This year, we traveled to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with my family at my sister’s house. The trip was supposed to take 10 hours according to Mapquest. We factored in an extra 2 hours for Bean stops and traffic. Turns out, we were in the car for almost 14 hours. We ended up stopping and spending the night at a hotel. Instead of writing about our travels, I took some video for you. So its almost like you were in the car with us.
And with Bean.
For 14 hours.
In traffic.
Lucky, lucky you…
This first video was taken during the first leg of the trip.
A couple hours later, we stopped to fuel up and get Beanie ready for bed…
And then this last video is from early on Thanksgiving morning…
When I was in middle school the movie Homeward Bound came out. I don’t remember anything about that movie except that this one big, stupid, floppy dog loved cars and whenever his owners got in a car he would start bouncing all around yelling, “A CAR RIDE! WE’RE GOING ON A CAR RIDE!”
That’s exactly what I’m doing right this moment.
We spent all night last night packing our car for a very lonnnng car ride. We’re heading to Virginia to my sister’s house where my entire family will converge to eat turkey, cut down Christmas trees, drink cider, and blubber Beanie’s belly. Oh, MAN! I am so freaking excited!
But before we can get there to join the festivities, we must drive.
Oh, the drive.
Its about a 10-hour car ride for us and since Chris is working today, we can’t leave until about 2:00 PM. When you add in time for Beanie’s diaper changes, bottles, stretching, etc., that puts us in Virginia around 2:00 AM.
And did I mention that Bean hates the car? As in cries the entire time he’s in one?
Yep. Its gonna be awesome.
If you’re visiting family and friends this week by plane, train, or automobile – be safe! I can’t have nothin’ happening to my readers out there! Be patient as you travel and remember that it is more important to get there in one piece than it is to get there on time!
HAPPY TRAVEL DAY!
18Oct
This past weekend we planned to just lay low at the house. Beanie was getting over his terrible cold and my cold was starting to get bad.
But then we woke up Saturday morning and said to hell with that plan and we loaded the car up for a day trip. In our defense, we wanted to go pick pumpkins and there just aren’t that many weekends left to do that in. Although, the fact that it was only about 35 degrees outside should have probably deterred us.
Good thing logic never plays much of role in this family’s decision making.
Lyman Orchards is one of my favorite parts about living in Connecticut. Nestled into the hills, it has the best view of the changing leaves in the fall.
You can pick apples and pumpkins this time of year, but it was so darn cold that we decided to pick a pumpkin and then just buy our apples at the Lyman Market. For those of you who don’t live in an area where apple or pumpkin picking are common, its pretty much as easy as it sounds. You go out into this huge field and just pick out what you want. Then you take your produce to this little cart that sits out in the middle of the field and you pay by the pound. Couldn’t be easier.
The pumpkin patch was up on this hill and the wind was whipping up there! It was already about 35 degrees outside, but that wind must have made it 10 degrees cooler. Beanie was freezing! So, we jumped out of the car, grabbed a couple pumpkins, took a few quick pictures, and jumped back in the car.
Once our quick, freezing photo session was over, we drove down the road a bit to the Lyman Orchards Market. Its where the orchard sells their produce that is already picked and ready for sale.
It is quite possibly my favorite place on earth.
My favorite part about my favorite place on earth are these:
Lyman Orchards HIGH TOP apple pies. HIGH TOP. As in extra filling stuffed in extra pie crust. Its just about the greatest thing you’ll ever eat in your life. I buy them at Thanksgiving and then tell people that I baked. Its a lie worthy to be told. But no one ever believes me. Probably because I serve it in the plastic container.
After I drooled over the apple pies and helped myself to a few samples of apple cider donuts. That’s right. Apple cider donuts. We headed out back to take some pictures with pumpkins that had already been picked.
And as I took pictures of Chris and Bean, my mind wandered back to this time a year ago. We had just found out that we were pregnant. I don’t even think I had told anyone yet. Chris and I drove up to Lyman Orchards one Saturday to pick our pumpkin and out in the pumpkin patch, I stuffed a pumpkin under my sweater and we laughed about how big I was going to get over the next nine months.
On the drive home we talked about the little Bean in my belly and all the fun things we’d get to do when he was here with us. We talked about starting our own family traditions, like pumpkin picking. And we laughed about how much life was going to change over the next year.
We just had no idea, did we?
07Sep
This weekend, all three of us have been a little under the weather. Saturday was the worst day though and we seem to be bouncing slowly back.
Since we were feeling a little better yesterday, we decided to go ahead with our plan to visit the town of Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
Watch Hill is a tiny town on a little peninsula that sticks off the coast of Rhode Island. It is a tiny, one-road, beach community. And by community, I mean group of incredibly wealthy people. The homes in the area were enormous. So enormous that when we would drive by one, my mouth would hang open and I would drool and completely forget to take a picture, leaving me with no visual aid for you guys to see.
Sorry about that. I get very excited by multi-car garages. And cabana houses. And pool boys.
MMmmmm…. pool boys…..
What was I saying again?
Oh, right. Watch Hill.
It was a beautiful day to be by the water, so we bundled Beanie up in inappropriately warm clothing because you just can’t be too careful, right? And we toodled around the town for a couple hours.
Right about here, we noticed that Hey! Its sunny by the water! And Hey! Beanie has soft, sensitive white skin! And Hey! Mommy left the sunscreen at home!
So, we decided to cruise by some stores to see if we could find some Water Babies sunscreen for him. While we were shopping searching for sunscreen to save our son’s skin, I stumbled on this infant beachwear shop. Everything in there was so adorable and so soft and SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE that I had to make sure that Beanie’s drool-covered hands didn’t happen to reach out and touch anything.
But then I found this:
And that’s when I yelled out, “To hell with the costs! We’ll take one of everything!”
And that’s when Chris dragged me out of the store by my ponytail and made me drink a bottle of water on a bench because, clearly, I was delusional from the heat.
Once I calmed down and had an ice cream cone, it was time to head home. On our way back to the car though, we found the most exciting thing ever.
The streets were lined with bushes in one part. Real live bushes. With leaves.
Beanie thought he had died and gone to horticultural heaven.
We stood by the bushes for a while and just let Beanie take it all in. Sure, it was a little strange that there was an entire ocean about 10 feet away where hundreds of tourists flocked and here our weird little family stood staring at bushes. But, our kid loves trees. What can we say?
And as if things couldn’t get any better for little Bean, his Dad let him TOUCH THE TREES! HE GOT TO ACTUALLY TOUCH THE TREES!
It was so exciting, I thought we were going to have to pull Beanie away by his ponytail and make him drink a bottle of water on a bench.
After that, we went straight to the car because, really? Can you top touching a tree for the first time?
Highly doubtful.
We strapped Beanie into his car seat and he was asleep before we even pulled out of our parking spot. He could have been exhausted because his parents just dragged him around in blazing hot temperatures all day and made him wear jeans and a jacket. He could have been exhausted because he was out in the bright sun all day without sunscreen. He could have been exhausted because he was sick and the last place he should have been was out on some beach somewhere looking at boats and bushes.
But I prefer to throw all that sensibility aside and think that Beanie was exhausted because he had had an exciting adventure with his mom and dad.
Sometimes, the best adventures you take are on the days when you really should have stayed home.
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