Pre-Christmas

OK, I have to admit. . . I was really really anxious about driving to southern AZ, (we're talking a 12 hour trek, here) with Nolan. Nolan who has never been in a car for more than 2.5 hours straight. . . And it's totally my fault. Ben loves road trips. He kept suggesting we drive. . . I kept saying no.

Now I know that I'm an idiot.

We were lucky enough to be blessed with Rachel's old DVD player for the car, and I had a bag of tricks that you WOULD NOT BELIEVE ready. We started out on Sunday morning about 10:30, and for the first 2 hours. . . nothing. Nolan just hung out. . . He sang along to the music, looked out the window, and just chilled. And then he fell asleep. But that only lasted about a half hour. So I gave him the quiet book my mom made him for Christmas. . . and he lasted another hour! When we got out for lunch in Panquitch, at the 4 hour mark, he was totally happy. Not a bit of whining. During the next 4 hours, Ben let him play with his DS for a while. . . and BOY did he play. He LOVES that thing. So much so, that when we hooked up the DVD player and put in Cars, about 2 hours to Flagstaff, he sort of ignored it. (boy am I glad we didn't pay for it. . . not that he won't love it on other trips. I'm sure he will)

So, yeah, basically, I have a lot of words to eat, silliness to feel, etc. . .

The next day we headed the 2 hours to Chandler to celebrate Nathan's birthday with him and his family. Holy cow it was fun to be able to play at the park at Christmas time! Here are a few pictures from the day we spent at the train park:

The boys played on the slides

We rode the carousel

Tanner showed Nolan around
(how much do you love that picture? It's so sweet.
I wish we lived closer so they could play together more)

We rode the train. Twice. (Ben stayed off to take pictures the second time, clearly)

And we took the kids' pictures in the cutouts. . .

30 minutes later, as we were getting off the train, a little boy was having to be CUT OUT of the snowman, having put his head through the hole, and not being able to remove it. He was panicking, his parents were trying to calm him, and the park operators were cutting through the thing with a hand saw.

We tried not to laugh.

Just as we were getting off of the train the second time, rain started to fall.

And then it rained like I haven't EVER seen it rain in the desert. And I knew why they call them monsoons in AZ.