Two Tales of Turbulent Travel (Spring Break 2009)

Clark had all last week off from school for Spring Break. So we were able to spend 9 days in Durango relaxing and hanging out with his parents, brothers, sisters in law, niece and nephews. It was a wonderful trip besides the actual getting to and from there.

Tale #1
We left on Friday the 13th and there was a full moon that night. We should have known it was going to be a long night. Our plane left Des Moines late and we missed our connecting flight in Denver by 4 mins...the plane was still sitting there but they would not let us on. Luckily Ethan was so cute with the United employee at the gate that she hooked us up with a hotel room for that night. (There were several others on our flight that weren't so lucky that spent the night in the airport). Ethan was so exhausted when we got to the hotel he couldn't sleep. He stayed up until 2:30 am (3:30 Des Moines time) and then we got up at 5:30 am to head back to the airport. Saturday morning we were so happy to actually get to Durango!

Tale #2
Yesterday all of our flights ran perfectly on time. Unfortunately, Ethan came down with a bad stomach flu on Sat. We were hoping he would be okay on the plane. We packed tons of paper towels, diapers and baby wipes. Within a couple of mins. after takeoff Ethan threw up all over Clark, himself and his blanket.
Unfortunately for us we were on a small plane and it was a day when the friendly skies were not so friendly and the air was turbulent. We bounced and bobbed and rolled along. All of the motion, along with Ethan's unpleasant aroma wafting through the air, and along with the sickening smell of the bubble gum flavored lotion the lady was using behind me...I had to pull out my motion sickness bag. I was concentrating so hard on not using it I didn't even notice Clark.
When I looked over at him he was sweating and muttering angrily about the turbulent air, the pilot made an announcement that we had 10 more mins...and Clark grumbled, "that's not soon enough!" That's when I knew we were in trouble.
Next thing I knew Clark traded me Ethan for my air sick bag and filled it more than once. I don't think anyone liked us on the plane. We finally arrived in Denver. We changed Ethan's clothes, bought a lovely dry shirt for Clark on clearance at a gift shop, and a new blanket for Ethan (to be used like a tarp on our next flight.) The next leg was just as special. We were so happy to arrive back in Des Moines.
Then the fun really started. Clark now has the same bug that Ethan has. Ethan is still sick and only wants his mom (right now he is sleeping). I hate seeing them sick. It is so hard. Ethan has not had much to eat or drink at all the last 2 days. We took him to the doctor this afternoon and were told to take him to the ER if he doesn't get better in the next 24 hours. I'm just bummed that we had to cancel his birthday party for tomorrow night. Poor kid! At least he isn't old enough to know he's missing out on something. It is rainy and the sky is gray...I guess Spring Break is officially over, welcome home to us!

But back to the good times:
Spring Break was great! We had so much fun! Here are a few pictures that highlight the trip!

The best part was hanging out with family. Ethan loved his grandparents!

The weather was beautiful! We enjoyed being outside for a few trips to the park, a fun walk along the river with Lucy and Henry, a picnic for the girls, and people watching with Delanie downtown while eating chocolate!

Seeing all of the baby calves definitely made it feel like Spring. They were so cute. It is so fun to see how the moms take care of their babies. Ethan was fascinated with the cows and loved Jackson (the dog).

One of the little calves was an orphan and had to be fed with a bottle and separated from the other cows. I felt so sorry for the little orphan calf. One morning Vaughn discovered that one of the calves had died during the night. So he skinned it and tied the hide onto the orphan calf. The mother of the deceased baby started taking care of the orphan calf like it was her own. I thought that was pretty ingenious. The best part was that the little orphan calf was brown but wearing the hide of a black calf so it looked pretty interesting!

Swimming at the Rec Center.

Bowling with everyone! I think I may have been in the middle of my best game ever (and that is when Ethan got sick). Poor little guy and poor everyone else who had to watch it and clean it up. Sorry to everyone for putting a damper on the fun day.


Back in Des Moines...don't you like Clark's new shirt?
Can we have Spring Break again?