Allred Adventures

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Goodbye's are Hard...

You would think we would be pros at saying goodbye at this point. Well we are not and I am still a big crier. I can at least make it through security before I start bawling. I don't think Ari quite understood what was going on until she started asking for her Unc and we couldn't deliver.

From Goodbye's are hard

It was a long three days of traveling. Our first two flights were with Southwest and all of us got seats. The flight staff was cute with Ari and brought her special snacks. They took our picture for us. When we got to San Diego Brent Collins came and rescued us from sitting at the airport. We forgot to take our camera with us. We went and got dinner and met Paij and Morgan at the park. We hope to make it back to San Diego it is so nice. Thank you Collins family for taking time to see us. Morgan is so grown up.

Our next flight was with United to Washington DC. This flight was horrible. They told us at first that we may not sit by each other. They had each of us on a different row in the middle. I am so sure someone wants to sit by our 17 month old? Luckily people traded with us. We no leg room. If I am telling you I had no leg room you can imagine what it was like for Bryan. We survived and made it to DC.

I forgot to mention while in San Diego we found the USO. They are a group that support the military. They stored our luggage for us in San Diego and while in DC we spent the whole day hanging out there. They fed us, supplied us with books and games for Ari. It was just nice to have a place to rest.

Bryan was able to get our seats upgraded from DC to Kuwait. Ari actually did pretty good. There was a two hour period where she didn't want to sleep while everyone else was trying to sleep. Other than that she did great. She played the first half and then slept the other half. We had a short layover in Kuwait and then a 45 minute flight to Bahrain. When we got to Bahrain she fell asleep.

Our sponsor picked us up and took us to the hotel. Bryan left with him to go and get dinner and check in. Ari and I went to bed and woke up when he got back. We ate a little bit and went back to sleep. We had an early morning of indoctrination to Bahrain.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Random Ari Photos

From Random Ari

Ari helping me pack for Bahrain

From Random Ari

Ari helping with the laundry

Utah State Fair

Bryan, Unc, and Auntie took Ari to the Utah State Fair. Ari had so much fun seeing all the different animals. She even got to sit on a bull. I think this is the first time she has been able to touch so many different animals. She was not scared at all. Bryan told me she was braver than a 4 year old little boy who didn't want to touch the calf.

Starvation

The second half of Labor Day weekend we spent at Starvation. In the past this has been one of my families favorite places to camp. We love the lake. Bryan and I were excited to wake board and ski. We ran into a problem the lake was so choppy. We went out on Saturday and got thrown around. Luckily the Lucero family brought there jet skis and we spent the weekend playing on them. I need to get the really good photos from my dad. Ari loved the boat and jet skis. I forgot to mention that Memphis has been trained to be off leash. He was able to roam while backpacking and also while at the lake.

From Starvation 2010

Long Lake Day Hike

For Labor Day weekend Bryan's family likes to go backpacking and he really really wanted to take Ari. I felt strongly that Ari was too young so we met in the middle and Ari and I went up for the day. Ari had a blast. I am not against camping I just don't think backpacking with a 17 month old is the best idea. You can see what happened in less than 5 hours. She got a battle wound. Maybe in a couple years she will understand danger and she will be more careful. Wait what am I thinking she is her father's daughter and therefore a dare devil.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Salt Lake Bees Baseball Game

Aunt Jan had a great idea to have the family go to the Salt Lake Bees Baseball game. It was a ton of fun. We ate dinner there and rode the train. The game was a long one. We left at the bottom of the 5th because it was 10:30 and everyone was tired. Thanks Aunt Jan!

Nana's Pool

While in Utah we were spoiled to be able to go to the pool every weekend. Ari loves it because it is zero entry and there are lots of fun toys. Her favorite slide happens to be the big kid slide. She loves going down the slide with daddy and Unc.

Random Ari Photos

Ari loves anything she can sit on. This is her cute couch Auntie and Unc bought for her

Ari's cute backpack from our neighbors in Virginia Beach

Payton and Ari reading at Lisa's wedding. Payton is so good with the babies

She is already obsessed with the phone. We are going to be in trouble!

Ari and her Unc

Ari is sure going to miss her Unc. Whenever she is in trouble she starts crying for Unc. Does this tell you something??? It tells me that she is spoiled by her Unc and knows she does no wrong when it comes to her Unc.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Cross Country Trip Number 2

You would think Bryan and I love car trips or something. We actually hate driving and are glad to say that this was our last cross country trip by car for the next two years. Can you say YEAH.....

Here are some photos. West Virginia was gorgeous. We didn't see much of Kentucky because we drove through during the night. I did almost get in a car accident because some idiot was watching the fireworks. We also drove through St. Louis, one of our favorite cities to visit. We were too tired to stop and play. We just wanted to make it home. We also know we never want to drive through Kansas ever again. It was the most boring state ever. Nebraska you are off the hook.

Can you see the picture with blood splattered across our windshield. I want you to know I think Bryan hit a bird, he says it was an insect. If it was an insect it was some mutant blood thirsty insect. Colorado had one amazing lightening and then hail and rain storm. We actually had to pull of the road and wait it out.

Once again Bryan and I set some record for crossing the country in less than two days. We left Virginia Beach around 3pm on Friday and made it to Broomsfield CO Saturday at 10pm after waiting an hour for the storm to pass. We stayed Sunday with Bryan's Grandparents and then hit the road Monday morning. I was missing my baby.

Summer 2010 - Ocean Breeze Water Park

Before I can post about Bahrain. I have some posts to catch up on. Again I use this blog as a family journal so I would like to record some of the following events.

While Nana was in town over the 24 of July we decided to go and hit a big Water Park. Ari loved it. She went down the little kid slides and the lazy river, but then decided it was too boring. She spent the rest of the time going down the big slides with daddy. She is truly daddy's little dare devil. I would have been screaming.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Dragon Fruit

This post is for Josh. While we were doing some shopping at the Exchange on base we found a new fruit. It caught our eyes because of the beautiful color. When we looked for the name of it, we were surprised because it

was Dragon Fruit. We were familiar with this name because Josh had a drink called Dragon Fruit. We decided to try it. We had to ask the gentlemen working in the produce section how to eat it. He told us it was like Kiwi. The next morning we pulled it out and tried it. I found it not to have much flavor. We are thinking it was not ripe enough. It is suppose to be sweet like Kiwi. We are going to give it a try again. We are so excited to try new foods. Ari didn't think much of it.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

We made it....

We wanted to let everyone know we made it to Bahrain safely. I will post more on our travel adventures when I recover from my jet lag. This is a picture of the beautiful mosque we saw while driving to our Hotel. We actually get to take a tour of it on Tuesday. We love you all and can't wait to share our experiences with you. BTW we have one resilient daughter.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Shenandoah Valley

From 2010-08-02 DC Trip

Emma throwing rocks after Bryan taught her how. When asked what her favorite part of the trip was she replied throwing rocks with Bryan.

From 2010-08-02 DC Trip

The deer were not afraid of people. They walked right up to them.

From 2010-08-02 DC Trip

This deer waited until we finished our lunch to come and find crumbs.

From 2010-08-02 DC Trip

The weather changed in the afternoon and it actually got down to 58 degrees.

From 2010-08-02 DC Trip

This is the cute Parker family that we dragged around DC and Shenandoah. Did I mention Heather is 6 1/2 months pregnant.

Quick DC Trip

From 2010-08-02 DC Trip

The trip was made possible because the youth in our ward had a Temple Trip planned and we decided to make a weekend trip of it. This is our cute Young Women group minus the Pres. and a couple Beehives. I will miss serving with these women and serving the girls.

From 2010-08-02 DC Trip

This picture is of Bryan and me standing at the WWII monument. I finally was able to see the monuments at the National Mall. Thanks Parker family for making the 10 mile hike around town.