Flagstaff Regroup

This might be the most "boring" of our road trip updates, but was a much needed "regroup" day for our family!!

We had another rough night last night. :( CJ woke up around 1? I honestly can't remember the time, but I do know that I hadn't been asleep for long. JT and I took turns having him sleep with each of us (we are in a room with two queens, and what's an old married couple to do but try to enjoy a bed to them-self for once?!). Our rough night was worth it though, because we had a totally new boy by morning!! He was happy, no more whining, and was acting like our CJ! :) He ate a decent breakfast at the hotel of sausage "saw-saw" (said with a really cute little southern accent-he must have gotten that from his Dada!), fruit and milk. And he showed NO signs of not wanting to drink! So whatever his problem was with that seemed to have resolved itself thankfully!!

One shoe on and one shoe off after breakfast. What a mess he is!!! This is the view from our hotel room.

After breakfast, we came back and chilled in our room and CJ played with toys and watched Disney. I went downstairs to the laundry and started a load of clothes. By the time I came back JT told me that CJ was tired and ready for a nap...which was only like 10am MST, but considering our long night and the recent time changes, we weren't going to fight a tired baby!! He ended up napping for over 3 hours, so he was definitely tired!!! During that time, JT got a quick nap, I finished the laundry, and then I got a nap too! :)

Okay, this is super random, but I had to share...this is the toilet in our room, one of those special water efficient ones, which is great. But, I got a kick out of the "Do not drink" written on the back. Ummm, thanks for clearing that one up because I always like to drink from the toilet!!?

After CJ got up from his nap he drank some more milk, cuddled with Dada while watching Handy Manny.

Funny story, but kinda gross...I changed CJ's post nap diaper while JT was in the shower getting ready for us to go. The "contents" were rather red, and at first I was kinda worried, like "is this blood?!" I started racking my brain about what did he have to eat yesterday that could have made his diaper look like this?! The only thing I could think of was grapes, but they'd never looked like this before...so I ran in to the bathroom and interrupted JT's shower. "Honey, do you wanna look at this poop?" Thankfully JT recalled that CJ ate like a pint and a half of watermelon yesterday. Oh...that would do it!!! Ha ha!

We ate lunch at Cracker Barrel which is ordinarily one of our faves, but JT and I got really mad when the manager refused to give CJ any fruit because they "didn't have a way of determining what to charge for it?!" Are you freaking kidding me?! Two other CB's on this trip have done it...and we didn't care what they charged...charge it as a side, charge it as a dessert, charge it as a fruit parfait...just give our kid the fruit! Grrrr.....Flagstaff Cracker Barrel you are not our friend, but otherwise we still love you.

We went to Walnut Canyon National Monument this afternoon. It was only a few miles from our hotel!

I'm not sure if this is funny or embarrassing, but definitely share worthy! The main activity at this park is a one mile hike down to the pueblo ruins, and they encouraged you to use a backpack with babies/toddlers. After seeing our son, CJ, run around the displays and the store at the visitor's center, the ranger pictured below told us that "he's pretty active", "not sure the hike would be the best thing for you." Not sure how to feel about that, but it is true. Yes, CJ is very active, but we wouldn't want him any other way!! We weren't planning to do the hike anyhow (it was pretty steep and also entailed like 200-something stairs) since CJ weighs 25 lbs and neither JT or I are in prime hiking shape right now.

Mr. Busy Body stopping momentarily for a drink of water!

Here is Walnut Canyon!!
There is the pueblo ruins in the cliff side. JT asked me "How did those people get up there?" And I said "Where? I don't see any people?!" JT said "I was referring to the people back in the day that used to live there!" Me: "Oh, duh! I don't know." Ha ha ha!!!
CJ running around exploring the park, far far away from the steep canyon cliff!! He discovered a stick!!
So, he did what any good boy would do: used the stick to dig in the dirt!! :)
Since I don't have much else to blog about today, thought I would briefly introduce two other important "family members" who we couldn't be making this trip without!! Here is our navigator Berta. Don't ask me how we decided on that name (pretty similar process to baby naming...couldn't be anyone we knew, etc). She is our faithful GPS who has only led us astray twice on this trip which isn't bad considering we've covered over 2,100 miles!!

And we can't forget Barney, the iPad. The main function that we are so grateful for is his ability to keep our son entertained and content by playing "Cars" over and over while we are driving down the road!

Tonight we are staying at Drury Inn & Suites. One of the things that is great about this hotel is the drinks and food they serve during happy hour. Tonight's food included macaroni & cheese. Would our son eat their mac?! No, he wanted Velveeta. He's not high maintenance at all! The manager was nice enough to unlock the milk just for us since they usually only have it available in the morning!! (In the evenings they just serve alcohol and soda, neither of which are CJ appropriate!)
In this hotel, I made the night side stand a "toy chest". (I'm planning on doing a blog about traveling with a toddler that includes how to baby-proof hotel rooms after the trip is done). Tonight while playing with his various toys, CJ decided to climb in the table with the toys!! He is too much sometimes, but we are so glad to see him feeling better!
Praying for better sleep tonight. Headed to Las Vegas tomorrow for the next two nights. We have a larger suite room there, so hopefully that will help the sleeping situation too?! (Right now CJ is like 3 feet away from one of the beds so when he stirs, he has a tendency to see us and want us!)