California Day 1

Tuesday was a big day for the Blanton family. We departed Knoxville at1:45 and headed first to Dallas. The kids did really well on the first leg of our flight. It took 2 hours and 15 minutes and neither kid slept for a minute. I wish I had gotten a good picture of Ben and Braden but I was busy every second entertaining Kate and trying to keep her in her seat. As you can see they did not allow her carseat on the plane (we are going to fight harder for that on the way home). We arrived in Dallas at 3 local time and our next flight wasn't for an hour and a half. Our stroller was 2 pounds over the limit so we had to check it so we had to carry Kate and her carseat and our 4 carry on bags about a mile across the airport. We were all so tired and the kids needed to nap so bad by this time that sitting around the airport proved very difficult. Everyone waiting was looking at us and I was dreading the 3 hour flight to Los Angeles. Thankfully Kate did take a small nap on the second flight and I was able to relax for a bit. All in all the trip was good. It could have been way worse! It wasn't easy, but we made it. I'm not evening thinking about the flight home yet! Here are a few picture from the first flight:

I got to sit with this cutie all day.

Checking out her new surroundings.

I hate this picture is dark. I was trying to sneak a pic of Braden between the seats but the seat blocked my flash. He was so cute sipping his Root Beer through a tiny straw. The plane was all quiet with people reading and sleeping and Braden screams as loud as he can "This is the best day EBER!" Everyone laughed and I was glad I got to share this "first" with him.

"Must you take a picture of everything?"


So we arrived at LAX at 5:45 (8:45 our time) and found Grandmama waiting for us at the baggage claim. She was so thoughtful and had the kids some chicken nuggets and fries knowing they would be hungry. We had snacked all day but a meal was very much appreciated! From the airport we drove straight to Santa Monica Pier. We knew LA traffic would be horrible so there was no need sitting in it when we could have fun instead. My college roommate, Lisa and her husband live close by and met us there. We had dinner at Bubba Gumps and then walked around the pier and let the kids ride some rides. This was about 10pm our time so the kids had turned to zombies, especially Braden. Kate just loved all the lights and people and was having a good ol' time!

Grandaddy and Braden

Grandmama and Kate

There were tons of big rides around that cost $5 each to ride, but my son picks this 50 cent ride! That's my boy!

He also rode these airplanes. It was so funny because he just rode around staring into space. The poor boy was so tired! He had not napped at all and it was 11pm to him.

Checking out the roller coaster.

Scott, Lisa and Kate. It was so good to see Scott and Lisa! I had not seen Lisa since Braden was a baby so it was great catching up and spending some time with them. I kept thinking that it was so weird that we were all together hanging out in California! What a long and tiring and fun day!

So we drove to Grandaddy and Grandmama's house and finally got everyone in bed at 11:30 pacific time! That is 2:30 Knoxville time. Whew! Of course Braden woke up with night terrors due to his lack of sleep, but we all got to sleep in the next morning.