Rain out

We arrived safe and sound in Michigan! The flight wasn't too bad, though Zachary was awake and asking for entertainment most of the flight. On the plane, we alternated between reading books, looking out the window, and of course the occassional snack; no napping this time around.

One of the biggest pains of air travel at this point is our total dependence on elevators, particularly when carting Zachary's car seat-turned-stroller (for those keeping score, our use of that adapter thing solicited only two compliments this time; the novely must be wearing off for other travelers?). At SeaTac airport, they're all in weird out of the way locations, completely removed from the smooth pathing of the escalators; at the South Satellite, we ended up having to take a route through the customs area with TSA agents making sure we didn't mingle with folks arriving from international flights. Bizarre.

Anyway, Uncle B and grandma were there to greet us at the airport, and we all got to catch up on the drive home. We arrived to grandma's house, where Zachary immediately started exploring and discovering the new toys and books she had for him, before a quick dinner, bath, and bedtime. His furry uncle Gus wasn't quite sure what to make of him, and alternated between face licks and just trying to get some petting and attention from all of these adults who were clearly focused on the floor anyway.

Zachary actually slept in a bit today! Well, he was up the first time at like 6, but snuggled in bed with us until like 7:30 am, which is still 4:30 am back home, so I suppose that doesn't really count in the end. The weather forecast had been for sun practically our whole visit, but I'd forgotten that forecasting remains an inaccurate art in the midwest, and we had heavy rain most of the day. Looking for an activity to do with the little man, we turned to a list one of grandma's coworkers had given her, and found a promising indoor play area ("Michigan's largest!") not too far away.

I think all of us (including Zachary) were a little bit overwhelmed by what greeted us - four stories of indoor PVC-piped, exercise matt-filled childhood craziness! There was a small area ostensibly for toddlers, but a lot of older kids were running around and into it. Uncle B hid in a corner and read (the kids running around 'made him nervous' - I'd have to agree), and Zachary was often more interested in exploring the central sofa area where parents were relaxing than the actual play areas. The loud chaos was also a good opportunity for him to test out his latest sensory play activity, sticking his thumbs in his ears and then smiling when he removes them. In the end, he did play for quite a bit on the slides, bridges, and floor areas, and had fun running up and down matts while grandma, Meh, and I looked on.

Our drive home was again through a torrential downpour, but the skies finally cleared in the late afternoon and we took a family walk. Zachary chatted through much of the stroll, continuing to work on his three-syllable-and-rhyhmes-with-"ah" vocabulary. A very full first day in the great lakes state for the little man and his family!