Saturday, August 9, 2008

Vacation prep

We are getting ready to head to Michigan, where just about everyone in my family (other than my mom and dad and brother) lives. This is a HUGE trip for us. Bear's only been on one trip in his life that was longer than a half hour or so, and that was when I took him to Nashville (about 6 hours) when he was 3 months old. He slept most of the way, but he's LOTS more active now, so I'm more than a little nervous about how this trip's going to go. It's 12 hours, according to Google Maps and I'm sure it will be even longer than that when we include all the stops we're going to have to make for feedings and diaper changes and for just pure crabbiness. I wish I knew how to entertain a 6.5 month old in the car, but I don't think it can really be done. We're completely prepared to not make it in one day, and we'll probably end up spending the night in some hotel between here and there. We are going so that I can attend a welcome shower for my cousin's new baby, but I have another cousin who had a baby a year and a half ago that I still haven't met! Also, it's been about 2 years since we've been up there and most of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins haven't met Bear yet. We'll have tons of people to visit--my dad has 3 sisters and 1 brother, while my mom has 2 brothers. And just about all of them have kids--some grown and moved out of the house and some not. Hopefully we can run into most of them at one of two events we plan on attending: 1)the welcome shower for Audrianna or 2)a birthday party for one of my uncles.

It's going to be a little strange, because my mom and dad are both going to be up there at the same time. My dad is bringing his wife, but my mom's husband is staying home. They get along well and everything, it's just kind of awkward to have them in the same place at the same time. It's only happened a few times and it's usually for big events like when I graduated with my master's degree or when Max and I got married. Those times went just fine, so I don't know why I'm worrying about this vacation. I suppose I'm not really worrying, I'm just hoping that it doesn't make things awkward when we are trying to decide which side of the family to hang out with for the day. The families are friends, so there are some things that we might try and do together, but I don't know. I think my best bet is to let someone else do the planning, but that's very hard for me! I'm kind of a schedule freak.

On another note, Bear's new lightweight stroller should be here on Monday. I am excited about this! I've been lugging around the heavy one for 6 months now, and I'd rather not! The new one only weighs 11 pounds and can be carried on my shoulder if need be. The one we ended up getting is a 2005 model of the one we wanted. It was significantly cheaper and the only difference is the sunshade is a different shape on the current model. I guess the company that is selling them just happened to find leftover 2005 ones. The only unfortunate thing is that we had to get it in dark blue. I don't really care right now, but we've tried to get gender neutral colors on things that we will likely use with our mythical second child. Oh well, if the second baby is a girl, I'm sure she won't be the only girl to be pushed around in a blue stroller. And no one will wonder if she's a boy with the way I'm planning to dress her!

We don't have much planned for this weekend. I know Max wants to try and steam clean one of our couches, but I don't know if he'll get to it this weekend or not. I have to make sure we have enough weather appropriate clothes for Bear to take to MI. It's quite a bit cooler there and I don't want him freezing. He mostly wears shorts and t-shirts here, but we'll need to pack warmer clothes for there. He has a couple pairs of jeans and a few pairs of long pants, so I think he'll be fine. I did have to go buy him some socks the other day. He didn't have any that weren't for tiny babies! He just hasn't needed them this summer.

I'm sure most of my posts this week are going to be about getting ready for our trip, if I even have time to post. I probably won't be posting from MI, because my grandmother, who we are staying with, lives in a rural area and has a dial up internet connection. I don't know if I can stand that wait, so unless I find another relative who has a better connection and doesn't mind me using their computer I may be going on a blog vacation as well!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

1 comment:

Amanda said...

Trips are so much fun!!!! Just take lots of toys, and invest in a mirror that hangs on the back of the seat! We had one on our first trip to Texas, but on the second one we didn't because it got broke...I wish I'd bought another!!! It was nice to have it so that one of us didn't always HAVE to be in the back seat. If Kaitlynn was playing fine, we didn't need to be back there. Usually if we were back there then she was fussy!

I'm playing a fun game on my blog, if you've got time to play come on over!!!!

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