Thanksgiving Travel Log

Whew, I know we have been back from our travels for almost two weeks now, but it has been tough getting back into the swing of things. Not to mention we took way too many pictures. Actually, I love them all, but trying to whittle them down for a blog post has been daunting. I am still including way too many, but I have the cutest little boy, and a completely gorgeous family, so I just couldn't stop myself! Here, I will attempt to recreate our travel log. Enjoy!

So, on Saturday, Nov 21st, we flew out of Manchester on our way to Phoenix, with a layover in Detroit. The Manchester airport was completely empty and we literally were the only people going through security. Made it really easy with Finn. I had him in a wrap and they let us walk right through with no problem. Finn didn't have a morning nap and was quite tired by the time we boarded our first flight. He slept for an hour and then was 'relatively' content to hangout on our laps for the remainder of the two hour flight. When we arrived in Detroit, there was a delay posted for out second flight. Finn was happy running amok at the gateway. Then, they announced that the pilot for the flight was on his way and they were going to go ahead and board us and get us out on time. Yipee! Except, they did board us, but then let us sit on the plane for over an hour before taking off. Not good for a four hour flight and we used up much of Finn's good mood during that time. Still, he did sleep a little bit and we just had to constantly try to keep him busy and moving during the rest of the time. We used a lot of toys and books and he enjoyed ripping up the skymall magazine. We arrived in Phoenix completely spent, but really, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

We spent the next few days in Phoenix at my wonderful Aunt Kelley's place. Bubbles and Babou and Aunt Christine, Uncle Wade, cousins Zachary and Colton, and Wade's mom (another grandma for Finn) Sherene arrived on Sunday. It was fun times from there on out.

Cheers to you, Kelley, thanks for everything!

Finn loved playing with the rocks in Kelley's backyard and his cousins were happy to play with him:

There was a nice neighborhood pard a block away that all the boys enjoyed:



We had a great time, just relaxing, hanging out with family, and playing games:
We got to spend some nice time with Great Grandma Boots:

On Wednesday, we all jumped in the car and made our way to San Felipe, Baja. The minute we arrived, we all rushed to the beach and Finn was hooked. I think if we hadn't held onto him, he would have walked right into the surf and tried to swim across the Sea of Cortez! He has absolutely no fear of the water and wants to jump right in. The beach at my Grandmama's is beautiful. When the tide goes out, it exposes a lot of sandbars that are great for running on and splashing in shallower water and looking for sea shells. One of Finn's favorite games was to pick up fist fulls of sand and throw them into the water. He was single-handedly trying to fill in the ocean. He could have spend hours out there. Here are a series of the cutest beach photos:










There was some great sand castle building:
We had a really great Thanksgiving dinner. Finn absolutely loved the cranberry sauce and jello salad:

We got to do some sea kayaking:


Hanging out with Great Grandmama:



Cruising around camp:Playing some basketball:

Out to eat in town:

Wade and Sean went for a big fishing trip while we were there. They brought back a ton of amazing fresh fish. The pongas picked them up early in the morning and took them to a rock 23 miles offshore. We had amazing fish tacos that night:

It was so wonderful to have everyone together:




Unfortunately, we did have to leave. One of our favorite stopping places on the drive is Dateland, AZ. It looks like an oasis in the middle of the desert with date palms everywhere. They sell an amazing variety of dates and our new favorite, date shakes! Finn loved them!