Arizona Trip – Part II

Well it’s Thursday and here’s the second part of our Arizona trip, so don’t say I don’t keep my promises. :)

I’m going to pick up right where we left off in the last post….Saturday morning we woke up early and headed out for another run….we felt like we had to run a lot on the vacation to counteract all of the food and drink we were consuming…afterwards we just sort of hung out around the house, waiting for Sharon’s wedding to start.

Sharon’s wedding was in the early afternoon and it was a very nice ceremony. We did our best to keep Landon entertained with snacks and other distractions, but the ceremony was over an hour long and his patience finally gave out, so I quickly rushed him out the nearest exit and we played outside of the church for the last 10 minutes or so…there are certain times when we want to teach Landon where we will sit there and let him squirm or fuss so he knows that’s not the proper behavior, but when it’s someone else’s special day, it’s not the right time and we don’t want to be a distraction so it’s better to just remove him from the situation. Wow that was a seriously long run-on sentence...my bad!

After the wedding, we had a four hour break before the reception, so it was back to Steve and Rachael’s for some drinking and relaxing. Finally, around 6pm we headed over to the reception, and that’s where the real fun began! While we were mingling and eating dinner, there was no one dancing even though the DJ was playing some music. As Landon had already eaten, he figured it was time to get the party started, so he ran right out to the middle of the dance floor and started busting a move. Everyone turned to watch him and it was a pretty hilarious sight. Within minutes all the other little kids joined him and before we knew it there was an “under 15” dance party going on. At some point the lights dimmed and the DJ started using his strobe light, which took Landon to a whole new level. He must just get his dancing shoes from me (even though Michaela is quite the dancer in her own right), because Landon went absolutely nuts once the strobe lights kicked in with the music. It was like he was a little ball of energy that couldn’t be contained any longer.

The next hour or so was filled with all of us dancing. He danced with Michaela, his Nana Rachael, and his Grandpa Skip…but I must say that he constantly came back to Daddy, as I’d pick him up, dance with him for a few minutes, and spin him around and around….it was such a blast!

The only scary part of the evening came when Landon was exploring the reception area and literally disappeared under our very eyes. Michaela, Rachael, and I all scattered out to look for him and I actually started to panic as I sprinted out into the hall…which is, of course, exactly where I found him. Somehow he had managed to elude some 300 guests and make his way out of the reception area! Talk about a punch to the stomach we won’t soon forget. Anyhow, no harm…no foul, and we definitely learned our lesson about keep both eyes on him in those situations.

As the night continued on, Rachael and Steve volunteered to take Landon home for bed, so Michaela, Skip, and I stayed and danced the night away…we ended up staying out far later than we normally do, and we definitely put down more booze than we have in quite a while…

Which leads me to Sunday…we both woke up exhausted and hung over…not a good start to a day filled with a 3-hour car ride, followed by a flight home, an afternoon of running errands, doing chores, and chasing around a toddler! Let’s just say that this totally reminded us of WHY we go to bed early and don’t drink much anymore…for those friends of ours that don’t have kids, you won’t understand…but let me tell you, when you are hung over and can sleep it off…no big deal….when you are hung over and have to chase after a toddler….not cool at all!

All things considered though, we had a fantastic weekend. It was great to see all the family, and to get to be there to help Sharon celebrate her big day.

We have another big celebration coming up this weekend, as we celebrate Michaela turning the big 3-0! We are both in denial that the 30’s are upon us (well, I get one more year)….but it should be a fun party and an exciting 3-day weekend.

And I definitely don’t want to leave out the other big news…for the first time ever, Landon peed in the toilet yesterday!!! This is a very exciting milestone for us, because it means that we are getting just that much closer to not having to deal with diapers anymore. Sure, we’re still months and months (if not years) from being completely rid of them, it is nice to get over that initial hurdle. Before yesterday, Landon didn’t want to have anything to do with the toilet, so maybe he’s finally going to get interested.

I hope you have a fantastic holiday weekend. Check back soon for more from us.