My daughter is awesome. Because she was so prepared, "Darling" had an excellent first airplane ride. And second, third, and fourth rides. Thanks to the offer from the lady next to Brooke on our Nashville-to-Denver leg for switching seats with me; I was originally seated directly behind B & K. There may have been a little self-preservation in her offer, meaning she didn't have to be next to a toddler; the lady did sleep the entire flight! But much appreciated by our little flying crew anyway.
Her first "train" ride, on the SkyLink at Dallas/Fort Worth:
Have you ever needed to find a quiet place in an airport? Maybe you find yourself with an extra four and one-half hours, and a toddler needs her nap? If you are in Denver, here's what you do: take the stroller to toward the terminal, and the skybridge between security and concourse A is just the bees knees! There is an occasional general PA announcement, but much better than in the concourses. And they have a gentle music playing, a sort of Indian-lute something. Walk back and forth over the skybridge (not on the moving sidewalk) and before you know it, heavy eyes and sleep. hooo-raah (quiet, don't want to wake her)...
One of my tasks in Nashville was to find some heat-shrink tubing. We had rescued an umbrella stroller to use on the trip, but the grips were shot. Luckily I found there was a Graingers Industrial Supply maybe 8 blocks away. If you don't know Graingers, think "boy's toy store," but much more utilitarian than, say, Harbor Freight. Downhill, uphill, in the heat/humidity two days in a row (ordered Monday, picked up Tuesday). Darling didn't care for the noise of the hair dryer to shrink the tubing, but she sure enjoyed playing with the leftover piece the rest of the week!
Also in Nashville: library! Note: the downtown branch is not open on Monday, but we hit it for good times on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday she really wasn't interested in the books; instead, the puppet area grabbed her attention. Who can resist puppets from "Where the Wild Things Are?"
Wednesday was story time for babies. Just one-half hour, but who knew it would be so much FUN!
Wednesday evening was a great dinner with Brooke's "uber-boss." That is Graham, her boss's boss. I met Graham some 20 years ago when we were in Leadership Oregon. We compared notes on what a slob Governor Goldschmidt was, the icebreaking session we had involving a class on wine tasting, and other important professional development activities. But the highlight of our evening was just as dinner was served. I was on the outside of the table, watching the incoming plate to see whose order it was. Just as the plate was being set down from my left, BOOM, incoming water bottle from Darling is dropped right in the middle, among the beans, rice, and mashed potatoes. Shock, laughter, tears running down my cheeks. Brooke was more amused by my reaction than by the actual incident.
Thursday was a bus ride to the pool.
And Friday was back home again.
Here are a few other random pics:
And maybe a couple of videos (this is proving difficult, so I will try to add more later):
Great post, I love it! Guess I don't need to write anything now. :)
ReplyDeleteThe pictures are great, especially the extra pool shots. Wet baby!!! Love. Do you still have those panoramics of the view from our room?