Flying & Birthdays

I was absolutely not looking forward to flying to New York. We had a lay over and would be traveling all day. Plus, Darian is so active and always wants to be going somewhere. But it turned out a lot better than I imagined.

We flew pretty early in the morning. He work up when we left through the airport, so he fell asleep on the plane for a while because he missed some of his sleep at night. And he got an extra seat because we flew southwest and could save him a seat if the flight wasn’t full. He woke up for the layover and got all of his energy out by pushing his stroller all around the airport. We had a ton of different activities for him and brand new toys he had never seen, so he had a really fun time on the plane.

But here’s what I messed up. I didn’t bring any of his sheets for the crib at the hotel. Now I know it’s a good idea to bring your own sheets. I forgot his sound machine to block out the unfamiliar noises and make him feel comfortable. I didn’t get a rain cover for his stroller. And I didn’t check to see if the hotel had a tub, which is part of his nighttime routine because playing in the bath usually tires him out and then he falls asleep easily. If I had known it didn’t have a tub, I would have brought a little $10 inflatable tub. So we tried putting him in the shower, but it only terrified him. Then he didn’t want to be in that crib and could hear us working on things in the other part of the hotel room. Hector downloaded some white noise to his phone, but Darian was not interested in sleeping because he was still wide awake. So lesson well learned. No sleep for the numm numms.

On a different note, today is my dad and best friend Melody’s birthday. I love them both very much. Happy Birthday, dad! Happy Birthday, Melody!

For my dad, I took all of his old slides from his mission, rented a huge scanner, scanned them into the computer, put them on a disk drive, and made him a slideshow. Before we left, we gave him his present. He opened up the disk drive and was like… okay… Then he opened up a box that had the tin thing that holds all his slides. He was shocked. He was so happy to see all of his pictures in the slide show and on the computer.

It was also really fun for us to see these pictures. He served his mission in Columbia, and my friend Melody, whose birthday is today, has parents from Columbia. Perhaps, my love for Columbian rice comes from my dad, and boy oh boy does Melody’s mom make some good rice.

For Melody, I want to take her on a date because I haven’t seen her in a while. I hope she cashes in on this birthday present. Well, I love you both. Happy Birthday, Dad & Melody!