good by illinois. heading back to the inferno, i mean arizona.

saturday, july 24, 2010. we had a 2 hour drive to the airport. our flight was scheduled for take off at 12:15 pm, which meant we had to be out of the house by 8:15. i'm happy to say we were only a little late. it was so much nicer getting up at 7:00 am vs 3:30 am like we did to make our flight here.

beautiful storm clouds to the left.

abraham the happy traveler.

levi whistling. he just whistles all the time while he's doing stuff. even aunt mic noticed it.

train. levi's soooooo excited.

back through windmill country.

love the contrast. OLD red farm house next to a reNEWable energy source.

we got to watch our plane roll in. i was in a total panic here because joshua packed the metal finds from the 3rd sunday market in one of our carry-ons. we were stopped at security because they were considered blunt instruments. joshua had to go back to the baggage check in and wait for them to find one of our bags to put them in, then go back though security. it seemed like he was gone forever. luckily he made it back to us before priority boarding.

the kiddos and i in our seats.

papa caught a pic of us reading our safety instructions. thanks pops.

levi was so interested i had to go through the whole thing twice!!! we did the same thing on the flight to illinois.

abraham eating snacks.

i think this is part of the mississippi.

abraham in motion. we didn't check abraham's car seat in this time. he was too much for me to handle towards the end of our flight to illinois. he kept wanting to go in the aisle. i'm so glad we lugged it. it was a lot less stressful with him strapped in.

levi turning orange from his munchies.

yay!!! this is what i hoped abe would do. i think if he had been in his car seat on the flight to illinois he would have napped then too.

munchies cheese fix=doritos, cheetos, cheese flavored sun chips and pretzels all in the same bag. levi devoured them.

then it was levi's turn to crash. he slept the whole rest of the way. i tried to wake him up as we were landing , but he missed it.

shortly thereafter, abraham woke up super happy, as always.

awesome clouds meant not so great flying conditions. i get so freaked out with turbulence. really i don't know if storm clouds have anything to do with it. i always swear that i'm gonna look up turbulence online, hoping knowledge will make me less freaked, but i never do. knowledge or not, next time i fly i need xanax!!!

 

pretty little clouds. the pilot told us we might have noticed that we were trying to dodge some thunderstorms. oh yeah, i noticed. we were always doing crazy banking turns. the worst was i could see lightening out our window. apparently airplanes are beefed up to absorb lightening though. my dad informed me of that AFTER we landed.

reading one of our favorites. twinkle twinkle little star, the extended version.

we went from nothing but green, to nothing but brown. but hey, it's a dry heat right? man i'm gonna miss illinois humidity and all!

g'pa and g'ma battaglia picking us up at the airport.

saturday, july 24, 2010. i was so glad when our plane touched the ground! i had been so anxious the last 45 minutes of the ride due to turbulence. it was so hot outside that the flight attendant asked us all to turn on the air overhead and shut our windows to keep the cabin cooler while exiting. we got to exit down the steps in the back of the plane. as we stepped out i didn't find the heat to be as horrible as i remembered/imagined. there really is something to it being dry.

the boys were so excited when we walked through the arrivals door and saw g'pa and g'ma battaglia waiting there to pick us up.

levi running to grandma. poppy took several of these super cute pics.

aberman giving hugs.

ma...reunited with her grandbabies. 4 weeks is such a long time to go without seeing grandma considering we see her at least twice a week, every week.

hugs and...

...kisses.

...

then it was time to dig into the altoids.

the boys ask for altoids every time they see grandma.

joshua and i waiting for our altoids too.

abraham's huge bear hugs.

grandpa and abeyman.

abe picked a fine time to go poopy and pee pee outside the home.

saturday, june 26, 2010. so since my blog post on june 1, where ABE DECIDED he just wants to wear UNDERWEAR, that's all he's been doing! however, we put him in diapers when we leave the house, which lately, is not often and every night before bed. he'll rip off his night time diaper to go potty when he wakes up in the morning. then we put him in unders which he usually takes off, preferring to go a la natural around the house. as a result of the nakiness, there have been some really cute/funny photos of him that i can't post because it's total full frontal nudity which is a no no for online. anyway, we never set out to potty train abe. we have just always had levi's old potty seat out because it acts as a step stool and abe watches levi use the big potty all the time. he's so into doing what the big boys do that i guess it was only natural for abraham to want to go potty like a big boy. he even uses the big potty 95% of the time. until today, though, he has never expressed that he needed to go potty while we were out and about. i find it comical that HE CHOSE TODAY of all days. so, we're flying at about 31,000 FEET in the air and abe tells me rather urgently that he has to go pee pee AND poopy! i hadn't paid attention to where the restrooms were, but i looked toward the front and there was a woman coming out of one. just our luck. we head in, i closed the door, and abe start panicking saying he wants his potty at his house. AAAHHHHHH! i told him that we weren't home anymore and that this was his potty on the plane now. it took lots of coaxing, but eventually it sunk in. he had no option other than going in his diaper. so i lined the seat with extra protectors, which shifted when i put him on (gross). but, HE DID IT! poopy and pee pee. i put another diaper on him, buttoned him up, and flushed the toilet. i was getting ready to lift him up to wash his hands and he said he had to GO MORE!!!  AAAHHHHHH! i lined the seat again, he did the deed, i got him dressed, this time he wanted to flush, we washed hands, and what felt like 20 minutes later, we went back to our seats. then a little while later he told me he had to go pee pee! for reals? TWICE in one flight? this time i didn't sit him back on the seat far enough and his pee went over the edge of the toilet and soaked his pants. oops. that's why we pack extra right? this was one experience i wasn't expecting, but it is PRETTY DARN COOL that we are that much closer to saying good bye to diapers for good!!!

illinois, here we come!

the wee hours of saturday, june 26, 2010. we saved gobs of money by flying allegiant air this year. well, actually, we saved my parents gobs of money. they are paying a huge chunk of our fare for the 4th time. we wouldn't be able to go year after year without their generous contributions, for which we are eternally grateful!!! there were many positives to the whole experience. it's a far, but easy drive, easy parking, quick/easy check in, easy boarding, the flight came in early, the airport in peoria is pretty close to where joshua's cousin lizzy lives. the killer though is that every flight to peoria left at 6:40 am, meaning we had to leave by 4:10 am. if you know us block's you know 1.) i am not a morning person and 2.) we are always at least 30 minutes late where ever we go. (on a side note, a woman at church who has 4 kids said you are allowed to be 15 minutes late per kid you have. so, technically we aren't late;))) anyway, as i stated in my last post, joshua and i got barely any sleep, more like a cat nap before we left. when we got to the airport we left the sleeping boys in there seats. joshua carried seat and boy together. abe woke up as soon as joshua set him down inside, so i had to carry him. we brought the rest of the luggage in and waited for joshua to park. at the time we started unloading the airport check in area was pretty empty, but by the time joshua parked and came back in, droves of people had come in. like in a matter of 10 minutes! we made it through security, and didn't have to wait long before we boarded and the rest is history. i am typing from one of my favorite places of all time. i'm on the dock at aunt mic and uncle ralph's watching the boys poke around in the pond with pool noodles. heavenly.

the boys got to sleep a couple hours longer than joshua and i. though they both went to be super late. (levi 11:30, abe 1:30)

right before i went to dress them.

in the car by 4:21. only 11 minutes past our goal. not bad:)

lucky.

i was so jealous that the boys got to sleep in the car. i used to be able to sleep while someone else drove, but can't anymore.

bright and early at the airport.

that's our plane.

getting ready to board.

mr. cool with his own nemo carry on.

 i was getting so excited!!!

it was fun to go on the outdoor ramp. you got to see the whole plane and the pilots in the cockpit as you walked up.

yay!

watching them load the luggage.

levi starting to get sleepy.

abe put his seat belt on all by himself.

so, levi wanted to too.

abe found the air and light buttons.

so fun.

he kept begging to hit the "orange" "attendant" button.

i brought neck pillows for the boys, but abe didn't want his.

we had just watched "fight club" a couple nights ago and i kept thinking about the more "realistic" version tyler durden's army put on planes.

levi kept yelling for me to look at all the tiny planes out his window.

more reading. he seriously looked at this for 15 minutes. we kept talking about what was going on in each scene.

high 5's from across the aisle.

just a cute pic of joshua.

levi over mountain ranges.

papa and levi crashed. i was so jealous!

when they woke up levi wanted to read the safety booklet.

one of my favorite things about illinois. all that green!!!

abe in an entirely different outfit. i'm gonna blog about our oh so fun potty on the plane experiences. oh yeah, that's plural. joshua got to sleep, i got to take care of our little wide awake monkey. 

when we landed and he got to get up, he clapped and kept shouting yay!!!

abe the big helper. this after i almost lost him twice in the baggage claim area.

showing signs of slowing down. just in time for the car ride. 

lizzy picked us up and took us to her house. we have never been there. check ouy the huge bridge.

going over the water.