Arizona, Such a Fine Sight to See

CJ slept through the night last night, and JT and I got about 8.5 hours of much needed rest! We all woke up in good moods...amazing what a little sleep will do!! CJ only had a mild temperature (like 99?) and ate a good breakfast at the hotel of a whole muffin, some bacon, grapes, and milk. We departed Gallup, NM, and before we knew it we were entering Arizona!!

Fun fact: we are now officially in Pacific Time Zone (sort of). Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Savings Time so right now, despite being Mountain Standard Time, they are the same time as Pacific. Bottom Line, we are now 3 hours earlier than most of our friends and family.

This sign was at the rest area! Yikes!! Needless to say, we did NOT let CJ run around here despite his "dow" (with hand motion up & down) "peeaasss" begging!!

We decided to take it easy on CJ again today from the get go, because he started being a little whinny, and we could tell he still probably wasn't feeling all the way better. Our first stop was Petrified Forest National Park.

We went to the Visitor's Center, where we got to see several beautiful samples of petrified wood.

CJ got to play with some items on the touch table!

Then we did the first part of the scenic drive through the park. The "painted desert" was absolutely stunning!!

CJ was content in the AC'ed car watching his movie on the iPad, so JT and I jumped out (for a minute, and we were right next to the car!) to take a picture of ourselves.
We loved all the different colors!! Amazing!! (The whole time we kept talking about how crazy it was that it was so remarkably similar looking to The Badlands in South Dakota that we got to see on our last cross-country trip in 2008!!)
Even though this sign is spelled "wrong"...I HAD to stop and pose by the sign for my point! Ha ha! I already contacted the National Park service to let them know there is no "e"! ;)
Petrified Forest was on the original Route 66, so they had markers indicating where the Old Mother Road once was.
This was a neat display, with the Route 66 map and an old car still sitting where the road used to be.
As we left the park, I made JT stop so I could take this picture! I thought the flowers on this cactus were really pretty!! Neat to see the juxtaposition between something so delicate, growing from something so sharp!!
So this next portion of the road trip is where things got a little worrisome for JT and me. It was a warm day, and CJ was REALLY refusing to drink...he didn't want his sippy cup, he didn't want to drink from a straw, he didn't want to drink from a bottle. We tried pedialyte, water, gatorade...the only thing he would even take a couple of sips of was milk. He hadn't had a wet diaper since the morning, so we were trying to do everything we could to make sure he stayed hydrated. (At one point we were holding his mouth open and using the medicine eye dropper thingy to squirt water in his mouth, basically forcing him to drink!) He fell asleep for a nap, and as he was sleeping we passed the famous "Here It Is" sign
as well as the town of Winona (made famous from the Route 66 song line "and don't forget Winona"). Both of these are things we probably would have stopped at had CJ #1) not been sleeping & #2) been feeling better!! One other sign that I failed to get a picture of was a "rough road" sign. JT and I got a good laugh out of that one, and joked that the people that felt that sign was necessary, had OBVIOUSLY never been on Michigan roads!! (It didn't have potholes every 2 feet...it actually wasn't even that rough at all!!) Ha ha!
After CJ woke up from his shorter than normal nap, still without a wet diaper and VERY cranky with a a few dry coughs, I started looking up Urgent Care places in Flagstaff, AZ. We just wanted to make sure that it really was "just teething" and not something more that we were unable to see (ear ache, sore throat, etc) that was making him not feel well. The first place I called didn't accept Tricare. The military's wonderful insurance always makes things so easy (insert sarcasm)! Thankfully the place I found that took our insurance was only a couple of miles away from the hotel we are staying at, and the lady on the phone was super nice! We didn't even have to wait that long considering it was a walk-in clinic!! Here JT is keeping CJ entertained with the iPad.

Continuing to chew away on those hands!!
Poor boy getting a hug from his Momma (not a great picture of me, but this is real life and Moms don't always look good!) I think CJ has watched the movie "Cars" at least once a day on this trip. It is getting to the point where I am reciting the lines from the front seat as it is playing, he LOVES it, and requests "vroom vroom". JT jokes that "we will once again be showing our only feature presentation".
The Dr. was very kind and good with CJ. His ears looked normal. But his throat looked pretty red and a little inflamed. The strep swab came back negative. So, based on his symptoms, we have concluded that CJ probably has sort of small virus in addition to teething. They gave us a prescription that we are going to go ahead a fill that way we will have it on the road with us if we end up getting to the point that we need it...but for now we are just going to keep an eye on CJ. He finally did end up having a wet diaper right after we left the Dr. (of course!), but JT and I feel like it was better to be safe than sorry when it comes to CJ's well being, especially while traveling and no normal pediatrician access!!

After lots of fast food the last couple of days, JT and I really needed to eat a sit down dinner. We went to the Beaver St. Brewery on the recommendation of the office workers at the Urgent Care Clinic. JT tried their beer sampler. He had shrimp tacos and I had a yummy homemade chicken pot pie!! CJ ate lots of watermelon, and some french fries (Don't judge, we were just happy to have him eat something!). We did the check right after we got done eating, because CJ was getting tired!! (Understandably so, with two time changes in two days on top of not feeling well!!)

CJ went down a little better for bed tonight, but still really wanted to cuddle. He has been moaning in his sleep a little, poor boy, but hopefully we will all get some more sleep tonight! (Fingers crossed!) Our original plans for tomorrow have been scrapped. We were going to go up and spend the day at Grand Canyon, but considering the heat, and the fact that it is Fourth of July weekend, we don't think it is a good idea for CJ to be riding around on crowded buses all day. We are going to just play tomorrow by ear. Something that is kinda hard for my Type-A Planner personality sometimes, but this is life with a toddler-you have to go with the flow to do what is best for them. We may go to Walnut Canyon National Monument since it is only a few miles away (that was our original plan for this afternoon before we went to the Urgent Care). Or, we might just hang out here at the hotel and play with toys, and watch the Disney channel, maybe go swimming at the pool? I really don't care what we do, I just want CJ to feel better!!

Lastly, I made a comment setting change since several people told me they were having trouble commenting...not sure if it will help or not, but it was worth a shot! Thanks for following our journey, and for all the good thoughts and prayers!! Night y'all!