Steamboat Springs: Day Four/Going Home

We woke up this morning in beautiful Steamboat. Brad helped me get everything packed up and ready to go for Tori and I's departure. We had a shuttle arriving at 11:15 and we had several things to do beforehand to get ready.

I was very sad to leave my family behind. It was quite difficult, but I was on a mission to get to my grandmother's funeral and I would have moved heaven and earth to be there! So, on we went...

The two travelers... one last picture with the fabulous view!
Little snow bunny waiting on the bus to pick us up



The bus was a few minutes late, so she decided to play in the snow one last time...



The bus arrived and it was time to say goodbye to Daddy :(
All buckled up in my car seat on the bus... ready to go for a ride! I guess she's used to her brother always being nearby when she's in the car/car seat because, once the bus began to drive, she kept looking around and saying, "Bubba, Bubba," and "Tah-tah" (Tanner). It was kinda sad!

We arrived at the small airport in Hayden, Colorado around 12:30. We waited (and waited and waited) in the long check-in and security lines. While in the security line, an announcement came over the PA that flight 2228 (that would be our flight) would be delayed TWO HOURS!!! What?!?!! Two hours?!?!! I felt myself starting to freak out a bit, wondering how in the world I was going to entertain this busy toddler in the airport for two hours, when it's right in the middle of nap time. "Okay, breathe... we can do this," I thought to myself.

I managed to calm myself down and just go with the flow (when life throws us lemons, we make lemonade, right?!?!!). So, we finally made it through security to the gate where we found a restaurant to sit down at and have our lunch. Tori was quite hungry by this time (as was I!). I had packed two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so we ate our lunches and proceeded to our gate to wait for boarding. Luckily, there was an 11-month-old boy toddling around the gate too, so Tori was instantly drawn to him and they had endless fun chasing each other around the gate, entertaining everyone else that was waiting. It was quite adorable, I wish I had thought to get a picture. Once it got around nap time, Tori just wanted to sit in my lap and play quietly with books. She would lay her head down on my chest every minute or so and suck her thumb, but would never let herself get too relaxed. So, I thought surely she would be tired enough by the time we boarded to take a nap during the flight.......

Boy, was I ever WRONG!!!!! This wild child fought me relentlessly the entire flight, squirming and kicking and fussing and wriggling. The. Entire. Time.

Holy cow, we were both exhausted by the time we landed! My only saving grace was that I got lucky enough to end up sitting next to another mom and her 6-year-old son, so of course she understood and wasn't annoyed with Tori one bit. She actually helped me try to keep her entertained. She would talk to her and try to distract her. She was a very nice lady and I thanked her profusely when we landed! It's neat to see the bond we women share as moms and the camaraderie that we can have between each of us.

Grammy was waiting for us in baggage claim when we got out of the plane. When Tori saw her, the exhausted baby girl instantly grinned ear to ear and squealed with delight. We loaded everything up into the car and as soon as we strapped Tori into her car seat, she finally gave up and went to sleep. Can someone say stubborn?!?!! Haha!

We got home and went to bed to rest up for our very important day on Thursday...