Visit to Lindsey's house

About 6 weeks ago I came across a deal on plane tickets.  Between a low price, a credit I wanted to use on Southwest and a desire to see my sister and nephews, I convinced myself I wanted to buy them.  Cade, Cami and I headed out to Fort Collins' to visit the Flamms. 

We flew out on a Wednesday.  My Grandpa Smith passed away the day before.  I knew that his funeral would be in Utah sometime the next week, but I didn't know when.  We decided that I would keep my plan to fly to Denver, then drive with Lindsey to Utah for the funeral and then I would fly home from Salt Lake.  It was a little crazy making last-minute changes, but it worked out.  I packed up and left home around 9:30.  We drove about 2 hours to the Spokane airport and I found it and parked without a problem.  Cade had a great time looking for tractors along the way and we even saw an excavator putting dirt into a dump truck.  Cami took a little nap.  I borrowed my friend's sit/stand stroller and managed to fit 2 kids and 2 carseats on it.  I pulled my other big suitcase behind and used a backpack as my carryon.  It was pretty awesome.  We checked in just fine and then I was down to just Cade's carseat and the stroller. 

      When we started through security, I set off some kind of alarm and they pulled me aside.  They un packed everything from my backpack (snacks, toys, diapers, wipes, sippy cups, markers, books, pacifiers, wallet, extra clothes, more food etc.) and sent it through again.  They also had to send the stroller and car seat back through.  Cade and Cami cried most of the time this was going on.  Finally I got my stroller back and they calmed down until I got pulled (with them) into a small room for a pat-down.  I ended up getting stuck for around 20 minutes and they never told me what set off the alarm.  The rest of the trip went by smoothly.  Both kids had fun watching planes as we waited for ours.  Cade was thrilled that our plane was blue.  He also loved the tray table and having his own juice and pretzels.  They were very happy on the flight.  Cami pooped her diaper and so I had to go change her.  Luckily Cade came with me and cooperated and used the toilet himself while we were in there so I didn't have to go back :) 
      One thing I thought was funny:  Southwest does family boarding in the middle of the process.  There were a few other families traveling with us, one with 2 parents and a 4-year old, and 2 mom's with one small child.  I let Cade and Cami run around a bit while the boarding process was starting and the other families kind of lined up.  When it was almost our turn I came over.  The other parents looked at me with my 2 little kids, car seat and stroller and told me to go first.  I gladly accepted.  Once on the plane, a flight attendant helped me carry the carseat and we got all set up.  Lindsey picked us up in Denver and drove us home and we all had a great sleep that night. 

The first couple of days we were there were very warm.  The kids had a lot of fun playing out in the back yard.  Cade loved digging in the dirt with their tractors and squirting water guns.  Cami loved climbing up and down in a chair.  They all had fun throwing rocks on the slide and watching them come down too.  We went to the park twice and just played a lot.  Cade had so much fun with his cousins.  Daniel (4) and Josh (2) loved him as well.  They played cars, jumped on the downstairs couch, took baths, played in the dirt, collected dandelions, rode bikes and laughed at each other.  Of course there were some disagreements as well, but overall they did pretty well. 

Friday my friend Jill came to visit.  She lived in Denver now and she brought her mom and baby Milo with her.  It was so fun to meet her baby and just talk and catch up.  I have known Jill and been really good friends with her since we were 11.  We met her at a park for lunch and then came back to Lindsey's house to hang out while my kids took naps. 

Saturday Lindsey and I took the 5 kids for a hike. Lindsey had 2-month old Luke in a front carrier and I had Cami on my back.  They boys did great and ran around looking at signs.  They ate granola bars and crackers on the way back to the car and had a lot of fun being outside.  That afternoon I made some ties for the boys while Lindsey went grocery shopping.  It was Lindsey and Jason's anniversary that day as well.  They went out to dinner and I held down the fort getting all the kids to bed.  (Everyone was ready for bed when they left though, so it wasn't very hard)

Sunday we woke up to snow and it continued to snow all day.  I brought my kids home after an hour of church and we relaxed a bit on our own. 

Monday was mostly packing up for Lindsey so we could leave early Tuesday and drive to Utah.  We had a dance party and the boys played in the basement a lot (unfinished with an old couch to jump on.)  We also went to Target and found some good deals on pants for Josh and Cami and some Disney movies. 

Lindsey was pretty excited that Cami liked her enough to help her make cookies!

Tuesday we loaded everyone in the car and were out the door by 7:40.  Pretty good for having 5 kids under 5.  Lindsey's van was really loaded with the 5 carseats in the back.  The drive went perfectly.  We only had to stop twice.  Everyone was pretty happy.  We watched movies, ate lollipops and whole apples and lots of other snacks, sang songs and played with toys.  We made it to Utah about 4:20.