"A three-hour tour"

Our great adventure to Denver is done, and my house and mind are finally in enough order to blog about it.  Oliver had a great time on the trip and did a wonderful job traveling.  Our flight out was very easy.  A friend dropped us at the airport, my suitcase (that I thought was not heavy at all) was right at the maximum weight, and the plane left on time.  After checking out everything in the airport and on the airplane, Oliver fell asleep for the first hour or more of the flight.  The woman sitting next to me was also pregnant, about as far along as me, so we chatted the whole time.  Ollie woke up about halfway into the flight and had a snack, played with some toys, and was generally easygoing.  He did have to sit on my lap both directions since the flight was full, but we both did okay with it.  I'm not sorry, though, that starting this September we have to buy a seat for him -- my legs were certainly achy after the trip home.

Kim and I had a loose structure to the days.  Oliver slept in a low trundle bed next to me at night, so he and I woke up together around 7am central time, or around 6am there.  Oliver would start to stir, look up at me, then get all his pillows and blankets and climb up into bed with me.  We usually read a few books first thing before getting changed.  Kim got him a booster seat to use while there, which he loved ("Oliver's chair").  He also loved Kim's cat, Suki, who was tolerant of if not entirely amused by Oliver stalking him.  Suki let Ollie pet her a few times but seemed to treasure after-bedtime time.  Oliver was not impressed with Suki's access to the dining table and would order her "Off!" whenever she got up.  He didn't quite get the difference between a dog on the table and a cat on it.

We took the kids to a park two blocks away pretty much every day.  Ollie had a minor meltdown the one day Kim pushed Amelia, who is ten months, in the stroller, and he had to walk, but he eventually saw the merits of his relative freedom.  He loved the park and as such has learned that word, asking to go nearly every day (and not appreciating the 15-degree or more difference, and significant difference in humidity, between Denver and Nashville).  We sampled some of the other parks in Denver's extensive park district each day, including the city zoo, which part of City Park.  We had lunch one day and got to share our picnic area with two beautiful peacocks strutting around.  We also went to Book Babies at the public library one day, with songs and choral reading, followed by lunch at the neighboring park (at which Oliver got his first ride on a merry-go-round).

Naptime was somewhat challenging since Amelia still naps twice a day and Oliver just once, usually midday.  But we could usually push his a little to get out in the middle of the day in addition to the morning.  I happily spent everyone's naptime reading and getting some extra shut-eye of my own.  Kim made some wonderful meals for Oliver to try -- a taco casserole and a broccoli-and-orzo mix -- and he also had Thai for the first time, of which he was (no surprise) a fan.  We all went out for pizza and ice cream Thursday night, which both the kids seemed to like.

I was nervous about taking a trip like this.  Oliver and I traveled a lot by car last summer, when he was much younger, but that has certain advantages to it in that I could stop when I needed and wasn't at risk of bothering other travelers (except maybe with my sub-par driving).  Fortunately, Oliver is a pretty easy kid still, happy to watch what's going on around him.  He did like the apps I downloaded onto my iPod Touch, though it was hard to hear them in the back of the plane.  And he really likes the few new toys I bought for the trip.  I'm not sure I'll do much flying next summer, by myself with two kids, but it's fun to have these memories of when there was only one!