Beat the Heat

When I saw the forecast for the weekend, the hottest of the year so far, I said sayonara, Scottsdale and politely asked Dylan to find us a room in Flagstaff. Not only did he come through, but he also got us a suite style room, which is key when traveling with a toddler who goes to bed super early.

Gavin wasn't his most pleasant on this quick getaway. In fact, I can hardly remember a moment in the hotel room when he wasn't screaming, crying, or whining, and I nearly lost my mind. But even so, it was definitely better than being cooped up at home with a screaming, crying, and whining little dude. In his defense, he had just come off of 3 days of high fever followed by 3 days of a rash, and traveling wasn't a very good situation for him to relax and regroup. He was so overtired.

When we got to Flagstaff, we had lunch at Pita Jungle, where we ate our lunch in shifts. One person peacefully in the restaurant and the other semi-managing Gavin's tantrum outside. Luckily we had a mini fridge for all those leftovers. We were able to check in early but waited and waited and waited for the crib to arrive, which we so desperately needed. So, we walked over to the NAU campus and watched some interesting people while Gavin ran around in the grass. Finally, he got his nap. Then we headed to a park to play for a little while before walking all around downtown and checking out the trains passing through. "WHOA big choo-choo!" he said. At one point, the front wheel came off of the jogging stroller, and Dylan managed to save it before it rolled onto Route 66 and then securely reattached it. We rounded out the evening with live music in Heritage Square, and since Gavin always loves being outside, he did great for this portion of our trip.

Gavin was a bit more peppy for the first time all week when I left on Friday morning. 

Outdoor yoga at NAU. Just fitting in. 

Riding a motorcycle at the park, but not really feeling it.

Dancing to the music. I love how much he loves music.

Then, we got Gavin cozied in for the night, and Dylan and I watched 40-year Old Virgin on cable TV. We ordered Oregano's to-go (including a pizookie, of course), and just had the best time relaxing. Normally I run around like a chicken with it's head cut off when Gavin goes to bed because it's the only chance I get to do anything around here since his naps only last about an hour. I think it was my favorite part of the weekend.

In the morning, we had a quick breakfast, then headed to Walnut Canyon National Monument to check out the Native American ruins. Though it was a good 25 degrees cooler up north than in Phoenix, it was still quite sunny and warm for climbing hundreds of stairs. Luckily, I wasn't the one with a 30-pounder strapped to my back. It was actually a really cool place to check out before heading out of town. We took a long-cut through Oak Creek and Sedona, which was really beautiful (of course) and made our way back home where our mess and laundry remained just as we had left it.

I think G must have been hot.

Just exploring the ruins, with a cliff off to the right. NBD.

He's always so generous with the dogs.

I'm looking forward to a much better week ahead. Gavin hasn't seen Dawn and the gang in about 10 days, and I think the structure he gets there is so good for him. He fell asleep over an hour earlier than normal tonight, and I'm looking forward to getting back to normal. Props to Dylan who really came through as Mr. Mom this week. I left around 2pm on Wednesday to take care of some errands and have happy hour with my cousins and aunts. I had a late work meeting on Thursday, so between working and then working again that day, I had a little intermission with my pharmacy pals at Daily Dose, and I didn't see my family at all. On Friday, G stayed with D yet again while I hit the J-O-B, and then we reunited at Five Guys because Gavin seemed to be mostly recovered from his illness. When Dylan spends most of June on the road, I'll get my chance at solo parenting. We have this tag-team parenting thing DOWN.