Getting There (and Back)

Kelly is a close friend from my time spent working at the University of Minnesota. She and her husband, Scott, live in Colorado. They announced a few months ago that Kelly is pregnant - baby girl is due on Halloween (although Kelly insists this baby will not be born on Halloween!). When Kelly's sister e-mailed me to say she was planning a mid-July surprise baby shower in Lake George, NY I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see a dear friend! Due to crazy work schedules our family hasn't done any traveling since our trip to MN last June. Combine this with the fact I was going this one sans Derek made this trip a pretty big deal for us.

After spending most of the day on Friday getting ready for our big trip, we were in pretty good shape on Saturday morning. Since Derek was staying home this weekend, he went to pick up a rental car mid-morning. It was really hot in Boston last week and thunderstorms finally hit on Saturday to cool things down a little. I had aimed to get on the road between 11 and 11:30 - we were right on schedule pulling out of the driveway at 11:30.

I had hoped Zoe and Silas would stay awake for the first little while before falling asleep for their afternoon nap. At home they typically go down between 12:30 and 1:00 - of course they were asleep within 10 minutes of leaving the house. Silas only slept for an hour, which really surprised me because at home he would nap for 3 hours if left to his own accord; Zoe ended up sleeping for 1-1/2 hours. I threw them back a snack when they woke up and I didn't have to stop until 2-1/2 hours into our trip. I ended up pulling off at a McDonald's to change diapers. We lucked out and there was a big grassy area with picnic tables, so even though it was 95 degrees we sat outside for a bit and ate a plum at the picnic area.

The GPS said we only had another 90 minutes after our first stop. When we got back on the road I turned on a 60-minute long Raffi DVD in the synchronized players that Wendy lent to us. This set-up is pretty awesome - the DVD players strap to the back of the headrests in front of the carseats, and they are cabled together so that they play the same DVD but each kid has a good view. Before kids I thought that this kind of entertainment in the car was unnecessary, but for this kind of solo car trip I figured it would help them pass the time. It proved to be sanity-saving on the way home.

About 25 miles away from our destination we got off the interstate and drove on Route 9N, which follows along the coast of Lake George. This area is absolutely beautiful! All of the out-of-town guests who traveled for the shower were staying at the Silver Bay Inn, which is run by the YMCA of the Adirondacks.

Our travels back to Boston on Monday were not nearly as smooth. Two days of being off schedule and getting less sleep than usual had finally caught up with everyone. After breakfast I wanted to let the kids run around outside before we loaded up in the car. Zoe was having none of it and threw one big fat fit on the grounds in front of the inn. The only way I could get her into her carseat was to immediately turn on the DVD player so she would be distracted and calm down. Again they had short naps, and we ended up having to stop twice (and watch two "bideos"). I drove in pouring rain for over 2 hours of the trip, and it took us 5.5 hours to get home. It was a great feeling to pull in the driveway in time to feed them dinner at home on Monday!

More on the rest of the trip soon!