SUCKED. Hard. We had to wake everyone up at 3am to go and our thought that maybe the kids would sleep on the plane was an epic fail. The first two (out of 4 on this 26 hr trip) flights were okay. The kids were a little grumpy but we had no major disasters. The third flight. Oh the hell on earth 3rd flight. Our poor kids were beyond exhausted by this point and were just plain P-O-ed. June scream/cried for 3 hours straight. And when I say straight, I mean there was not a single silent moment besides the ones she paused to take a breath. I was in the aisle holding either her or a 35 lb Owen the entire 8 hour flight. And all this after already traveling 12 hours. There was a point where I said a prayer out loud with June hoping it would calm her, or me and ending up just crying. The plane was so loud that no one could hear me anyway. So I cried. And thought about what an awful parent I was. It was hell. After we landed and got settling in at the next gate Tim and I both embarked on how that was one of our darkest hours as parents. We both felt like we had no qualifications whatsoever at being one and seriously considered never having any more children. I think the event has traumatized Tim forever.
We did however finally make it to Salt Lake City International Airport. All of us having only slept a good 3 hours in the span of 26 and it was a very strange feeling to be back in Utah. It was like Saipan was just this dream we had conjoured up in our heads. It felt like nothing had changed. Weird. Very weird. But very comforting at the same time. We went to Walmart the first day and I was floored. How could I have lived with these miraculous stores the majority of my life and never appreciated them?! It was a HUGE store with anything and everything you possibly need or want! It was like 15 Saipan stores in one. Amazing. We went there to buy jackets for the kids (after living in Saipan for a year they had outgrown the ones they previously owned) but after about 15 minutes of being there Owen fell on the ground and conked out. He was literally so tired that he collapsed. Poor guy. So we went home. Where he refused to nap. Needless to say, it took a good couple of days to get us on Mountain Standard time.
We spend a good 5 days in Salt Lake before heading south to see my parents. We saw a lot of family and went around the city a bit. Tim took me to Antoinette's Jewelry (where we got our antique wedding rings) and I swooned. He also took us to the Family History Center downtown that had a great exhibit for kids.
Downtown SLC
June stared at these girls dancing the Flamenco for a good half hour.
We had to try!
I was so impressed she actually did the dance moves! Owen eventually hopped in as well but wouldn't let me take a picture. There's no question, our kids love to dance!
We also wasted no time getting together with Warren and Becky for some Red Iguana.
We would go there everyday if we could.
Some scenery we found.
Red Iguana 2 has valet parking. :-)
I finally bought a Red Iguana t-shirt (from the original down the street) and I've been wearing it to death. I figure after living away from SLC for 5 years I count as a legitimate tourist and not just a weirdo local.
And then we headed South....
