Now, for the details of our trip. Some people would yell at us and call us bad parents for dragging our child across the country and subjecting her to all those nasty germs and people out there. Well, thats one way to look at it, the other way is to say that we are helping her to build up her immunities at an early age :) In case any of you are worried about our dear little one, I will tell you that she is in good health and has survived our trip without so much as a cold!
Ah, but enough on that. More on the trip! The reason we actually took this trip, is because next summer I will be transferring away from Kodiak, AK (sad, I know). Before that can happen though, I need to put in my choices for where I want to go, and that needs to be done by 1 September. Needless to say, I want to be the good husband and allow my wife to have some input into where our family ends up, and we planned this trip to do two things; check out the two places I want to put at the top of my list (San Diego and Cape Cod), and to introduce baby Ayla to her extended family down in Arizona and Illinois.
So let the travels begin:
Our trip started out in the great city
of San Diego. SD is one of the places I would enjoy being stationed at next tour because who can beat the weather there!? Although it may be crowded and be located in the state of California, it would still be a fun few years I believe. While we were there we did a little house hunting to see what the neighborhoods looked like. On top of that, we HAD to do a little shopping (Thea loved that part). And then I surprised her with a quick little trip to the San Diego Zoo. With our time completed in SD, we then hopped a plane for Phoenix, AZ.
So you are aware, most of Thea's family lives down in Arizona...a small town called Cottonwood. Actually, they are all around that area, but I will use that as the focus. We headed out there and spend a couple of days visiting grandparents and cousins and whatnot. They all loved baby Ayla and couldn't get enough of her. (not my fault that we made such an adorable little girl...blame her mother). While we were in the area, we decided to take a little detour on our last day and go north to see the grand canyon. Although Thea had seen it before, this was a first for me, and it was Amazing. Words and pictures don't even begin to describe how awesome the sights are. I am really glad we were able to see the canyon as a family.
On top of that, while we were up at the canyon, we took Ayla for her first little swim! How much fun is that?? Surprisingly enough, she didn't even start screaming (which is kind of ironic because she hasn't made it through a bath yet without screaming). Now all we have to do...scratch that, all I have to do is to teach her how to swim! (her mom has a little issue with the swimming thing, but I'll teach her too) ;)
After leaving Arizona, we flew into Milwaukee, WI so we could hang with my family up in Northern IL. Ever since they new the date that
we were coming into town, my family went above and beyond by throwing somewhat of a reception for us. Any of you that know our story, know that we had somewhat of a "small" ceremony in Idaho last year (yes, pretty much an elopement). So, my family wanted to throw a little party to say Congrats, and so they did. All I have to say is, Thank you, it was an amazing time!! On top of that, I decided to FINALLY get my wife a wedding band, since I had been mr cheapo for the last year by having her wear her engagement ring as a wedding band....And funny enough, earlier in the day before the reception, some lady referred to me as her fiance. (since I was trying to decide on when to give her the ring, either the reception or our 1 year anniversary, that comment decided it for me).
As much fun as it was to spend time with family and friends, we had to say goodbye to the mid west, and travel out to New England to check out Cape Cod. We arrived in Boston and Thea fell in love. Granted, I can't blame her, because I really like the city too. So, we spent a day and a half checking out the city, and driving down to the cape and looking at towns where we could live if I got stationed there. And then, that night, we took Ayla to her first baseball game. The Sox vx. Sox at Fenway. What a great night it was. I was happy that a Chicago team won, and Thea because an instant Red Sox fan. (hey, at least the Sox and Cubs are in different leagues!). Then, on our final day in town, we decided to take a quick trip down to New London, CT, in order to show Thea the Academy. No, not because it was where I went to school, but because I have a feeling I'll be teaching there in the future and so the family will end up living in that area. So I wanted to make sure that the wife would be ok with that...and luckily, she was :) After that, we raced back to the airport and flew all the way back home to Washington.
So, 8 states and 7 flights in 11 days....yeah, that was a hell of a trip. But we survived, and we had a fun time doing it. We didn't kill each other (phew!!) and Ayla stayed healthy. I couldn't ask for anything more wonderful than that. Now I am just looking forward to a month from today when my two ladies will once again come up to Alaska to visit. I miss them like crazy already and its only been 3 days since I left....I don't know if I'll survive. Wish me luck!
(and I'll try and post more often about my goings on...but you have to give me credit, two posts in a year is a lot better than what I had done in the past few years!!!)
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