Trip to visit Nana

Matthew and Aiden

My cousin James David and Uncle David

Matthew checking out the eagle

Matthew and Sasha

Matthew looking at the very tall trees

Nana pushing Matthew in the swing

Matthew at the fish tanks

The kids table

James David and Aiden

Matthew is giving Nana some of his popsicle

During September 10th weekend, Matthew and I headed to visit Nana in Little Rock, Arkansas. I picked up Matthew from daycare on Friday around 4pm and caught a 6pm flight. Matthew was in a good mood when I picked him up from school. He was excited to go to the airport. He thought we were going to Michigan since that is where we went the prior weekend. I told him that we were going to Arkansas - he didn't quite understand. Andy stayed behind since he had some work obligations on Saturday night. Matthew did well on the flight. The only problem is that he likes to take his shoes off and his feet are so stinky I can hardly stand it. I just hope the other passengers can't smell it.

As soon as we arrived at the LIT airport, Matthew was ready to run. We took the escalator down to the baggage claim and we saw Nana there waiting for us. I pointed out Nana to Matthew since it was almost a year ago since he last saw her. He gave her a big smile and ran up to her with a big hug. She was so excited.

We headed to her house and Matthew was chatty the entire 35 minute drive. He liked to sing "Old MacDonald had a farm" or "BINGO" but we replace the dog with RUSTY and he giggles every time. We pulled up to the house and Matthew was eager to check it out. Nana has 2 birds in a cage and they were making lots of noise so Matthew was curious about them. He also enjoyed seeing her small dog, Sasha. I gave him a bath and he went to sleep fairly easy after a few stories. He had his own room with a queen bed. There was a peacock painting on the wall that he liked to point and say "peacock". Nana also had some ceramic eggs in the corner and Matthew grabbed one and called it "eggbert" imitating a cartoon episode. I thought that was funny.

I thought Matthew may wake up in the middle of the night but thankfully, he didn't. He slept well and then woke up around 7:30am. He came into my room and talked about Nana's house. Nana gave him fruit loop cereal in the morning and he loved that. We got dressed fairly quickly and headed to the Nature Trail near Nana's house. Matthew was excited to get out and get going. He saw snakes, alligators, fish, and eagles (in cages/tanks). We took a walk in the woods on a pavement path and Matthew enjoyed the outdoors. The wind would rustle the leaves and he would ask, "what's that noise?" He was running ahead of us and enjoying walking along the bridges. He finally stopped because he was tired so I ended up carrying him back. The weather was mild but he was sweaty from all the running.

We went out to eat for lunch and Matthew enjoyed a pancake with scrambled eggs. The pancake was so good that Nana and I started eating some of Matthew's. We drove by Nana's beauty shop and ran a couple of errands. It started raining so we were getting sleepy and headed back home for a nap. When Matthew woke up from his nap a couple of hours later, there were kids running around. I took a nap next to Matthew so when he woke up he looked at me and gave me a big smile that he knew there was something fun going on outside the door. My Uncle David and cousins were there with their kids. One of the kids was 2 years old so Matthew enjoyed playing with him.

Nana cooked a big roast with all the fixin's and all the kids were sitting at the table eating it. Matthew sat down next to them and ate a few things off his plate without talking too much. Then they all headed outside to play on the swing set. He enjoyed sliding down the slide with them. After everyone left, Matthew ate a popsicle and then took a bath. He was quite talkative and running around the house without clothes on and jumping on the couch. Nana likes to watch the Gaither Gospel hour and Matthew was enjoying the music. He also found Nana's twizzlers so he was having a good ole time at great grandmas. He chatted with Nanna and Papa on the phone for a little while before heading to bed.

On Sunday, we went to church. Matthew actually fell off the queen bed at 5am so I ran in there and got him back to sleep. He wasn't hurt - just disoriented. Matthew went to the nursery and played with the other kids while I went to Nana's Sunday school class and church service. Matthew didn't even cry when I dropped him off. He was ready to play. After church, he was happy to see us. We went home and ate some more of that delicious roast before heading to the airport. Nana was so sad to see us leave because she gets lonely in her house by herself. She enjoyed our visit and Matthew had a good time, too.

We were hoping to make the 4pm flight but it filled up before we could get on so we ended up taking a 6:30pm. It was a long time to kill at the airport with a 2-year old by myself but I survived. I bought Matthew french fries from burger king and ice cream and we played with a ball by rolling it back and forth to each other. Matthew was a good traveler. He didn't fall asleep on the flight like I had hoped. We made it home around 8:30pm. Andy was watching the cowboys game on tv. Matthew asked about daddy a few times during the weekend but for the most part, he was happy as long as mama was around. Andy gave him a bath that night but Matthew was so exhausted from not napping well that he fussed the entire time. Andy finally calmed him down while reading a story. Andy stayed busy while we were gone but he said that he was lonely without us around. It was a quick weekend trip but it was good to visit Nana because I know the travel will be more challenging when #2 arrives.