cassons' rooms for a while. Then we all ordered pizza and visited some before we crashed for the night.
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| They had fun getting in and out of the fancy tub. Also they were fascinated by the glass enclosed time-machine looking shower. They would touch the glass, and then reach through the opening... amazed. Ha :) |
The next morning was Sunday, Father's Day, and probably my favorite day of the trip. Everyone was WELL (more on that to come!), and we spent lots of time with family. Most of the day we spent at the pool. Also, most of our Harden relatives came to the resort to see us and meet the boys for the first time. Great Grandma Bonda got to meet her only two great-grandchildren (for now) :). It was such a fun day, and both of my boys really enjoyed the pool.
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| Chris, Colin, Sarah, and Liam playing in the pool |
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| Liam shared his awesome sports car with Anderson- who loved it! |
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| Auntie Lauren :) |
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(L to R) Mollie, Jim, Terri, Grandma, Grandma Bonda, Dad, Lori, Brady, Mom
Chillin in the shade |
After we got cleaned up, we took some Father's Day and family photos:
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| Great Grandma with the boys :) |
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| Greatly anticipated cuddles! |
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| We love Grandma. |
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| The boys on Father's Day. Love. Love. Love. |
That night the grandparents stayed home after bedtime, and all of us cousins headed out to a 9:00 movie (midnight for us). We saw Man of Steel- and the first half was pretty good. All I know about the second half is that it was very loud and kept waking me up. Ha. Lauren and I made our best attempt, but Diet Coke was no match for jet lag.
Speaking of... it's after midnight back in VA now... I'm going to sleep. More to come soon :)
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