El Paso (Part 1)

Over Labor Day weekend, we ventured South to the border (but not across the border) to El Paso, Texas to see my sister Lindsay and Phil.  A 15+ hour drive through Kansas, Oklahoma, and west Texas sounded absolutely awful, so we cashed in some of our Southwest reward points for a pair of free plane tickets.  Overall, Madeline did very well on the airplane.  We had a stop in Dallas, but we didn't have to change planes.  It was especially nice since everyone working on the plane LOVED Maddie.  During the wait, one of the pilots brought her a bag of Vanilla Wafers, and a stewardess gave her a coloring book with crayons.  Then, the other pilot asked if Maddie would like to drive the plane, so we got to go into the cockpit...

 She was pretty wide-eyed the entire time...

I had never seen the cockpit of a plane before.  It was awesome!  There are about a million buttons and lights that surround you, and the pilot hit various ones to make different sounds, make lights flash, etc.  It was a really neat experience, and by the time we were done checking it out, the plane was loaded and about ready to take off.

Lindsay and Phil met us at the airport, and they took us to get some authentic Mexican food from a small local place they love for lunch.  After that, we headed to their apartment to relax.  Although Maddie really did very well on the flights, it is still exhausting traveling with a 15 month old.  Therefore, this is how Mat and I spent part of the afternoon...

I think the last time we took a nap together was on our honeymoon, so this was a real treat!

Later in the afternoon, we ventured to downtown El Paso.  It was quite an experience.  Just south of the downtown area (literally about a block) is one of the entry points into Juarez, Mexico, so we saw a bridge with dozens and dozens of people waiting to get back into Mexico.  Apparently, they often go to El Paso to shop in the downtown area.  That seems to be good for Payless business as there were 3 Payless stores within 3 blocks.  I wanted to check out how the assortment varied in El Paso stores, so we went to check it out.  I was shocked when I found a pair of hot pink HEELS in Maddie's size... 

We tried them on her (just for fun), and she couldn't even stand in them, which was ok with me because I'm not sure I want her getting into heels already!

UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) was playing Oklahoma at home that night, so we tailgated at the gate with some of Lindsay and Phil's friends for a while.  Everyone was walking around eating corn on the cob, which seemed really odd (and random) to me, until we found the stand where a family was giving away free ears of roasted corn on the cob.  Apparently, it's a very popular thing in El Paso.

After enjoying some grilled ribs and chicken (thanks to Phil), we all crashed.  It was a jam-packed first day of vacation, but we had lots of fun.  I'll get more pictures off my camera to share how we spent the rest of the weekend!