'Sota

Aka Minnesota, which is where we were this past weekend.  Jayden has a tendency to leave off the beginning of words.  For instance, whenever we leave Juju's, we say "hasta manana."  And Jayden's version is "manya." So it's no surprise that I when I told him we were going to Minnesota, that clearly became "s-oh-ta."

This was the longest flight we've been on since he learned to walk, so needless to say I was nervous.  But Jayden was great.  He only slept for one hour of the three plus hour flight on the way out there, but between the ipad, books and a few snacks (and one bathroom trip), he was great.  He got to have his first lollipop, which was a huge hit.

I had to explain "no bite!"  But for now I think I'm going to limit lollipops to the airplane (just like the ipad) to make the flights something for him to look forward to.

Rockin out with mama's headphones to Wheels on the Bus on the ipad.  He was singing along - going "roun' an' roun'" and "up - down, up - down," etc.

Once we landed in the airport we waited for my parents, who were supposed to land minutes after us.  Luckily there was a play area and Jayden actually climbed into the helicopter and was "flying" the helicopter.  We burned a good 30, 40 minutes in the play area until Gamma and Gran-pa arrived and we went to get out "renn-uhl car."

Saturday we had a few hours before the wedding, so we of course went to the Mall of America.  We were going to go to the park, but it was pretty gray and rainy so an indoors activity made more sense.  That mall is insane.  We were there a couple of hours and we probably saw less than 1/3 of it.  I was definitely more intrigued by the activities than by the stores.  And so was Jayden (although he was also pretty happy with the escalators).

This would be the Nickelodeon amusement park in the middle of the mall.  And my camera couldn't even capture the magnitude of the park.  If we'd had more time, we definitely would have had some fun with this.  Maybe the next trip to 'sota?

Jayden was mesmerized by the roller coaster.  "'Nother one!" he kept saying.  Finally I had to get Gamma to start walking so that he would have something else to distract him.

Trying on hats in Nordstrom.  I thought it was hilarious.  I don't know if everyone else around us thought it was so funny.  Whatever, he was entertained and happy.  

The wedding itself was gorgeous.  I think my mom and sister got better pictures (and the wedding photographers too, of course) but the venue was just beautiful.  And Jayden was actually an amazing little boy.  The Minneapolis airport wasn't too far away and you could see airplanes landing behind the venue, and at one point during the ceremony he did shout out "aih-plane!" but other than that he actually whispered to me and stayed super calm.  I was such a proud mama.

To keep him occupied, we took a lot of pictures of lots of things.  Thank GOODNESS for digital cameras.  I must have deleted 20+ photos from this particular shoot.

Jayden's shoes!

Daddy!

Jayden!  (and a little bit of mama)

My sister's photo.  Since I'm in so few pictures, I figured I'd throw one up there of me.  :)
This particular pose is what saved the day.  Allowing him to be tall enough to see what was going on (and to see the aih-planes!) made all the difference.  I'll have to remember that.   

Jayden was a superstar during the wedding also.  He tried to copy all the older kids, passed out in the middle of it for a while, woke up and was off and running again.  He was hilarious.  Until he ran into a guy and both he and the guy ended up on the ground. I felt really bad about it, until my mom and sister explained that the guy was drunk and basically caused himself to fall.  And Jayden was fine - he got up right away and would have kept on running if we would have let him.

Looking at the window during cocktail hour.

Passed out in mama's lap during the end of cocktail hour.

Passed out under the table at dinner.  Until the waitress stepped on him and then acted surprised when she came by the next time and he was awake.  Of course he's awake.  She stepped on his hand!  He was fine, her reaction was just so odd.  

Jayden hung with us until later than normal and then slept great (around 10-11 hours) that night.  The one thing I will say about us traveling so much is that he's really getting used to airplanes, hotel rooms, hotel cribs, etc.  He did refuse to take a bath, but in the grand scheme of things, I figure that's not the worst thing in the world.

The next day we ate brunch with Gamma, Gran-pa and the bride and groom.  And then it was off the airport to catch the airplane home.  Again, Jayden slept for an hour and a half or so and then played with the ipad, books and other toys until we landed.

Asleep before takeoff.

The lineup of airplanes behind us in Minneapolis.  Such beautiful weather!  ;)

We made it back to Santa Ana - from 50 degrees in Minneapolis to 90 degrees in Santa Ana.  Not the change I was looking for.  And apparently our power had been out due to the high velocity winds on Friday night.

Luckily I took today off - I am exhausted and trying to get ready for the next trip on Friday.  Oof.  In the meantime, here's to a work week of fun!