So this is the new year....

We spent the beginning of the year 2011 in Long Beach, Washington! We got to the airport at 7 am with a sleepy Arleigh in tow and quickly discovered the Southwest airline line was ...almost out the door. We got to the desk at exactly 720 and heard the lady say to another guest, "you're bags are considered late if not checked more than a half an hour before the flight." OH, I thought to myself well perfect timing. We check Arleigh's bag, we check the car seat, then our bag....10 lbs OVER SHE SAYS! SO, either we buy a bag ($25) or we pay the fee ($50) . No brainer we thought buy the bag. Tyler grabs the bag and we hurry as fast as we can to get our stuff check on and we get there exactly in time. The checker even says to the baggage guys, "these bags were checked all at the same time so they can go on together." Then we get to the security line, crrraazy long, but WAIT we have a baby, which means we're considered a family, which means we get to go to the family line, and there was only one person in front of us. Luckily, we just made it in time to get the last row of three seats! YES! We get to the portland airport happy to be there; Arleigh happy to see her grandma and "papa"(that's what mick wants to be called) and grab our bags, but, wait, one is missing...hmmm is that the southwest bag that we bought specifically so we could bring the stuff with us? YES! it is and the kind, or not so kind, man tells us, oh we don't know when it will get here but we'll let you know when it does and you can come back to pick it up. hahah Luckily my husbands family lives 2.5 hrs away from Portland airport. Well, anyways, that was our adventure. We didn't really need the bag luckily it was just a few extra pairs of shoes and my make-up. The extra pair of church shoes and my make-up would have come in handy for not looking like a 15 yr old choosing to wear my vans with a skirt, but I suppose not necessary. We ended up having an awesome time. Arleigh loves the DeSimone's! It's nice to know that even though they live far away that doesn't mean she doesn't have fun with them when They're around. We mostly just visited and let Arleigh play with the dog and her uncles and her papa who crawled around and chased her, but we also went clam digging, and saw sea lions, and went to Waikiki beach! Here are the photos. That's always my favorite part of a blog so I'll keep it moving.

I saved the best for last. These guys were awesome! When we walked away, I kid you not, one of them WAVED AT US! It literally barked to get our attention then lifted one flipper and waved.....for an extended period of time! INCREDIBLE! I seriously LOVE wildlife! hahah I get so stoked about it!