First airplane trip to meet Aunt Helen

Rye enjoyed his first air trip to Texas, to celebrate Aunt Helen's 96th (!) birthday. He LOVED watching the activity at the airport: the planes flying, the trucks driving, the trams scooting. We never have seen him so excited. He was quiet and interested the entire trip out, playing with some familiar toys, and some new activities that Mommy stitched for him. He slept a little. He loved the bus ride to the car rental place, too.

Schlepping all of the gear was about at Mommy and Daddy's travel limit...American Airlines wanted to charge $25 per checked bag (stroller and car seat go free), so we carried everything on: Large suitcase for Mommy and Rye, small suitcase for Daddy, carry-on for Mommy, diaper bag for Rye, AND lunch for Mommy and Daddy...then we gate checked the car seat and stroller. Please insert standard rant here about What's So Wrong About Giving Travelers a Free Checked Bag?! or a SNACK! Seriously?! Our trip might have been a tiny bit more pleasant without as much to carry to the gate. Regardless, we had planned ahead and were quite organized with backpacks and clips, so we managed fine.

Aunt Helen was thrilled to meet her great-grand nephew, and Rye enjoyed meeting more cousins, and seeing Sitti and Grandpop again. It was a great birthday weekend. When you see a star in the post title, check back for more pictures from other cameras, which I'll post when they come in (click "Read More" below).

We of course didn't miss the cattle drive, and then we checked out the shootout at the Stockyards Station. It turns out they use real guns with blanks at the shootout, and the station is covered and seems to be entirely made of brick and cement, so Daddy and Rye checked out the stockyards while Mommy and the rest of the family watched the show (spoiler alert), in which the bad guys lose.

We looked at all of the fancy boots and hats at Leddy's and enjoyed burgers at Booger Red's Saloon (great food, with fresh guac made at the table, and good service: we recommend).

The heat was oppressive, from about 96˚-104˚ the whole trip. We didn't spend much time outside.