When we got to the airport last Saturday, Charley was very excited. She knew we would be going on an airplane, and had been talking about it for several weeks. She ran through the airport, pushing her baby dolls in her stroller, and was in a great mood. Until, of course, we got on the plane. Once we boarded, it was a mixture of sleeping, and screaming for the entire two and a half hour flight. Then, we landed in Vegas, at 1a.m. and had to go pick up our rental car. We were both a mess at that point. She was tired because it was one in the morning, and I was tired from trying to keep her from screaming on the plane! I was also frustrated, because I was walking with a purse, diaper bag, car seat, luggage, stroller, AND Charley, and nobody offered to help me. They just looked on, pitying me. I got to my friend Janine's house at about 3 a.m. and I've never been so happy to go to sleep.
On Sunday, I took Charley to visit her dad and Grammy. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the pool along with Janine, her husband Eric, and some of his friends. It was nice to have some adult conversation! Sunday was pretty unproductive, though, because I was still tired from the flight, so all I could really force myself to do was socialize until around 7, then Charley and I went to bed! Monday, however, was a different story. I actually had a whole day to myself. It was amazing. I got a pedicure, went to the gym, relaxed by the pool with a margarita, listened to music...it felt great to just relax and do things for myself! At the end of the day, I picked up Charley, and we went to get some photos taken by a friend of mine. Charley was a bit of a mess, because she hadn't napped all day. But my friend did an incredible job. You couldn't tell that Charley was crabby in the photos!Tuesday through Thursday weren't quite as relaxing. I had to drive across town at 7a.m. every day to administer the NV CRTs (state standardized tests). Testing is fun, and miserable at the same time. It's fun, because I get to meet some of my students, who are adorable by the way, and I get to work with some really wonderful people. But it's incredibly boring, walking around, watching kids fill in bubbles on a Scantron sheet. Anyway, we had a couple of fiascoes, but overall, testing was a positive experience. One of my favorite testing moments was when two of my students, who became fast friends when they met in person, were joking around before everybody arrived to take the assessment. One of them had a piece of gum fall out of his mouth. He said, "That's okay, it was all out of fruit anyway." My friend Kristy and I laughed out loud. It was cute.
I got to socialize a little bit, so that was nice. There were people I would have liked to see that I didn't get the chance to, but that'll happen on another trip! Lucky for me, I had Janine to chat with every day which was great, because she's one of my closest friends. I also got to see Pat, Shelly, their daughter Paige, and Melissa, some of my former co-workers, which was really nice. Pat made the best pizza I've ever eaten in my life. I'm totally getting the recipe! I also got a chance to see Jennifer, my former boss, at her gym and got to catch up with my little gymnasts. That was great. I love seeing how much they've grown and improved.
Thursday night I got to go out with my friends Gretchen and Cori. Seriously, I knew we would have fun, but I had no idea so much. I haven't laughed like that in a long time. We seriously just chatted, and shared stories for hours. It was amazing. One of my favorite parts of the night was when Gretchen asked a woman to take a picture of us, while giving specific instructions on HOW to take the picture. Gretchen is about as sweet as pie, and a very positive person. However,when the picture was taken, Gretchen wasn't satisfied (and didn't want to say so), she took one herself! Lol. What was even better was that she saw the same woman take a picture of some other people. Gretchen mumbled under her breath, "She took a better picture of them." Ha! It cracked me up.They also enjoyed looking at the online dating profiles that were being sent to my phone all night. It's funny, because I truly don't even log in and look at people anymore. I just try to clear out the emails, so they stop showing up on my phone. I'm a little OCD, and hate when the number of messages pops up on my iPhone. I need to figure out how to turn that setting off... Anyway, they got a couple of good laughs from Shifty and Lion Star King's profiles. They're winners. Lol! The problem is, those guys probably think I'm actually viewing their profiles out of interest, thus encouraging them. Whoops! I actually broke down and sent them messages asking them, in the nicest way possible, to leave me alone. I truly do have a love-hate relationship with online dating. Lots of weirdos, but there are a few good people in the mix, and if you find a good one, it's worth dealing with the crazies.
Friday, I had taken the day off, and got to have a little more "me" time. It was nice. I met Janine for lunch at an amazing restaurant for Greek salad, hummus, and the world's most amazing fries. When I lived in Vegas, we went there at least once a month, but neither of us has been there since having our kids. It was amazing. Then, Charley came back from her dad's house, and she got to play with Janine's little guy, Joseph, at an indoor playground. Her favorite thing to do was shut me in the play house. I think I was in a children's play house for a total of 45 minutes. I'm sure it was a sight to see. I think watching Charley and Joseph play together, eat meals together, and watch Elmo together....Those were my favorite parts of the trip. Charley woke up every morning, saying, "Go see JoJo?" It's very sweet. 
So, we were scheduled for a red-eye flight last night, and were supposed to leave Vegas at 12 a.m. Sure enough, Charley wasn't into napping, and was crabby when we got to the airport. I will say I had several people help me this time, though, so making our way through the airport was significantly easier than it had been on the way to Vegas. Anyway, we got in line for our boarding passes, and I heard a couple of voices yell, "Charley! Hi Charley!" I looked up and saw some of the passengers on our flight out to Vegas. They were smiling and talking to her. They were the ONLY people who didn't seem to show their disdain for her screaming fits, and tried to help calm her down. They were nice people. But I couldn't help but be embarrassed that they knew my child by name. Of course, when I got my boarding pass, I was informed that the flight was over two hours late. I was thrilled, of course, to be waiting in the airport for 4 hours, with my strong-willed little munchkin. She was well-behaved, though and totally made up for her horrible behavior on our first flight. For the record... on the second flight, I didn't hold her or let her sit in the regular seat. I brought her car seat on board. Parents, I TOTALLY recommend it. She got in the seat, and instantly fell asleep. Thank goodness!We got back to Minneapolis around 8 a.m. and I tried to get a little bit of sleep in. At this point, I'm running on ABOUT 3 hours, so if there are typos in this post, please try to overlook them. Ha! I went to work for a little while, taught a class, and then had a staff meeting. This might have been the best staff meeting ever. Almost the entire staff showed up (close to 30 people), and we did a whole bunch of stretching with these stretching straps. It was like a bunch of adults just playing like little kids. We were having so much fun. It just reinforces the fact that gymnasts are really just a little bit different. I can't imagine going into a room of non-gymnasts and watching them use straps to try to increase their range of motion and flexibility, while laughing at each other and pushing each other over. It was pretty cool. And now, here I am, ready for bed at 9:00. I'm sure I forgot some amusing details from the trip.I'll fill them into future posts, as they come to me! Goodnight!
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