Great West Adventure - Day 9 - Travel day

The last day of vacation is always the dreaded travel day. We were lucky enough to be able to get some laundry done at mom and dad’s before we left (OK, Jenny got it done), so we (Jenny) would not have to do it when we (Jenny) got home. But travel days are always a pain. Most of the morning was spent biding time until our flight. We departed pretty early for the airport - we had a 1:00 flight and arrived at the airport at 11:00, so we had plenty of time to get some pizza and wait at the gate.

The flight was uneventful. Quin slept for 3/4 of the flight. He woke up for about 20 minutes at one point, long enough to put a movie on, then fall asleep again. Ethan spent almost the entire flight doing homework, but he got it done! In the end, the only casualty was Ethan left his new cowboy hat on the plane. We have a lost and found ticket entered with the airline in hopes it might be returned, but we’re not holding our breath.

In conclusion, this was definitely one of the best family vacations the four of us have taken together. That is in no small part due to the advancement in age of the boys. Ethan can be quite helpful when he wants, and is very curious about things, which makes it fun. Quin is full of energy, but you can just see him learning new things right before your eyes all the time - it’s incredible.

Some miscellaneous observations that didn’t make it into any of the ‘blog entries but deserved a little space here in my “epilogue.”

• Californians are wearing pajama pants. Not sure what’s up with that, but everywhere we went in the “hip and trendy” areas, people were walking around in pajama pants. Mark my words, in a couple of months to a year, it will be a craze around the country. Californians are weird…
• Quin is starting the master the art of blaming his gas on other people. While riding in the car we heard a loud sound come from near my side of the car. Jenny and Ethan looked at me but I claimed innocence. Quin was smiling, but immediately said, “Mommy, you stink!!!” I guess that would be a nurture thing…
• Big thanks to Glen and Cheryl on this trip. Not only were they extraordinarily generous with their time and home while we were in Arizona, but they gave us their car for 4 days while they had only bicycles and their own 2 legs to get them around. I only hope I can return the favor to my ungrateful kids when they are vacationing 20 or 30 years from now. Thank you!!!