Pics from our Mexico trip

Re-entry into busy world

We returned late Monday night from our amazing trip to San Pancho, Mexico. We went with 3 other families and had a total of 18 people in our party. It was our neighbor's 40th birthday celebration and I think he was immensely pleased that he had such a good crew surrounding him for 7 days straight.

San Pancho is about one hour north of Puerta Vallarta and 20 minutes north of Sayulita. There is little to no tourism in San Pancho which is absolutely lovely from a peace and zen point of view. There is one hotel in San Pancho called the Costa Azul but it is not a high rise or luxury resort by any means. We rented two houses, one high up on the hill and the other was right on the beach which was a perfect home base for body surfing and ocean swimming.

Delaney did great for most of the trip, save for a few meltdowns when she didn't want to stop playing in the pool or playing with the big kids. She sort of learned to swim a bit as she could jump in and get across a small pool without swallowing much water. I think she is actually close to being able to pull herself up for breaths, because she definitely has the movement thing down.

Both of our kids slept pretty bad for the trip which made it not exactly a restful vacation, but we'll take it. Kevin and I were lamenting the days when vacations were actually vacations. When you have little kids it seems like taking them out of their environment almost makes life more difficult, so how can that be called vacation? They didn't eat as well, sleep as well, and we were very homebound at the house because of napping attempts. Thank goodness there was one other family with young kids so we all got to sit by the pool and chat with each other.

Garrett cut his first two teeth while in Mexico and has two more on top coming through. He was fussier than normal as a result of this and the lack of sleep but all in all he was still a great little boy.

Our travel day returning was a complete nightmare as we had two children in simultaneous meltdowns regularly throughout the day. Picture massive tantrums in immigration lines, on public restroom floors, you name it. We were very glad to be home and I think we have decided that we will be car-bound for all vacations in the next year. I think it's just a time in our lives when it might be easier to stay close to home and not venture too far away. My friend Lara calls this "lowering expectations".

Now I am getting ready to face four of the busiest weeks I have ever encountered. Kev's parents are coming into town in a few days, Kev has a trip to China coming up and I have major projects due in all of my classes. But on April 27, most of the misery ends and my summer starts. It can't come soon enough!

I plan to post some San Pancho pics soon. :)

Trip to DC and Maine

We had a lovely trip to Maine and DC at the end of July. In fact it's the reason I have been so remiss about posting on this blog. Once we got back I've been desperately trying to catch up at work, finish Delaney's room, and have managed another solo stint at home without Kevin. I am happy to say that Kevin is now IN TOWN until the babe will be born. Yeah! We made great progress on Delaney's room last weekend even though we were both a little down-and-out with a cold. We found it astonishing that both of us got sick but our toddler seemed none the worse for wear. How could it be that she has a better immune system than us?

Our first 3 days back east were spent with Kevin's brother and family. We managed to get out and have a few adult dinners, a trip to the pool with the kids, and a trip to the best toddler park I have ever set foot on. This place puts all parks I've ever visited to shame. They even had a free carousel you can ride during the weekdays. It was great to catch up with Kevin's side of the family and see everyone at the big birthday fiesta and family reunion. Some people in attendance were relatives I hadn't seen since our wedding!

Then we (somewhat) insanely decided to DRIVE up to Maine since the flights were so expensive. Delaney did amazingly well, but I suppose that has something to do with the 5 hours of Sesame Street we let her watch in the backseat. We have officially hit the DVD era with her, which I must admit is heavenly during long travel trips. She handled the drive better than I did as it was hugely uncomfortable to be sitting for that long period of time.

Our schedule in Maine was jam packed and we had a great time despite the near constant rain that blessed our entire visit. Some of the highlights of the trip were clamming/musseling, the morning on the lobster boat pulling 3 lobster, kayaking with my parents regular Thursday kayak group, visiting Acadia National Park and the sand beach, dinner out to Clionese in Ellsworth sans child, watching my dad hammer his way through a competitive croquet tournament, two dinners out to lobster pounds and much more. I will post a couple of pics from the vacation.

All in all it was wonderful to have a little getaway before we become a family of four. Traveling with our family will now become much harder for the next year plus. But it will eventually get easier again, and I know this now because by and large Delaney did awesome this entire trip even though we pushed mealtimes and naps on a few days.

I hope to have the new big girl room complete within the next 2 weeks and will post pics of that when I have it as well.

Returning from a week away

We returned Saturday evening from a wonderful week spent in Arlington, Virginia, with Kevin's family. Our trip was filled with wonderful food, laughs from the kids, great weather, sightseeing, interesting restaurants, slow-paced breakfasts (my favorite kind) and lots of great chatter.

Delaney got along famously with her older cousin Mary and had some fascination with her other cousin Kevin (since he is 10 months he couldn't interact quite as much as his older sister). She learned everyone's names (despite some obvious pronounciation errors) and continues to do roll call for everyone she met on our trip. This morning she was drinking her bottle and right in the middle stopped abruptly and said "Cabin (for Kevin), Tia (her aunt), Uncle and Maaaaawy (Mary)." She went through this roll call about 4 times before going back to her bottle. It is almost as if she doesn't want to forget them and keeps saying their names so she will remember their smiling faces.

All things considered Delaney did great on the planes. The one exception was kicking the seat in front of her, which is really hard to avoid when you put her in the car seat on the plane. As soon as the person in front of you reclines their seat there is almost no hope of keeping her feet off that chair. I sheepishly admit that I am looking forward to the DVD era on planes. One day traveling will be much more calm when the lure of the Lion King and the Little Mermaid are there to keep her company.

Sidenote to airplane traveling is that buying a seat for your toddler is definitely, completely, absolutely, without a doubt worth the money. My stress level for the trip was very minimal knowing that we had the space to keep her distracted instead of having her squirm on my lap.

For the first time we tried the GoGo Kidz car seat stroller adaptor which worked pretty well. I think it's not specifically designed for the Graco Comfort Sport seat and instead works better with the Britax models. We chose to bring the Graco because it is a smaller seat and we thought it would work better on the plane. I think in retrospect the better product might be the straps you can buy to put the car seat on your back. I think the biggest issue is hauling the seat through the airport, which along with a stroller and a toddler can be very cumbersome. As long as you have two people I think the back straps would be the way to go, and they are cheaper than the car seat adaptor.

This was the first travel trip with Delaney where it felt like she enjoyed herself being somewhere new and was somewhat aware of her surroundings. She adapted well to different sleeping situations and life-on-the-go and was generally in very good spirits the whole time. She is in a great stage and seems thrilled to be communicating with adults. I had a lot of proud moments watching her move throughout our trip and grow up a little every day. Kevin and I regularly find ourselves chatting in bed at night recounting all the ways in which she dazzled us that day. It's a good time to be Delaney's mom.

I have lots of other thoughts and musings on our trip which I will share over the course of the next month. For right now I'm catching back up at work and at home. Looming is the fact that we have a leak in our shower which may cause us to re-do our entire bathroom floor. I am hoping that doesn't have to happen.... keep your fingers crossed.

Zee plane, zee plane!

We are about to embark on a little trip to Arlington, Virginia for Thanksgiving. We leave bright and early on Saturday, and a few years back the prospect of a trip like this would thrill me. I wouldn't pack until 10pm the night before, I'd be busy planning lots of trips to museums, monuments and maybe even theater. How things have changed.

Now that I have an 18-month old who has proven herself to be very difficult on planes, my excitement about the trip is somewhat diminished by the stress of having to travel all day with a toddler. As one of my friends so eloquently put it, we are flying in the "no fly zone." Once I get there it will be fine, and we've survived a few other plane trips already, so I know it's only a momentary stress that WILL pass.

One thing we did do to alleviate some stress is to buy her a seat so we have a whole row. But we still have to keep her relatively still and quiet for three straight hours. Egads, I can barely do that at home for 5 minutes. I've been spending all week compiling tons of new and fun activities to occupy her on the plane, in addition to a bunch of food-like crap that I would never feed her any other day (chips, lollipops, etc). I'm sure people will look upon my crap-ingesting child with some judgement but honestly it just doesn't matter to me. If a lollipop gets her through landing then she is more than welcome to have a lollipop.

I am excited to see Kevin's family, especially my niece and nephew, one of which I have never met. My parents will also be close and Thanksgiving day will no doubt be chaotic and merry. I am looking forward to the swirl that three children will add to the mix.

Now if we could just get through that plane trip.