Arrival & Grandma and Grandpa's house!

We flew out of DFW on July 31st. It was going fine until we tried to check in - we did self check but somehow it timed out before the agent helped us so it was as if we hadn't (or so they said) but then we were less than 45 minutes to the flight because we were waiting in line so long. They had to get special clearance to check our bags. We rushed through security and had no time to get breakfast or snacks. I rushed to the bathroom where I changed Ella's first nasty diaper (it was followed by 2 more during the flight - awful!) We got to the gate to discover they had given our seats away and asked us if we'd take the next flight. I couldn't do it - it had been so difficult to get to that point. I was mad that someone else got free tickets to get bumped after all we had gone through - but I guess thats life. The kids behaved well on the plane - it was just Ella's bowels that didn't. But we made it - and as a reward we had In and Out upon arrival.

Grandma and Grandpa were so excited to have us stay with them. They had all sorts of surprises for Brody and Ella.

Grandpa bought Brody small dinosaurs that he spent hours playing with outside on their waterfall. He is such a boy - and it is so fun to watch him with his imaginary play. That waterfall is a little boys dream come true.Brody would wake up earlier than anyone else and sneak outside in his pajamas to play in the dirt with the cars or the dinosaurs. He even got a little sun burn from the sun beating down on his left arm. If he had to pick a highlight of our stay at there house - it probably would include playing in their backyard.

We had lunch one afternoon at McDonalds. It was a hit - literally. We were watching Brody play and he even introduced us to Gaberiel, a new friend. Apparently young Gabe has anger issues, because we watched him punch the side of the play place. Whatever, right - until he then goes and punches my sweet Brody in the nose (completely unprovoked). Thats when my fists go up. I took Brody over to Gabe - who ran to hide by his mom - and talked as stern as I could without it being considered yelling to the boy in front of his mom. I was mad - but worse was Brody. He was talking about this for the whole trip. He was so upset that his friend would do something so mean. He kept saying (in the midst of whimpers) that he wanted to go back and hit him as hard as he could. Inside I agreed - but we are trying at this age to just learn hitting is wrong. I will wait until he is old enough to know not to hit his sister before we start talking about defending ourselves - but if we ever see that Gabe again...Brody may have to let him have it.

Enjoying some fries before he was battered by that boy.
Ella - trying to say "cheese" with a mouth full of food.
Ella loved playing with Molly (the dog). Molly was worn out at the end of the day from her little shadow!