13 + 13 = (Surprising) Success

The trip has been going wonderfully, and I have (too) many pictures to share soon, but this post is mostly about the trip down here and how to survive a long road trip with a baby/toddler in tow.


After 13 hours in a car with a 13 month old, I am happy and relieved to say that the journey to Maine went very smoothly.  I went into the trip with no expectations--I didn't want to assume that Charlotte would not do well on such a long car ride, but I also didn't want to assume she'd be an angel and we'd be booking our next road adventure before we got home.  Thankfully, the trip "To" (we haven't completed "From" yet...) could not have gone better.  

Ready to go!

We left our home around 3PM, when Charlotte usually takes her afternoon nap.  We arrived in Erie, PA around 5PM, just as Charlotte was waking up.  We grabbed dinner then wandered around a bookstore and the mall for a couple hours so Charlotte could blow off steam until bedtime.  It was weird to put her PJ's on in a mall bathroom and feed her her bottle on a couch in front of The Gap, but it worked.  We left Erie around 8PM and Charlotte was asleep by 8:15PM.  I drove until around midnight, then Chad took over for the night shift.  Quality sleep isn't really something either of us could get in a car, so we both pretty much pulled an all-nighter.  We made a few stops for gas and coffee (it's weird drinking coffee at 3AM) and pulled into our final destination at about 5:45AM, just as Charlotte was waking up.  We were tired, but the handling the drive that way was ideal.  We avoided traffic and it was smooth sailing the whole way.  I would highly recommend handling a long road trip like this for anyone with young children--you'll be exhausted, but it beats being completely stressed out.


We passed thru Massachusetts, about 45 minutes from where we're staying, at sunrise:

That would be 4:59AM...

Sleepy

Since arriving, we've been busy going places and doing all kinds of fun things!  Much more on that later, but until then:

Portland Head Light

Enjoy your week!

~Stacy


P.S.  I have no idea why Blogger is randomly highlighting some of the paragraphs in this post.  Ignore.

In Two Days...

...we will be on vacation.  The car is clean, the tank is full, and the audio books are loaded to make sure we stay awake during the overnight drive.  We are mostly packed and my "To-Do" list is getting shorter each day.  I haven't taken any pictures all week; my house is in disarray and my baby is cranky (first year molars coming in all at the same time, poor girl).  The weather is supposed to turn hot and gross again...as soon as we leave :)

Maine, we will see you soon.

(all photos courtesy of VisitMaine.com)

Portland Head Lighthouse

Kennebunk Beach

Kittery Point

Portland Harbor

Old Orchard Beach pier

Casco Bay

~Stacy

Heat Break

After trudging through another almost 100 degree day on Saturday, it was SO nice to finally get a break today.  I spent more time outside today than I have in a couple weeks and it felt great.  I didn't realize how crazy I was starting to feel being stuck inside so much lately.

In five short days we will be leaving for vacation in Maine.  I can't wait, and I have nothing packed.  I have a lot of lists though, so there's that.  And I brought the suitcases upstairs, so at least my intentions are good.

I hope your weekend was fabulous.

~Stacy

Happy 4th & Other Things

Happy (belated) 4th!  I hope you enjoyed the day, even if the heat was so awful and stifling that it felt like being stuck inside an oven in the middle of the rainforest.  Can you tell I'm tired of the heat?  I'm sure the rest of the country is, too, seeing as 23 states are currently under a heat advisory.  This morning we were woken up by a thunderstorm so intense I was convinced the windows were going to blow out.  I read after the storm passed that we had 60 mile per hour winds.  Amazingly we did not lose power, which is especially surprising because we tend to lose power easily.  As in, someone sneezes too hard and the power flicks off for a little bit.

You know what state is not under a heat advisory?  Maine.  Why do I care about this, you ask?  Because we are leaving for a week long vacation to Maine next week.  The weather where we're staying is currently 75 and partly sunny, which is pretty much the most perfect summer weather I can think of.

Speaking of this Maine vacation...we're going to be driving there.  I've been in denial about the fact that we will be enduring a 13 hour drive with a 13-month old baby.  I finally went on Google maps to plan out our route and tried not to cry at the trip length: 780 miles.  Duration: 13 hours and 6 minutes.  I'm trying to focus all of my thoughts on the fun we'll have once we're there: a house on the beach, a day trip to Kittery/Portsmouth to visit Chad's family, a day trip to Portland to visit more family, possibly a trip to Boston, and many hours of doing little more than reading on a beach towel.

This will be the first time we've traveled with Charlotte, and actually the first vacation we've taken in almost two years.  I just made a list of what I'll need to pack, broken down by "Our Stuff", "Baby Stuff" and "Food."  I was kind of amazed by how much stuff Charlotte will require.  I briefly considered renting a moving van.  Thankfully my parents and brother & sister-in-law are also going and have all been nice enough to pack a few things in their cars.

Howard's going to a kennel for the week.  I imagine that he will be less than pleased about this arrangement.  He went to a kennel during our last vacation, to Alaska, but at the time Henry was still around and they shared one large kennel.  My parents old dog, Frances, was in the kennel next to them and Howard adored her, so it made the situation more livable.  Sadly, Frances passed away too, so all of the dogs in the entire world that Howard could ever tolerate are gone.  When I booked his stay I made sure to include the typical Howard warnings: "It would be best  absolutely necessary for Howard to not be around other dogs."  And "Howard should probably definitely not be let into the yard to play with the other dogs."  And "Howard functions best in a solo environment." And "Howard is afraid of some things absolutely everything ever and it can make him act aggressively  like a complete and total fool." And finally "I'm sorry in advance if he behaves ridiculously."  Oh Howard.

Anyhow, regardless of whatever kind of weather you're having I hope you had a wonderful holiday (and hopefully a day off!).  Today is also a special day to me--my Grandpa (on my mom's side) would have turned 80 years old.  He died at 69, when I was a senior in high school.  He was a character and had an opinion about almost everything that he was not afraid to share.  I would love to hear what kind of colorful things he'd have to say about turning 80; I can only imagine.

I leave you on a happy note, with a photo from my girl's first 4th of July...

...and now:

What a difference a year makes.  I need a bucket of water to calm down baby fever...yikes.


~Stacy

Weekend: Summarized

After a week (and counting) of record-breaking heat that just sucks all my energy up like a vacuum, it was nice to do a whole lot of nothing this weekend.  We said goodbye to June and welcomed July by relaxing, grilling, eating ice cream, and being mostly lazy.  It was fabulous.

I am almost finished building the dollhouse--I still need to glue on the roof shingles.  Anyone want to come over and glue on 23,580 miniature roof shingles?

I still have to fill in a bunch of spots with wood filler, prime, paint, build the furniture, and decorate.  I figure I have at least 3 years to finish this since Charlotte will be old enough to play with it by then.  That's my kind of deadline :)

This was about as productive as I got, unless you count walking up to the beach for ice cream (which I do).  We also cleaned up the contents of Charlotte's toy box at least 6 times each day, as her favorite activity is emptying it out completely.  Over and over again.

Thankfully the swing is still super exciting to her:

Also exciting?  The stairs.  She figured out how to climb them, but (as of today, at least) doesn't have the confidence to go up more than one or two before scooting back down.  I now understand what everyone meant when they told me to be thankful she wasn't very mobile yet.

Howard played Frisbee until he was close to death and spent the rest of the day like this:

The wider the ear span, the tired-er the dog.  In this case?  Very tired.

This will probably be it for me until the end of the week.  I'll be in Columbus tomorrow visiting my friend Hilary, then the 4th is full of cookouts, parades, and a carnival.  All my time not doing those things will be taken up by two big consulting projects, both due Thursday.  I wish those followed the deadline schedule of the dollhouse.

Happy 4th!!

~Stacy

That's My Girl

Just in case you were in need of a little cuteness in your life, Charlotte is here to deliver.  I am biased in that I think almost everything Charlotte does at this stage of life is cute, but sometimes she does things that are  extra cute.  Like take her doll's shoes off and pretend to put them on her own feet:

Oh, it gets better.  Awhile back she started mimicking us whenever we'd talk on the phone by holding her hand or a toy up to her ear.  Soon it turned into her doing this whenever she'd hear a phone ring, then just by hearing the word "phone" or "call", and now she'll grab whatever is lying around and just pick up the "phone" to chat with herself.  She jabbers like crazy as though she's having a really in depth conversation and sometimes she'll even stop and hold the it out to us, as if to say "it's for you, Mom, here ya go."  Today she was using one of the plastic envelopes that goes with her toy mailbox as her cell phone and it was a serious conversation.  She was on that phone for a good 5 minutes (which is practically an eternity to a 1 year old).

"Uh huh.  Uh huh.  Really?  Wow.  So then what did you do?"

"Girl, that is ridiculous.  They never should have made you take that nap, I agree. " 

"Get out.  They said you had to take two naps?!?"

"Mom, for real, you won't even believe this."

She was cracking me up and had no idea what was so funny.  Also in the land of cute: as of yesterday, when I ask her "Charlotte, what's my name?" she exclaims "Ma-ma!"  I love it (and, consequently, make her do it about 50 times a day) and it melts my heart every single time.  She's delicious.

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Stacy

Garden Tour

On Tuesday, my "off" day from Miss Charlotte, it was absolutely gorgeous outside--upper 70s, sunny, breezy, and low humidity.  I tossed my bag, some water, and my camera in the bike basket and took advantage of the time and wonderful weather (both of which were short-lived).  Never mind that the water bottle in the basket is actually one of Charlotte's sippy cups.  In my defense, it has a straw, but still.  Mental note: buy a water bottle.

I rode up to Cahoon Memorial Park, where they have a Memorial Rose Garden.  It's fairly large and full of all sorts of different, colorful flowers and plants.  In the winter it gets turned into a small Christmas tree farm, with lights hung around the perimeter.

I didn't stay very long.  While I was the only one at the garden, I was not alone at the park.  The Bay Days Carnival starts today and a few dozen guys were there setting up all the rides and the food stands. I left them alone and rode up to the coffee shop and bought a brown sugar and cinnamon scone.  By my quick calculations, the bike ride cancelled out the calories of the scone so it was totally justified.

We hope to take Charlotte to the carnival this weekend.  I think she'd get a kick out of watching all the kids, seeing the rides, and maybe going on the merry-go-round.  The weather is supposed to be record-breaking hot, but I'm hopeful that it'll settle down enough for us to be outside for at least a little while.  At the very least, I'm sure we'll get a lot of use out of our sprinkler!

~Stacy