Holding onto Great-Grandpa's hand
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Indianapolis - Take 2
Wow! Didn’t I say I was going to update more often? Our life has finally settled into a routine of sorts, so needless to say…I’ve been busy! The weekend after going to the lake, we headed up to Indiana to see Mapgeek’s extended family. This is the trip we attempted in November, but had to reschedule due to sick family. MLK weekend, so we didn’t have to take any precious time off. We left Friday afternoon and went to Nashville and spent the night in our favorite Holiday Inn Express (hello wifi!). Had our Krystal’s and Guinness date, though Babygirl wasn’t as accommodating this time. She gets distracted trying to sleep with Mommy and Daddy trying to watch TV or surfing the web. We got up early Saturday and drove the rest of the way to Indianapolis.
We got there in time for a late lunch with Mapgeek’s grandparents, which is who we were there primarily to see. Luckily, Mapgeek’s uncle and aunt were there to go to lunch with us at the very close-by Mexican place. It’s interesting that as our favorite relatives get elderly, the more nervous we are about transporting them. Especially with Babygirl. We are especially grateful that there are relatives there, used to the situation, that can make time for us too. We headed back to our next favorite Holiday Inn Express to let Babygirl nap. Then back to the grandparents for an evening hello. Needless to say, Saturday was busy. Sunday was even more so….
We got up and took breakfast to Mapgeek’s Grandparents. From there, we drove the hour+ out to Terre Haute to visit the family farm. Babygirl got to play with her older cousins and we got to visit the aunts and uncle. Babygirl LOVED playing with the girl cousins. Seems like she’s around boys much more often. From Terre Haute, we drove the hour and a half back through Indianapolis to Franklin to see the other aunt and uncle and cousins. Also a good time. Then back in the car yet again to drive the 45 minutes back to the hotel. Lots of car time. Babygirl was a trooper as always. We fed her at the appropriate times and she took her naps in the car in between stops. I think we might have the hang of this. We all slept great that night.
Monday, we ate breakfast again with Mapgeek’s Grandparents and the hit the road for the 9 hour trip home. We were worried that Babygirl was going to be hard to travel with for 9 hours straight. But, she was even better on the way home, then she was from Nashville to Indiana! We stopped periodically to walk around and she seemed to sleep a good portion of the way. Kudos to the Britax carseat! Did I mention before that Babygirl outgrew her infant seat? I wasn’t expecting to buy another carseat at 6 months, but after finally figuring out how to install it, it is working out great!
Well, we made our first of many long car trips and survived. Next up….an airplane ride to Vegas in March. Not sure how that’s going to work with all the baby gear…
We got there in time for a late lunch with Mapgeek’s grandparents, which is who we were there primarily to see. Luckily, Mapgeek’s uncle and aunt were there to go to lunch with us at the very close-by Mexican place. It’s interesting that as our favorite relatives get elderly, the more nervous we are about transporting them. Especially with Babygirl. We are especially grateful that there are relatives there, used to the situation, that can make time for us too. We headed back to our next favorite Holiday Inn Express to let Babygirl nap. Then back to the grandparents for an evening hello. Needless to say, Saturday was busy. Sunday was even more so….
We got up and took breakfast to Mapgeek’s Grandparents. From there, we drove the hour+ out to Terre Haute to visit the family farm. Babygirl got to play with her older cousins and we got to visit the aunts and uncle. Babygirl LOVED playing with the girl cousins. Seems like she’s around boys much more often. From Terre Haute, we drove the hour and a half back through Indianapolis to Franklin to see the other aunt and uncle and cousins. Also a good time. Then back in the car yet again to drive the 45 minutes back to the hotel. Lots of car time. Babygirl was a trooper as always. We fed her at the appropriate times and she took her naps in the car in between stops. I think we might have the hang of this. We all slept great that night.
Monday, we ate breakfast again with Mapgeek’s Grandparents and the hit the road for the 9 hour trip home. We were worried that Babygirl was going to be hard to travel with for 9 hours straight. But, she was even better on the way home, then she was from Nashville to Indiana! We stopped periodically to walk around and she seemed to sleep a good portion of the way. Kudos to the Britax carseat! Did I mention before that Babygirl outgrew her infant seat? I wasn’t expecting to buy another carseat at 6 months, but after finally figuring out how to install it, it is working out great!
Well, we made our first of many long car trips and survived. Next up….an airplane ride to Vegas in March. Not sure how that’s going to work with all the baby gear…
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Be jealous all ye city slickers
So I’m writing this from the comfort of the lake house. We loaded up the family (2 parents, 1 kid, 1 dog) in the car on Friday and drove the 3 hours up to Tennessee. It’s so quiet up here. I got all bundled up this morning to take the dog out. It was almost dawn, so it was just barely light. It was so quiet that I thought I my hat was on down over my ears blocking out the sound. When I took off my hat, I realized that there wasn’t ANY sounds. No birds, crickets, the waves on the shore. Nothing. And then the next door neighbor coughed and scared the bejeezus out of me. He was on his back porch, sipping on his coffee, looking at the lake. A true Maxwell House moment. What a life.
The house itself is awesome. It’s on Watts Bar Lake just outside of Kingston. Since Granddaddy P lives here during the week, the house never gets that vacant, dusty, dead bugs in the sink kind of feel. It’s a 3-bedroom, 2-bath log cabin that’s only a few years old. The kitchen is huge and has tons of counter space and nice appliances. Plus, my parents have stocked it with all the comforts of home. Coffee maker, satellite, wireless network. You know, all the typical things you think of when you think “log cabin”.
TVA controls the lake and dams, so the lake is low for the winter. Where the house is, the yard and lake bed gently slopes down. When the lake level is low, the water recedes a pretty good distance and the docks are all out of water. So no fishing. And I was so looking forward sitting out on the dock in 30-degree weather waiting for a fish to nibble.
Mapgeek and I brought our computers (obviously, since I’m writing from here), and got some good gaming time. And we cooked and ate and grilled and ate some more. Babygirl had fun in the wide open floors with the toys we brought and also got to chase the dog. The dog is the only one that didn’t seem to have fun. He gets so picky about eating in a strange place. I think that we’ll be back up here soon. I hope. I’m looking forward to the spring when we can enjoy the outdoors.
The house itself is awesome. It’s on Watts Bar Lake just outside of Kingston. Since Granddaddy P lives here during the week, the house never gets that vacant, dusty, dead bugs in the sink kind of feel. It’s a 3-bedroom, 2-bath log cabin that’s only a few years old. The kitchen is huge and has tons of counter space and nice appliances. Plus, my parents have stocked it with all the comforts of home. Coffee maker, satellite, wireless network. You know, all the typical things you think of when you think “log cabin”.
TVA controls the lake and dams, so the lake is low for the winter. Where the house is, the yard and lake bed gently slopes down. When the lake level is low, the water recedes a pretty good distance and the docks are all out of water. So no fishing. And I was so looking forward sitting out on the dock in 30-degree weather waiting for a fish to nibble.
Mapgeek and I brought our computers (obviously, since I’m writing from here), and got some good gaming time. And we cooked and ate and grilled and ate some more. Babygirl had fun in the wide open floors with the toys we brought and also got to chase the dog. The dog is the only one that didn’t seem to have fun. He gets so picky about eating in a strange place. I think that we’ll be back up here soon. I hope. I’m looking forward to the spring when we can enjoy the outdoors.
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