Her very own seat!

I can count on one hand the people I know still check to see if I have posted anything. I don't know if any one else is checking in, but this is for the 5, and my own history keeping, poor as it is :).

You are going to have to get the scrolling finger ready for this one!

About two and a half weeks ago we had our first flight since Lexi turned two! I can't believe it's actually been that long since we had flown. We are proud new owners of the CARES child aviation safety restraint thingy. It's very slick. It's very easy. It's very much better than trying to strap in a car seat and keep your 2 1/2 year old from kicking the seat in front of her.



There is a strap that goes around the back of the seat, just at shoulder level. It's pulled tight and then the airplane seat belt slips through loops on the harness straps. Voila! A harness safety restraint on a standard plane seat. Of course, I wouldn't call Midwest Airlines seats standard. And mmmm those fresh baked chocolate chip cookies!

She truly enjoyed having her own space, I believe. She had space to have her things around her on the seat and she was sitting just like everyone else so she liked being big. Below you will see a look I have never seen before. Pretty sure I didn't even see it when I took the photo. What is she doing with her mouth? It's cute anyway.



Taking a photo of herself on her play phone, for posterity. She did this quite a few times. CHEESE!



We were heading to the Midwest for a meeting held annually by David's employer. I get to go along and do fun spouse things while David is in meetings all day. Nice, right? Then in the evenings we go to the dinner/activities together. Since we were going to be so close to where all our immediate family lives, we asked Grandma & Grandpa M (David's parents) to come pick Lexi up and take her to their house for a few days. It ended up going really very smoothly. Lexi is daytime potty trained (still in diapers during nap and nighttime) so I was concerned about the 2.5 hour drive they had, but it sounds like it went smoothly. Then Lexi had a blast with Grandma & Grandpa and seeing many other aunts, uncles, cousins and her other set of grandparents during her stay.

She was with them from Wed. night to Sat. morning. We enjoyed going to dinner with good friends Wed. night, enjoyed the meeting activities and headed to see the families Sat. morning. Both sides of our families were together for Cousin G's second birthday party and we got to go! We miss most of the family celebrations now, what with the 1000 miles between us and all of them. It was a treat and as short as our visit was, it was wonderful. We had to drive back to fly back to our home on Sunday.

I think they had a good time together!



Happy Birthday Cousin G! Half the room during the gift opening. In case you don't have this information, my brother is married to my husbands sister. It's how we met. Anyway, so we have double cousins and both sides of our family present at this gathering for Lexi's double cousin G.



Sharing the adorable new umbrella. G got all decked out for rainy spring days, including some puddle jumpers!



Big hugs for Cousin E. It was a quick visit!



What are you guys doing? I want to see. She loves her cousins.



A quick game of the drawing game before we had to head out to stay on schedule. The few minutes of special time like this are precious.



This is my baby nephew. My first nephew. I was in college when he was born and was around a lot, staying at his house on the weekends, etc. He looks almost as big as me and is finishing reading "The Cat In The Hat" to my 2 1/2 year old daughter as Cousin G. Earlier in the evening he was reading another book to Lexi. Tears.



We love you family!