Monthly Archive for July, 2009

You all thought I forgot didn’t you? Nope, I’ve just been other places. It seems like the closer we get to September more quickly my “to-do” list doubles!

But, onto our fun week a couple weeks ago!

Monday afternoon we got home from the beach after an early retreat due to rain. When we got home we ate lunch, I did some laundry, Adam vacuumed the car (nothing makes a car look more not new than the beach!), we set up the tent so it could dry out, and got some other things done around the house. We both got in a quick nap, ate dinner and repacked the bags and car. A little before 8 we were on the road headed to New York.

We made it to New York the next morning and spent most of Tuesday relaxing. Driving at night is great because Addie sleeps but it means that the next morning when she is wide awake we’re exhausted. By Tuesday afternoon we had somewhat recovered so we went to visit some people at Meese’s work and pick up a couple things we forgot (ie: dog food…oops, sorry Savanna!).

Wednesday we headed up to camp! And we stopped at Heidelberg Bakery on the way. YUM! They have all kinds of super yummy pastries and breads. It’s a good thing I don’t have to drive by that place on a regular basis because I’d weigh about 900lbs! We ate lunch when we got up there and then Addie spent most of the next two days running around in the woods with Meese. She also got to help Pops fill the bird feeder, play in the ferns, splash in some mud puddles, and pet a toad.

Friday morning we got up, got ready and went to the Saratoga Children’s Museum. It was a much smaller museum than we went to when we were visiting Minnesota but it was great for Addie! They had a little trolley that she thought everyone should sit on with her, a small room with household pretend play items, a pretend vet office, a post office, bank, grocery store, school and small restaurant. The place was practically empty so she was able to run around and do what she wanted with ease. After a couple hours she had played with most everything and everybody was getting hungry so off we went. Got lunch, she grabbed a quick nap and then we headed over to Adam’s cousin’s house for a small get-together with the family.

It was good to be able to see everyone since we only get to see them once a year when we’re up there. Addie had a great time playing with her cousins (technically I guess they’re second cousins) and meeting the new baby. Still today she asks to see Baby Robby and will randomly start saying “baaabbbby Robbbbbyyyyy!” lol it is super cute!

Saturday we took it easy in preparation for driving home that night. We hit the road that evening and made it home Sunday morning. Again comes the problem with driving at night only it is a bigger issue when we get home because there isn’t anybody else to help watch her. But we made it and both got naps in throughout the day.

Then on Monday real life set in again and we were busy getting back into the groove of life.

All in all it was A LOT of driving for the week but so worth it! I’m glad we took the time to go to the beach since this was pretty much our last opportunity to do a family vacation with just Addie and we had been wanting to go camping for a while now. I’m also glad we got up to NY this summer to see everyone!

What a busy but fun week!

Friday afternoon Adam called when he was leaving work so that Addie and I could head over to Petsmart to drop Savanna off. I didn’t realize what a crisis this would be for Addie. She screamed bloody murder when they took Savanna back to her room. I felt terrible both for Addie and the poor woman working behind the desk that was trying to help other people and answer the phone. Since this took a bit longer than expected (screaming child = long time to fill out paperwork) we got out a bit later than we anticipated but we were on the road around 4:30.

This is the first “long” car trip we’ve done with Addie that she was awake for and she did awesome! For most of the drive she played by herself with her flashcards, books, and travel-doodle. After stopping for dinner we pulled into the campground around 7:30. We walked into the office to make sure they had sites available before we drove in and sure enough they did! We found an awesome site in the very back of the campground right across from the bathrooms and water. Normally right across from the bathroom would have been a big negative for me but at 7 months pregnant it seemed like a huge plus!

That evening we set up camp and hung out at the campsite waiting for it to get dark. We both knew there was no way Addie was going to sleep in the tent when it was still light out. There is really no good way to block the light out of the tent. Finally we got her to sleep (after much struggle) and went to bed ourselves. At some point during the night she woke up saying “done nap, done nap” which is fine except it was the middle of the night and we weren’t napping. She wanted to go play and dig in the sand which she had been doing before bed. After much crying I finally took her outside so she could dig. Fortunately for me all she did was pick up her shovel and then want to sit with me on the bench and snuggle so we went back to bed.

The next morning we got up and headed for the beach. Addie thought the sand and shells were great but wasn’t too sure of the waves which I don’t blame her for since most of them are bigger than her. We took turns playing in the water and playing on the beach with her. We spent about 2 hours at the beach before heading back to the campground for lunch and attempt a nap. It wasn’t long before we realized the nap wasn’t happening so we went for a short hike instead. The campground is known for having venus fly traps and pitcher plants growing naturally and we thought we’d likely find some on our hike. This was the worst marked trail that either of us have ever been on and we ended up way off course. In addition we didn’t see any fly traps and only 1 pitcher plant. Apparently they hide better than you’d think.

Sunday we went down to the aquarium at Fort Fisher which took about an hour and a half. When we were done there we made another impromptu stop at the beach. Addie had a blast picking up shells and running around on the beach. Adam took her out into the water a bit since the waves were significantly smaller but a larger wave crept up behind them and crashed onto their heads. Addie wasn’t a huge fan of the facefull of salt water she received and wanted to go back to camp. We hung out for a bit longer but ended up heading back for lunch. Having learned from Saturday we opted to skip the nap all together and head to the boardwalk. They have some small shops and a little carnival set up in the evenings. Basically all we wanted was fudge. A couple laps around the area and we were ready to head back. After dinner we went down to the beach just to let Addie run and run she did. But it got to a point that she was so tired she’d run and throw herself down into the sand laughing. It was actually pretty funny.

Overnight Sunday it started thundering and eventually raining. Since it was still thundering when we got up Monday morning we decided to pack up and head home early. There wasn’t much sense in playing on the beach in the thunder and lightening. It turned out to be for the better because it gave us a little bit more time at home before we had to get on the road again. We were able to get a little bit of laundry done, repacked, and a bit of rest.

to be continued…