June 6th, 2010

And away we go!

We are hitting the road and heading of on the start of Adventure June. Off to Sacramento today and hoping that the refusing to nap and teething baby sleeps at least some of the way in the car. Packing fell the way of best laid plans – I planned and planned and planned and then threw everything together at the last minute. Diapers are still in the washing machine and we are due to leave in 3 hours. I hope they dry; if not they will be sunning in the back of the wagon. I’m taking a little break to post this because the babe fell asleep on me while nursing and I am taking a minute to breathe and ponder. Not sure what the blog post situation will be like. I’ll do some pictures at least.

June 4th, 2010

Small Victories

A few years ago, I was in a no damage/no injury, but still terrifying, accident on my way to LAX. It was a very windy day and I swerved to avoid a metal sign in the road, a bad tire hit the paint on the freeway and I spun out across three lanes and somehow ended up facing the correct direction on the shoulder inches from the center divider.  For anyone familiar with Southern California, this happened on the southbound 101, one exit before the Conejo Grade. Amazingly, there was no collision and I was able to keep going on to the airport and got on a plane (pretty convinced something awful was going to happen) and made it safely to Michigan to visit my sister.  I drove back from that trip, but never drove to the airport again.

I lost faith in my car and slowly started avoiding driving on the freeway. I would when I absolutely had to, but started avoiding it more and more, resulting in some missed opportunities.  I’m telling this story because a month or two ago, I got a new car and drove on a small highway to go to a different farmer’s market with my mother-in-law and it wasn’t scary. And then yesterday, I drove to LA, just south of LAX! I didn’t drive the same route on which I had my accident, I took the coast, but I drove to the general vicinity. With a baby in the car! And it went great! Well, great is relative, I got lost twice on my way home and the 405 was a parking lot, but whatever. I made it!

June 1st, 2010

Catching My Breath

May was a crazy month. A death in the family, another family member (still) hospitalized but on the mend. My first month not working was a busy one, but June is going to be even busier. And then it will be July and my baby will turn one. Yikes. But backing up to June. We are going to be gone for almost 3 of the 4 weeks in June*, broken into a one week and a two week trip. We’ve never travelled that long with Spencer and we’ll be cloth diapering, so this will truly be an adventure. At least the one week trip comes before the two week trip, so we’ll have some practice.

My biggest travel concerns are taking too much stuff, taking not enough stuff, where the baby will sleep and washing diapers. The last is really only a concern on the two week trip because we will be in motion most of the trip and I am not sure how thrilled the husband will be about taking a time out to wash. As for the first two issues, our last road trip with baby was a 3 day trip and I filled the car. And we are taking the smaller car this time, so I am concerned that I will over reduce the luggage. I just need to fight my usual over packing ways and pack thoughtfully.  I am going to take note of what did and didn’t work on the short trip and use it for the longer trip. It should be fine.

I’m also on the hunt for fun things to do in the following locations: Sacramento/Davis, CA and Golden/Boulder/Denver, CO. We already plan on going to the train museum in Sacramento, and hitting the many walking paths in Davis. As for Colorado, I want to go to Coors and Rumparooz in Golden (excellent combo, I think) and hubs has some ideas of what to show me in Boulder, as he lived there for a spell and I have never been. Please leave suggestions for things to do in the comments.

I am getting so excited just thinking about it. I haven’t been somewhere new since our (super-awesome) family trip to Mackinac Island in 2008.

Mackinac Bridge

*Attention any would be robbers and/or stalkers: we have a house sitter. And nothing good to steal. Unless you want a bunch of plastic baby toys or sized 0-9M baby clothes, then – jackpot!

February 16th, 2010

First Road Trip

Cruising down I-5