Wednesday, March 29, 2006 We were all packed and ready to go to sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. Matthew had been so excited about this mini vacation that he packed his own carry on complete with Game boy, six of his very favorite stuffed animals, a chess set, a backgammon set and several maze and word search books. The bag is about 750 lbs and he is still going. Brooke’s carry on is no lighter. I have packed her, food, bottles, extra bottles, extra food ( you never know – we might get diverted somewhere with no provisions- lol) blankets, pj’s, summer clothes, winter clothes, a jacket, toys, diapers, ointments, a thermometer, fever med’s, antibiotics, more diapers, And this is just the carry on. I packed a garment bag for myself and a bag on wheels of food for Matthew, extra clothes for me and who knows what else. My poor dad got on board with one garment bag only. After we check in nobody else on the plane will be able to bring carry on’s onboard. We will have taken the capacity of the whole plane. The luggage situation was no better. Each of us got a full size suitcase because you know, in the desert you can never be too sure. Chilled mornings, warm afternoons, several swims a day, a new set of clean clothes a day, cool evening weather, dress clothes, dress down clothes and the list goes on, the list goes on. . . We will miss Howard aka Dada but it is tax season and each day is more crucial than the next. We hope to plan a big family vacation when the season is over. Howard can certainly use the rest he so deserves. We finally board the plane and thank goodness we had a row to ourselves. My dad sat several rows behind us and in the long run, it was the best thing that ever happened to him. He could pretend it did not know us. The flight itself wasn’t that bad, we only made about forty or so enemies from our nearest neighbors in rows 17 -27. Although Matthew was on his best behavior, 5 1/2 hours of having to sit still was more than he could bear. If you remember he graciously bowed out of the trip to China when he heard it was four times the flight time than our previous trip to Los Angeles. Matthew had his tray table up and then down, up then down. He would drop something so he was in his seat then out of his seat. Then came the questions, a million questions in his highest voice because he thinks I can’t hear him with all the engine noise. He proceeds to scream out the following questions, “How much longer mom?” “Are we there yet?” How does this plane fly?” “Can we sit on the clouds?” “Can the plane land on the clouds?” and so on and so on and so on. This went on for nearly three hours until the lady in front of us turned around shouted some mild obscenity and scared him into stopping any further movement or talking for the balance of the trip. Brooke was not much better. She has gotten a pretty good taste of freedom and likes those walking shoes. We had switched seats with Matthew to give the lady in front of him a break Leave it to Brooke though - she gave that very same lady a few good kicks in the back. Brooke also wanted to be out of her seat. She wanted to be under the seat, she wanted to be under the seat of the lady in front of us too. I get the feeling that the lady in front of us didn’t have any grandchildren because she didn’t crack a smile once the whole trip, even with my adorable babies sitting right smack behind her. Unfortunately not one of my children slept on this flight. It had become the never ending flight. I don’t want this to sound awful but the truth is - there was an older, hearing impaired gentleman in front of me, and even he was getting annoyed. He turned around so many times I thought he was going to get whiplash. Not a pretty scene to say the least. My dad was embarrassed to be part of this group. When the plane landed I kept my head down low and avoided any eye contact with any passenger walking past us. We arrived at our hotel with bags and bags and bags (for a four day stay - mind you) and checked into our beautiful hotel. Our rooms were magnificent – the executive suite with a living room, master bedroom, master bathroom, and a breathtaking view of the pools and mountains. The weather was cool and cloudy but still warmer than the east coast. We had dinner that evening with my Aunt Ruth who was so happy to see us and especially the children. Unfortunately, Matthew slept through the whole meal but Brooke was raring to go. It didn’t seem to matter that in east coast time it was close to 10:00 pm. Aunt Ruth thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Funny thing though is that Aunt Ruth didn’t realize we had adopted Brooke. She thought that Brooke was our biological child. I guess Brooke is adapting better than I thought, according to Aunt Ruth she is now starting to look like us too! The next day we got into our swim suits and spent the better part of the day poolside. It was too chilly for Brooke to try the pool but Matthew swam like a little fish. We got dressed and headed to the rehearsal dinner for my cousin Shary and his wife-to-be, Sherie. All our west coast family got to meet Brooke for the first time. My aunts and uncles, cousins and second cousins all got to play and hold Brooke. She went to most of my family with a few exceptions but I noticed that she was looking out for me the whole time. It made me feel so good that Brooke needed that security and to know her Momma was not far away.

Matthew and Brooke in the garden Come on in - the water is great! Fun in the sun with Brooke and Momma Papa June and Brooke poolside I have my clicker, phone and keyboard for the playstation and most importantly my big brother! Momma, Brooke and Matthew on our mini vacation

The next few days were spent pool side. I took Brooke in the water hoping that she would not cry and enjoy swimming and low and behold – not a single tear. Once she got used to the water she splashed and giggled and had a great time. I am so happy that Brooke liked the water. This summer hopefully we will get to swim and play in the water. It was hard to leave beautiful Scottsdale, and it was really hard packing those bags all over again. Thank goodness the flight home was easy. Both children slept until we landed. It was incredible that they did not even make a peep. Why couldn’t the lady from the first flight have been on this flight too! She would see that those adorable children were so well behaved and so quiet. I must go and unpack those bags and bags and bags. Tune in again for the next adventure of Brooke and Matthew.

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