Last April after an epic meltdown by Ella on our last flight, Mike and I looked at each other and vowed we would never fly again until she was 10 but memory is funny thing and somehow we decided to do it again and fly up to Pennsylvania to see Grandma & Grandpa and the rest of the family. I think I counted this is Ella's 8th flight in just 28 months but this is the first time she has flown since she turned 2 so that meant this flight she would get her own seat. As much as we didn't love having to pay for that extra seat, I have to say, it was worth every penny! I am happy to report that Ella did great on both flights. I was worried she would get scared on takeoff or landing and want to sit in our laps but she was happy to have her own seat and happily watched movies once we could turn on electronic devices.
After landing in Harrisburg, we drove to Danville to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Ella loved being showered with lots of attention and enjoyed the new toys at their house, like Woody!
We were lucky enough to time this trip so that we not only got to see Mike's parents but lots of his other family and friends as well. Mike's grandparents, better known as Bama and Papa were up visiting from Florida along with Mike's Aunt Debby. They had not seen Ella since Kelly's wedding when she was 9 months old so needless to say, she has changed a lot.
We also got to see and spend time with one of Mike's oldest friends, Russ and his wife Alison and their little boy Henry. Ella and Henry got to run around and play at the park and then came over for a yummy lasagna dinner. Alison is also expecting her second baby in April so our new babies will get to play together in the future also.
There is a playground right across the street from Grandma and Grandpa's house and I love that they still have some old school equipment there. I used to love this spinning thing when I was a kid but you can't find them anywhere now. Ella wanted to be in charge of pushing while Henry was happy to go along for the ride.
Ella was also excited that they had the same purple dinosaur that we have at our park. Henry is almost a year younger than Ella but they are about the same size so Henry had no trouble keeping up with Ella.
These two were fast friends after playing together all day!
On Saturday we were so excited when Uncle Tyler, Aunt Steph and cousins Andrew and Connor arrived all the way from Seattle. They flew on the red eye all night but you wouldn't know it by their energy levels. A favorite toy all weekend was the piano, Andrew enjoyed showing Ella the proper way to play.
All the kids had so much fun playing together and Ella got to play with lots of toys she had never seen before like Lego's and Daddy was in heaven putting lego's together.
And putting Toy Story puzzles together.
But after all those boy toys, Ella thought the boys needed some princesses in their life so she showed them her princess sticker book.
Connor turned 4 on Monday but we celebrated his birthday a couple days early with a cupcake party.
Everyone got to decorate their own cupcake with frosting and toppings.
Shocker, guess who was in heaven eating only the frosting and sprinkles off her cupcake?
Connor and Andrew also shared their leapfrog books and Ella loved playing with that. Note to Santa, maybe a gift for next Christmas.
More piano playing but this time Connor joined in to make some music. Watch out Beethoven.
How cute are these three little monkeys in the bed?
Getting a picture with everyone smiling and looking is impossible but this was the best attempt.
They seemed to cooperate a little better with Grandma and Grandpa.
Ella loved spending time with her cousins so much. This wasn't planned or posed, they were just watching Curious George together. How sweet is that?
I only wish we lived closer so these little cousins could see each other more but it sure is fun when we can get together and now there will be even more to join in the fun.
We had an early Christmas celebration before we left and Ella loved opening presents. She is quite talented at navigating the wrapping paper and tearing it open to see what is inside. Of course, the excitement of the gift lasts about 15 seconds and then she turns to us and says "open another one please!"
We got Grandpa an automatic golf ball putting game and Ella had to get in the action and perfect her putting skills as well.
After saying goodbye to everyone in Danville, we packed up the car and drove a couple hours to meet the newest and tiniest members of the family, Owen and Noah. Mike's sister had twins boys a month ago and after a brief stay in the NICU, both boys are home and doing well. They were born 6 weeks early so they are still so tiny so we encouraged Ella to mainly look and she could gently touch their feet. Luckily Aunt Kelly and Uncle Ben gave Ella a new Rapunzel purse so that kept her pretty occupied during our visit.
When we arrived, both boys were actually awake but then they quickly went to sleep and we got to sit down and have an early dinner before our flight home. Before we hit the road though, we got one final picture with Ella and her new baby cousins. She was actually really good with them and just wanted to look at them and see what they were doing the whole time. I hope she is like that come February with her new baby brother or sister.
The flight home was good and uneventful, the way you want a flight to be with a 2 year old. It was past her bedtime but it's amazing what a little candy and a movie will do. It was late when we finally got home but it was such a good trip and we are so glad we got to see so much family and friends. That will definitely be our last flight for awhile so we were thankful to spend that time with family before our new little one arrives.
Ella was also excited that they had the same purple dinosaur that we have at our park. Henry is almost a year younger than Ella but they are about the same size so Henry had no trouble keeping up with Ella.
These two were fast friends after playing together all day!
On Saturday we were so excited when Uncle Tyler, Aunt Steph and cousins Andrew and Connor arrived all the way from Seattle. They flew on the red eye all night but you wouldn't know it by their energy levels. A favorite toy all weekend was the piano, Andrew enjoyed showing Ella the proper way to play.
All the kids had so much fun playing together and Ella got to play with lots of toys she had never seen before like Lego's and Daddy was in heaven putting lego's together.
And putting Toy Story puzzles together.
But after all those boy toys, Ella thought the boys needed some princesses in their life so she showed them her princess sticker book.
Connor turned 4 on Monday but we celebrated his birthday a couple days early with a cupcake party.
Everyone got to decorate their own cupcake with frosting and toppings.
Shocker, guess who was in heaven eating only the frosting and sprinkles off her cupcake?
Connor and Andrew also shared their leapfrog books and Ella loved playing with that. Note to Santa, maybe a gift for next Christmas.
More piano playing but this time Connor joined in to make some music. Watch out Beethoven.
How cute are these three little monkeys in the bed?
Getting a picture with everyone smiling and looking is impossible but this was the best attempt.
They seemed to cooperate a little better with Grandma and Grandpa.
Ella loved spending time with her cousins so much. This wasn't planned or posed, they were just watching Curious George together. How sweet is that?
I only wish we lived closer so these little cousins could see each other more but it sure is fun when we can get together and now there will be even more to join in the fun.
We had an early Christmas celebration before we left and Ella loved opening presents. She is quite talented at navigating the wrapping paper and tearing it open to see what is inside. Of course, the excitement of the gift lasts about 15 seconds and then she turns to us and says "open another one please!"
We got Grandpa an automatic golf ball putting game and Ella had to get in the action and perfect her putting skills as well.
After saying goodbye to everyone in Danville, we packed up the car and drove a couple hours to meet the newest and tiniest members of the family, Owen and Noah. Mike's sister had twins boys a month ago and after a brief stay in the NICU, both boys are home and doing well. They were born 6 weeks early so they are still so tiny so we encouraged Ella to mainly look and she could gently touch their feet. Luckily Aunt Kelly and Uncle Ben gave Ella a new Rapunzel purse so that kept her pretty occupied during our visit.
When we arrived, both boys were actually awake but then they quickly went to sleep and we got to sit down and have an early dinner before our flight home. Before we hit the road though, we got one final picture with Ella and her new baby cousins. She was actually really good with them and just wanted to look at them and see what they were doing the whole time. I hope she is like that come February with her new baby brother or sister.
The flight home was good and uneventful, the way you want a flight to be with a 2 year old. It was past her bedtime but it's amazing what a little candy and a movie will do. It was late when we finally got home but it was such a good trip and we are so glad we got to see so much family and friends. That will definitely be our last flight for awhile so we were thankful to spend that time with family before our new little one arrives.Now, it's back to unpacking, doing laundry and repacking before we head to Seabrook on Friday for Christmas. I honestly can't wait for this Christmas morning and being able to experience it with Ella and all the magic an excitement that she has. Seeing it through her eyes is really what's its all about. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and safe travels if you are traveling.
Once the kiddos were finally in bed and asleep, the adults had some fun! Tyler brought the new kinnect game, it is like the Wii but you don't need to hold a controller. We played lots of fun games but the favorite and most humorous by far was the dance central game. You basically mimic the dance moves from the videos. We all had some good laughs making complete fools of ourselves! Mike and Tyler had some brotherly competition with a dance battle. Advantage this time to Mike but since Tyler owns the game, I am sure he will be practicing up for a rematch! 
