Visiting Grandma & Grandpa Liddle

Although we had a miserable time traveling to and from Florida, we did really enjoy our time there. It was so fun to see Grandma, Grandpa, Jacob, and Penny. Kaitlyn really enjoyed all the attention she got, and so did I. In the mornings Grandpa took Kaitlyn out to feed the ducks and the fish at a pond by their house.


Kaitlyn really liked Grandma and Grandpa's pool...well she liked it better when we were inside and she could see it out the window, or if we were outside in clothes. But when we had our bathing suits in she would rather play outside of the water than in it. Oh well it was still fun!

Grandma let Kaitlyn help her make some cupcakes (for yet another birthday celebration) ...she really seemed to like helping grandma dump all the ingredients in.
However, I think that licking the leftover batter was her favorite....nothing beats getting spoiled by the Grandparents!


And finally, meet Penny...arguably Kaitlyn's favorite part of her Granparents home. I thought Kaitlyn would be afraid of their dog, but that only lasted for the first night (about for 10 minutes before she went to bed). But once she woke up in the morning and until we left for the airport Kaitlyn was constantly looking for Penny and chasing her around. Penny actually ended up being more afraid of Kaitlyn, probably due to her high pitched sqeals.

Northwest Stinks!

Sorry if there are any of you out there that may have any connections to someone who works for NWA, but after the experience I just had, I will never fly Northwest again.

So it all started early Sunday morning, Dan and I woke up at 5am so we could get to the airport in time so Kaitlyn and I could make our 7:45 flight. When we got to the airport I go to check in at the kiosk and it says "Flight Cancelled". Yeah, my flight had been cancelled and I got no phone call, no email, nothing notifying me of any change. The ladies at the ticket counter take about 45 minutes trying to find a way for us to get to Florida that day. There were no seats left on NWA so I have to go through Phili on multiple airlines....irritating since I was SUPPOSED to be on a non stop arriving in Orlando at noon, and now I had a layover, switch airlines, terminals, and go through security all over again (and the extra huge line got me to the gate barely in time), and we didn't arrive until 8:30pm....only to have to wait an extra hour to find out that our luggage was lost, resulting in a trip to Wal Mart to get diapers and a few other neccesary items...not arriving at Grandma and Grandpa Liddle's house until 11pm. A very long day for both Kaitlyn and I.

Oh it does not end there! We of course have to fly back to Minnesota and natrually it's still on NWA. Grandma Liddle and Jacob help us up to the ticket counter. We were cutting it pretty close, but we did check in 35 min before the flight was supposed to take off (you're supposed to check in 30 min prior) Once again I tried to check in at the kiosk but it kept saying there was an error. So I asked the lady at the counter for help. After a few minutes and help from 2 other people she told me that I had made just in time but I needed to hurry and run to make it to the gate....they even called the gate and told them I was coming. When I got to the gate (exhausted from running holding all my carry ons and a 2 yr old) the raunchy lady at the counter told me that I was too late...they had given our seats away to someone else. Of course I'm emotional and start letting her know how wrong that is and that she needs to get me on that plane....after all I did pay for my seats, etc. She ended up threating to call security on me (uh...am I really that threatening?) Needless to say I did not get on the flight I paid for (but my luggage did) and I had to wait another 5 hours in the airport (not quite as bad as the 8 hours I spent in the Minneapolis airport) Luckily Grandma and Jacob stayed and hung out with us. By the time Kaitlyn and I were boarding the airplane we had found out that NWA had done the exact same thing to 2 other groups of people. I thought the protocall when airlines overbook flights was to ask for volunteers, not make the decsion themself who is and isn't going to be getting on the the flight they paid for. And who knows how many countless others have suffered from their horrible service.

And because of this I will never fly Northwest again...and I hope you would all think twice about it too.

And just to let it be known Kaitlyn was actually very pleasant to travel with. She is such a sweet and good little girl and I couldn't have asked for a better behaved 2 year old to go through this with. Oh, and yes we did have a fun time in Florida but its late right now so I will post the pics maybe tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!!!

I can't believe my little girl is 2!!! She has been such a sweetheart to have in our family and we just love her so much! Here are some of the fun times we've had with Kaitlyn up to now.

Bytheway we have a huge HURRAY for today...she went pee pee on the potty for the first time today!!! She's just growing up so fast :)

Sand!

Kaitlyn has finally (well actually on Tuesday) gotten over her fear of the sand. My mom pointed out that her fear of sand might have come from her first trip out the Hawaii when she was just 3 months old. I was a little bit neurotic about keeping the sand far far away from her, and that is why she didn't like it.

So here she is my drama queens first trip to the beach this summer. We went to Hukilau and the entire time we were there she would not put her feet down.... if she saw one grain of sand on her she completly flipped out. I only stayed there with her for about 20 minutes until I decided that it was no longer worth it.

Here is Kaitlyn and her cousin Irelyn drying off later that day at Turtle Bay. I thought a nap might have helped her not freak out so much with the sand, but I was wrong. However she did have fun in the water sitting on the boogie board.
And finally on Tuesday Kaitlyn discovered that the sand could be fun. She shoveled the sand into various objects and then she discovered that she could hide her legs, mom's toes, and Aunt Steph's legs with the sand. HURRAY! Although once she is done playing she is ready to have all the sand wiped off.

Hawaii

Kaitlyn and I left for Hawaii last Friday. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to get together with Dawn and her kids, and Emily and her kids. We are all so excited to be here visiting Grandma, Grandpa, and Steph! However I do feel really bad about leaving Dan in Minnesota all by himself working hard every day :(

The flight here was LONG: sharing a seat with Kaitlyn, smashed between 2 people, for 8 hours is not my idea of fun....but at least it was direct and it was much better than my sister Emily's flight out here with her kids Emo's Story . Once we arrived in Honolulu I came to a realization that I don't care too much for those people who come and squeeze their way infront of you while you are waiting (only a foot or two away) from the baggage claim carrousel and then when you go up to try to get your bag they don't budge....uhhh do you not see me????


This picture of Ashlyn, my Mom, Kaitlyn, and Charity was taken a few hours after we got to my parents house (which would have been about midnight Minnesota time)....needless to say Kaitlyn was so tired she was extremly slap-happy. I'm not quite sure why Ashlyn and Charity don't have shirts on, but Kaitlyn isn't dressed because she had spilt Jamba Juice all over her clothes.



After all that jumping on the trampoline the girls got in the bath and put on their new matching pajamas...so fun! Ash cracks me up, she is such a little diva...always posing for the camera- this is what I like to call her Paris Hilton pose.

Since we have been here Kaitlyn's favorite activity has been jumping on the trampoline, she wants to do it first thing when she wakes up, and would do it all day everyday if she could.

Today Grandma got out a bucket filled with water and some paintbrushes and Kaitlyn (along with all of her cousins and all the other kids on the block) had so much fun "painting" the driveway.

You may be thinking...."where are the beach pictures?" Well Kaitlyn is not too fond of the beach. She doesn't mind the water so much, but she is TERRIFIED of the sand! She cracks me up beacuse she is the biggest freak about being clean and will not touch the sand. Kind of annoying, but hopefully by the end of the week we will be able to get rid of her OCD, and get some cute pics of her at the beach.

Always watch a 2 yr old with a crayon!

Today my friend Stacy came over and gave me a cute new haircut! While she cut my hair her little boy, Sam, and Kaitlyn played together. Stacy and I were just enjoying the quiet few minutes after giving the kids some paper and crayons to draw with, and talking amongst ourselves when all of a sudden I realized there was a faint scratching sound on a wall....
So I jumped out of the chair and Kaitlyn had drawn
this beautiful picture for me on the wall with her crayons!

She looked so proud it kinda broke my heart that I had to be a responsible mother and burst her bubble by telling her that we don't color on the walls we only color on paper. She got the saddest look on her face as I sat her back in her room. But she got happy once I told her we needed to take a trip out to the store, so we didn't feel bad for too long.

So one hour, a trip to Wal Mart, 3 Mr Clean Magic Erasers, and 20 minutes of mommy/ daughter scrubbing later.....



all clean!