The rest of our North Carolina & Virginia trip

I've flown with M a fair number of times since he was little and J a few times as well. They've always done really well. When this trip was upcoming I was brainstorming how to make our flight a good experience. J is two and doesn't like to stay put. She's also quite attentive to what her brother is doing and expects equal treatment. I thought it would be helpful to have her car seat but that would mean I would need to bring M's as well to get her to buy into that. So we tried it and it was okay but I wouldn't do it again. Their car seats were super heavy and big and they were a pain to carry down the aisles to our seats. So I've filed that knowledge in the back of my mind. Baby car seats can totally be handy in the right situation though.. in my opinion. So anyway, we started out the trip with Jamba Juice and the kids were all smiles about this.

At the beginning of our trip, we met up with one of Erik's classmates from UMASS and his wife and girls. They live in Asheville, which I have to be honest I didn't really know where it was or anything about it. It's near Great Smokey Mountain National Park in western North Carolina and it sounds wonderful based their description. I'd love to plan a trip there in the future. We were about 4 hours apart in Durham, but they were so kind to meet us halfway for dinner on a Sunday night without much notice. It was great to see them and meet their two girls. I had some really cute pictures but for some reason they didn't automatically upload from my phone per usual and then I shattered my phone beyond use shortly after that. Good news about that later... And by the way does anyone know why Great Smokey Mounain National Park is the most visited national park with twice as many visitors and the Grand Canyon!?

After camping in Shenandoah, Erik was working, so it was me and the kids exploring Richmond. We did a couple of things like visiting Maymont where we saw some bald eagles, one of M's favorite animals:

We walked a lot, saw some other animals, and took a rest on this bench in some much enjoyed shade:

It was hot and humid and brought out the curls in J's hair:

The following day we went to the botanical gardens which were beautiful. I was so appreciative  because they had strollers you could borrow. For some reason, after hiking in Shenandoah and the day before walking around Maymont, the kids weren't keen on walking. But we all enjoyed our time because of that nice double stroller that shaded them from the sun. Here are a few shots of the gardens:

They had a butterfly exhibit and the kids enjoyed watching them fly around. M was super jealous that one of them landed on J and was hopeful he too would experience that. We got lots of comments about J's boots that she insists on wearing. I kind of love them and that fact that she chooses to wear them most of the time. I mean she can put them on by herself and they're just rad.

A close up:  

We spent some quality time at the Omni pool:

When she wanted a break she sat in that chair and tucked herself in then stuck her cute thumb in her mouth. Independent and adorable while self soothing.

The kids had their own backpacks for the trip but J's was light I promise.  They love to roll the suitcase so then my hands were empty.

  

I flew back solo parenting with the kids and they were busy but there was only one minor story of note. We had a layover in detroit and used the bathroom before boarding but halfway between detroit and Salt Lake M told me had to use the bathroom for #2 right away. I pleaded with him to wait because you know... Finally, I relented and found a stern flight attendant who I asked if she could please hold June because I didn't know anyone and there was literally not room for 3 people in the airplane lavatory! The flight attendant agreed to hold J after inquiring "she's not going to cry, right?" She didn't thankfully, in fact they were best buddies after about 5 minutes when we came back out. The lavatory was particularly gross and being the germaphobe that I am, I couldn't set him down so I was hunched over holding him over the toilet until my arms where burning and he finally  announced when I was starting to wonder if I could hold him anymore "I can wait!" And with those words we washed our hands and got the heck out of there. 

And finally here's one of many silly pictures J and and I took to occupy some time on our flight back.