All about Jaisal and Riya: Vacation

We went on a real family vacation. One that was planned and didn't get cancelled. Those two qualifiers sound basic, but for us they are huge. The last real family vacation or getaway we had was in August 2011 right before Jaisal was listed for transplant. After that it's been ups and downs with Jaisal or Kirk's mom, which has limited us from planning trips or, even if trips were planned, from being able to take them.

We were so nervous about whether this vacation would really happen. I contemplated buying trip insurance and then decided against it. Maybe if we didn't have a safety net/out, the trip would have to happen. AND IT DID!

Where did we go? What did we do? Well all of these details will follow in what I am sure will end up being a long blog post because we had SO MUCH FUN! :)

After much consternation and indecisiveness on our parts, we finally settled on going to Jackson Hole, WY. Main factors were the fact that we could get a direct flight (we were a little nervous about how little man would do on a plane) and that we could spend time in two national parks, Grand Teton and Yellowstone, outside of peak season.

We prepped Jaisal about the flight for weeks. The first time we asked him if he wanted to fly, we expected he'd be super excited. I mean the kid loves planes. He points them out everywhere and runs to windows to see them. Of course when he thought about being on one, he wanted none of it. "It's too high mummy." Oh boy.

Day of our departure arrived. We had no idea what to expect. We get to the airport and little man is jumping up and down with excitement to get on the plane. He wanted to run down the gangway even though there was a huge line in front of him. He announced to the flight attendants upon entering the plane, that we were going to take off, fly and land in Wyoming. Kirk and I were smiling ear to ear. First obstacle overcome.

Once in his seat, our little busy body was totally well behaved. He stayed in his own seat for takeoff. Loved his seatbelt and was not overly loud or crazy. Who was this kid and where was Jaisal? Actually wait, we were okay with the swap for purposes of the flight.

After that, it was one new experience for Jaisal after another. We started off our first day with a float trip down the Snake River (well after a little bit of breakfast).

The water was so calm, we spent a lot of trip dangling Jaisal's hands and feet over the boat so he could splash in the river. Our guide was awesome and let both Jaisal and Kirk row for a while.

We got to see a bunch of bald eagles, many of whom were juveniles (less than 3 years old). I wish I had video of this, but at one point we floated by a tree with two juveniles. One of them was calling out and Jaisal immediately imitated the eagle (and pretty well too). Next thing you know the eagle was calling again, followed by a response from Jaisal. I swear everyone on the boat thought they were talking to one another. Both kept calling, but only in response to one another, until we floated off of earshot. The kid's a budding naturalist or ornothologist.

We also got to pit stop and check out a beaver dam and play in the river a bit.

We were pretty amazed at how well little man did on the 3+ hour trip and this was all just our first day.

Other highlights in Teton Village were Kirk paragliding and taking the gondola up to the top of the mountain.

Jaisal claimed he really wanted to paraglide as well after he saw his papa landing. Thankfully there is a 40 lb minimum weight which Jaisal is no where near. Phew!