Baby Tour 2008, a.k.a. Our First Road Trip

It's been a busy month! Since the last post, we've celebrated two, shall we say, milestone, birthdays - mine and my dad's, spent our first night away from the boys together (a surprise from Jim for our anniversary), survived illnesses and a particularly discouraging reversion on the sleep front with Drew. We also attempted and survived our first road trip as a family, and this past weekend got to spend some time with my Aunt Karen and Uncle Jim from Indianapolis.

Phew.

Our road trip took us down to Cincinnati to visit our college roommates Micah and Becky and their five month old daughter Kelly. We headed out Saturday morning and took most of the day to get down there, stopping at Cracker Barrel for lunch; after which we let the boys run wild for a while and check out the cars and trucks flashing by on the freeway behind the fence. There was much finger pointing and "ooh!"-ing. The boys did wonderfully on the drive down and we had a very nice night eating and playing and taking a walk with Micah, Becky & Kelly. After lunch Sunday we packed up and headed north to Columbus for a visit with Matt & Alison and their new baby girl Juliette. It was good as always to spend some time with Matt & Alison - if a little more chaotic than usual - and great to meet Juliette for the first time. Not all went quite smoothly (basically all the sleeping falls into this category), but we learned some things for next time, and overall it was a nice trip. The boys, especially, enjoyed seeing some new places - they are always up for an adventure.

This past weekend my Aunt Karen and Uncle Jim came in from Indianapolis and we were able to spend the day Saturday with them wandering around Hale Farm and Village. The weather was just about perfect - blue sky, colorful leaves, not too warm, not too cold. It was "Harvest Festival" weekend and so there were demonstrations and docents in period (Civil War) character explaining various aspects of life in that time and place. It made me think about what a contrast there is between the simplicity of life back then and our lives today. I was particularly struck by the lack of "stuff" in the buildings we visited, yet how fully functional they were. Something I would like to emulate, as I sit here typing amidst piles of paper, toys, half started projects and who knows what else... But that's another topic.

There are a few more pictures from our trip and Hale Farm in the sidebar, should you wish to take a look, and hopefully soon we'll have some pictures of Drew & Garrett in costume to post as well. Stay tuned...