Phoenix

Phoenix was our first trip with two under two.  It was sort of a mileage run, in that we took the long way there (COS-IAH-LAX-PHX), but we spent the weekend there doing some off-season mattress running as well.

We started by spending the night in Colorado Springs prior to our very early flight out.  This didn't go so well, as Andrew was too excited to sleep.  Because we needed to get up to go to the airport at 4am, this resulted in only about 4 hours of sleep.  Once we were on our way, it wasn't too bad, in spite of being exhausted.

It was Andrew's first flight as a platinum.

On COS-IAH, Clara fell asleep and napped on my lap.  She won't fit there for too much longer!  Andrew enjoyed the bulkhead.

On IAH-LAX, we had an equipment swap to an international 767, which was a really nice thing since our upgrades had cleared.  Andrew is getting really into looking out the window, whether it's at trucks and ground crew or clouds.  Because of the nice big seats, Daddy was able to help Andrew get to sleep and he had a nice nap.  Clara finds it very easy  to sleep with the white noise of the airplane.  So far so good.

The United Clubs that used to be Continental President's Clubs have family rooms where Andrew can be contained and still run around during layovers.  This is a really nice feature for a toddler!

We spent our first night at the Hyatt Regency Resort at Gainey Ranch.  This being the off season, some of the pools were closed for renovation, but that didn't stop us from having a great time swimming!

For our second night, after Andrew woke up from his nap and mommy and daddy had some much needed relaxation time at the Hyatt spa, we made our way over to the Westin Kierland Resort.  Our room had great view of the golf course and a sculpture in the middle of the pond, which Andrew enjoyed looking at.

Watching "Bagpipes at Sunset"

The Westin has a really fun zero-entry pool and a lazy river, both of which were perfect for our little guy in an inner tube.  Clara enjoyed napping on beach chairs.

We went to a timeshare presentation at the Westin Vacation Properties in order to earn a pile of SPG points.  It was pretty interesting - I had never been to one before.  No we didn't buy a timeshare in Phoenix.  :)  After Andrew's nap and some spa time at the Westin's spa (better workout facilities, not as good of relaxation facilities), we hopped back over to the Hyatt for a super tasty dinner at the onsite restaurant SWB, courtesy of a fantastic restaurant.com cert.

The flights home followed the same circuitous path, which was okay until Andrew's nap fell over our layover in LAX, and by the time we boarded LAX-IAH, he was seriously overtired.  He tried, but he couldn't find the right position to go to sleep.  He got pretty worked up, and we ended up with our first ever meltdown on an airplane.  After what seemed like an eternity, he finally got in a little catnap, and that was enough to tide him over and be happy on the IAH-COS leg.  He was asleep as soon as he was in the car seat on the ride home.

In spite of a rough start and a rough end, the middle of this trip was fun, sweet, and relaxing.  Not a bad first outing for our family of four!