Wow! Where do I begin? Let's see, the sickness. Two days before we left, Aiden and I started feeling ill. I should have stayed home!!! But we went and from the start, leaving the house was in total Mexican fashion. Drama in the making! Ben was supposed to get off at 12:30 and I wanted to be at the airport at 2:00p. Of course, he walked in the door at 2:10p. I was SO happy!!! I had packed up the car and was ready to go. I basically had to shove him out the door. We finally got to the airport in a manic attempt to be somewhat there in time for international travel. We rushed in and then after check-in we sat outside in the waiting area. This waiting area was before going through security. Apparently, on the other side of security there is nothing, but a few chairs. So, we sat there and tried to keep control over my son. It was tough. All through this, I was thinking, this is going to be a great airplane trip!!! We finally go our call to go through security, kissed Ben goodbye and left. It only got better from there. We left 1/2 hour late, but I will say this, Aiden was pretty good. I was surprised. However, about 15 minutes off the ground I realized that I had forgotten the car seat. Not exactly the thing I wanted to forget considering that mom reminded me SEVERAL times to bring it. I was panic mode. When we got to L.A., which is a custom NIGHTMARE we got through and I attempted a collect call to Debra to tell her that I had forgotten the car seat. Oh boy did that go over well!!! She was SO happy and I was happy that she was happy!! We then got on the next flight which was a night flight and Aiden slept for most of it. I sat next to the most interesting man!! We talked about a lot of fascinating things. It was cool!!! We got to SLC and Mark and Debra were there waiting. The first thing dad said to me was where I had gone, meaning my body. I was happy to hear that. We loaded up the car and went home. Thank goodness Aiden was so tired or it would have been a LONG night!! He was in a strange house, bed and I wasn't in the room with him. The next morning we got up and went upstairs. He was overwhelmed!!! We walked into the front room where there were so many toys, I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head! Debra was so excited she started playing all the loud toys. It terrified him! He slowly adjusted and began to relax. It got even better when Cooper arrived!!
Then the boat loading drama!! I don't quite know how to explain that one. We've done it the same for 15 years . . . there shouldn't have been all the stress and bitching that there was. But, it got done and we got on our way. We've gone to Lake Powell every year for 15 years and taken the boat every time. There has NEVER been a problem with the tires on the trailer. But for some reason one decided to blow. That was exciting. Everybody standing on the side of the freeway watching Brett and Chris change the tire. Good times. We got to Powell LATE! It went downhill from there. Aiden and I were sicker because of the altitude change, the dry heat and the houseboat that was kept in freezer like condition. We were also on a 2 hour time difference, everybody was white, speaking English and he didn't know anybody. It was AWESOME!!! On top of that, everybody felt that my child was not disciplined the right way and he was "out of control" and they all wanted a say in how I was to discipline. It was GREAT!!! However, the eyes of my son the first morning when he could actually see all the water, was worth EVERYTHING!!!
By the end of the "supposed to be 10 day vacation" that lasted 4 1/2 days, Brett had gone to the hospital, Cooper was sick, Hank had green boogers in his eyes, Mark and Debra weren't feeling too well and we decided to go home. Which is too bad because the newly remodeled houseboat was absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!! Here are a few photos.
After our shortened Lake Powell trip we headed back to Bountiful on Friday. I went to Ben's sister's house and that was fine, I got offended, but that just added to all the offending that had already happened. What's one more. After that, I spent a lot of time shopping and trying to see as many people as I possibly could. Didn't get to everybody I wanted, but I tried. I did get to see a lot of my mom's side of the family and my dad's parents. That was really nice!!
It was so AWESOME to see the bond between my son and his cousins. It was like they had never been apart and never met!!
Although it was nice to be there, it was better to get back here. As soon as the plane landed in Manzanillo, a huge weight of stress left my shoulders. I even got stopped by customs and I didn't even care. It's interesting where home is. Here are some pics from the trip!!
