Scared of Santa

Apparently kids either love or hate Santa. Can you guys which one Claire was?

Yeah, she was screaming and would not let go of me to save her life. So I thought I could sit next to him and get a shot. This is one of the better ones. :) I'm not overly concerned. I think it's pretty funny actually. I might be more concerned if she willingly sits on the laps of strange smiling men...

Our Vacation Rental

Well, I finally posted all of my San Francisco pictures on Facebook in 2 albums. Check them out and leave lots and lots of comments if you haven't already. It's easier for me to upload massive amounts of pictures at once on there. Blogger only lets you do 5 at a time... has anyone found an easier way? Anyways, we had a super time visiting Aaron. We were gone for 5 days, so it was almost a week, but it was long enough to feel like we got to get away, but not so super long that it wasn't fun anymore.

We once stayed in Vegas for 10 days. That is way to frigging long for Vegas. First time stays, I would advise a max of 5 days in that city. WAY TOO LOUD, NOISY, AND SMOKEY! Really, a 3 or 4 day weekend is plenty to just do Vegas. Really all the Casinos and Buffets are the same, with slightly different themes. All the shops are overpriced and who wants to sit through more than one or two shows in one weekend...

Anyways, we had a car take us to and from the airport with our luggage since Aaron has a compact. He also has a compact apartment, so we stayed at a vacation rental vs. a hotel. It was a really good place to stay. Check out photos of our place here http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p191003 I wrote the 2nd review...read it for more details. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't advertise that place in case we want to go back. I don't want the dates to be all booked up!

We ate at some really good restaurants. We ate breakfast at our condo, and ate out the rest of the time. We had Thai, Asian Fusion, some Shrimp Place, Indian, some local pizza place, and an "Organic Kitchen" where I had the best Split Pea Soup ever...even better than I make it! We also went to a frozen yogurt place called Yogurt Park, which Claire loved. We probably won't be flying anywhere for awhile with the new baby on the way...and I plan on laying low for a least 3 months after he/she is born!

Home Sweet Home

I love coming home to our house and familiar stuff. It's always good to get away, but it's always good to come home, too. I love how our house smells upon return. I don't notice it if we are away for only a night, but something about 2 or more nights, brings out the smell...it's a good smell, no worries. It used to be a nasty smell when we came home after a long weekend, we'd smell the nasty catbox when we stepped inside the garage. never. getting. cats. again. I also hate the way catfood smells. Blech. I will save my ranting for how nasty, gross, and dirty animals are for another time...but REALLY...I felt like the house was always dirty with animals...but I digress.

We got home yesterday morning, very early, after a long flight home. It seemed much later because Claire was a complete crank. She fell asleep the first leg of the flight, but we had to switch planes. I tried so carefully to stand up and not move her, but she woke up anyways. Then she did not fall asleep until she was in her own carseat. She pretty much fell asleep the instant we were out of the bright city lights. But on the 2nd leg of the flight, this lady across the aisle kept trying to "help" me entertain Claire, but really she was just keeping her up, and I kept trying to hint she was trying to fall asleep. Freaking annoying lady. I know she was trying to help, but was she that clueless? She told me she had an 8 month old grandbaby, so she's had a least 1 kid. How do you nicely tell someone to leave you alone?

Just a warning...if you ever go through the San Franciso airport, security was AWFUL. We even waited in the family line so it would be faster. Usually the family line there is only about 3-4 families and it's less than 10 minutes. We had to wait at least 20 minutes. Then a crew of 10 came through and we had to wait for them. I'm not trying to complain. I'm glad we have security. I'm just observing how the INDY airport is awesome...I've never had to wait more than like 10 min. in the old or new one. I ended up throwing away some milk and water I had brought for Claire because I didn't want to take the extra time to have them check the toddler's liquids. And it was so hot. It seriously looked like a line for Disney with a 2 hour wait. Rows and rows of sweaty people waiting. I also think that the Indy airport has a bigger area than they did for security. I think they need to expand their security!

But we made it all in one piece with no lost luggage either way. The only bummer was I had some cheddar bunnies (think goldfish) in one bag that I checked that opened and spilled and got EVERYWHERE. I'm talking completely crushed horrible mess. ARGH.

But it's so glorious to come home and lay in your own bed and not worry about how child-proof the location is! So what does our house smell like? Well, believe it or not, it just smells clean and new. It smells like paint and carpet...I'm sure it's still leeching all sorts of crazy, toxic chemicals out even thought it's 4.5 years old now. But oh, they smell so good! :)

Home sweet home.

Lots of pictures to come...should I post them here or on FB?

Flying to San Franciso

We headed out to San Franciso last Thursday morning for a visit to Josh's brother, Aaron, who lives out there. Here is Claire in the Indy Airport, waiting to board. She brought this baby along for the trip. She has named it "Toby." She was inspired by the movie Labrynith. She is playing with a little tube of Chapstick here. These pants have pockets on the legs, which she loves to put stuff in. Her shirt said "Cute as a Bug." It reinforced my not liking Tees with words because probably at least 12 people commented on it before we even got on the plane. "Oh she is as cute as a bug." Really. I don't think bugs are cute. There is a picture of a little lady bug on this shirt after the word BUG, but Toby is covering it up.
Anyways, we had a good flight out to the Bay Area. We changed plans at Midway, and Claire did great on both legs of the flight there. We got there late and the time changed sucked. She did fall asleep watching Tinkerbell on the way out there, so that was awesome. She had her own seat on the plane since she's 2...she has to!

We did bring our own carseat and stroller as well. We did not bring the carseat into the plane cabin though. I don't think it's FAA compliant...and I'm too lazy to look it up. I do like Southwest though, as they bag the carseats in large bags. When we went to VA Beach in July, they did not bag it on that airline...they don't do the bags. Plus I was looking forward to having a little extra elbow room and not having a big old car seat jabbing into my side. It was great. We put Claire in the middle and Josh and I stole her legroom, since her legs barely go past the end of the seat!

More on our trip to come!