This report was emailed us by Matt who is in South Dakota with Viva. They flew out of Anchorage at 2AMish Wednesday morning. We'll add photos when Matt and Viva return.
FROM MATT:
Day 1: Getting through security? easy. Having MVP Gold? makes getting on flights easy. Everyone comments how cute the little girl is but is curious why her Daddy makes her carry such a huge backpack. fly to Seattle. Apparently I fell asleep first; at least that's what Viva says. That sure made it easy. We both slept until the plane landed in Seattle. Seattle was easy, but no time to use the Board Room as anticipated. Flight to Minneapolis - easy. Viva and I slept much of the way. Flight Attendants were proud of the "panda girl" (she was wearing her panda pajamas). Minneapolis? BIG Airport. Viva is beginning to understand we're not on a flight simulator and that we really are "someplace else". "But where are we Daddy? Are we at Gramma Wicky's house yet?" Almost, just one more plane! We stop for lunch - a yogurt parfait and a chocolate muffin. Mommy calls us, and all is well. Viva gets a good laugh because Daddy apparently sat on part of the chocolate muffin that she devoured. Kind-hearted child tries to wipe it off BEFORE telling Daddy that "something's on your butt." Thank you for wet-wipes.
Small plane to Minneapolis. Smaller than I thought, too. Viva gets the gold treatment from the flight attendant. And she gets the window seat. And she won't share the window with me. If you're familiar with the flight, it can get a little bumpy. Daddy had to fight for his right to a ground reference. Crisis averted just before landing.
Car rental - check, hotel - check, Viva's hair? Nightmare. Yeah - not much I can do there. Get dressed, meet Great Grandpa. They get along well. They swap stories, we have dinner (Viva's kids' menu dinner is bigger than mine), and she impresses with her appetite. A great day, ended with a trip to Wal-Mart for milk, yogurt, and orange juice.
And then it was bedtime.
"I don't wanna sleep here!" "I'm done at the hotel!" "I want MY BED!" These were the shriekings of a 2 year old at 9:30PM. Luckily, princess stories were able to put her to sleep.
And then naptime was over. It was 12:30AM. "I WANT MY BED!!! TAKE ME HOME NOW!!!!" "YOU DRANK ALL THE WATER IN MY CUP!!!!" "READ ME MORE PRINCESS STORIES!!" "Daddy... WAKE UP. Finish the story, PLEASE." After taking out some additional aggression on me, she was pacified and fell asleep.
Day 2:
9:45AM, Sleeping Beauty is still sound asleep. She gets woken up. "We're still here? I'm all done at the hotel. Let's go to Grandpa's house."
Grandpa showed us around the house and yard and washed the blankie for Viva (it had seen to many places that cleaners had not in the last 36 hours), and we headed to IHOP. Viva impressed again with her eating talent, with 3 silver dollar pancakes, half her eggs, and a slice of bacon. After lunch, we played a little longer at Grandpa's then headed over to Hilde Hanson's. Hour long visit there, where Viva entertained, but was not showing off some of her best social skills. "Put your dress down. I want to take a picture." "NO - it's funny when I pull my dress up. Then you can see my UNDERWEAR." And so it went.
Back to Grandpa's. He gives in to Viva's request that he accompany us to Storybook Land. 70 degrees, beautiful afternoon, great park with just a few kids... we had a great time! Viva loved the castle, knew most of the nursery rhymes and stories that went with the motifs and playgrounds, and went slow enough that Grandpa could enjoy it, too. She especially appreciated that they had lots of slides to go down.
Dinner time? Says the waitress, "Does everyone know what they want?" to which the gleeful child responds, "I want NOODLES!" Luckily, they had alfredo noodles. It was a bowl of pasta that would rival what I would normally eat. And this was from the kids menu? She attacked that, then ate most of Grandpa's fries.
7PM. Bedtime for Grandpa - we wore him out today. But not our Viva!
Back to the hotel, we get swimsuits on and head over to the pool. She makes a new friend who is moving to Vancouver tomorrow, and enjoys doing laps in the pool. In an effort to drain whatever energy was remaining in her dad, she decides that we should go back and forth three or four times from the hot tub to the pool. At least it's all indoors. (For what it's worth, the pool here must be about 1/2 the size of the YMCA pool).
Showers, treat time (Orange cream yogurt), 2 books, and she's passed out.
That's the news from Aberdeen!
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