Over the summer, we took Lily on two road trips. Every year we take a trip to Moncton to go to Magic Mountain and to take the kids to Crystal Palace, we weren’t going to let a little things like a new baby get in the way of our summer tradition – not to mention we knew she would love Magic Mountain because she loves the water. The scary parts were all the driving – how to stay sane while driving a long distance with a baby – and the fact that she wouldn’t have the bed she was used to – would she sleep?!?
The drive to and from Moncton worked out well, we had to stop in Truro to drop the dog offat her first home where her great aunt watched her for the weekend, Lily slept the whole way to Truro. We had a short visit in Truro which gave Lily a chance to eat, get a new diaper and have some time to move around before being stuck in the car seat for another hour and a half or so. She slept the whole way to Aulac where we stopped for lunch. This was great because it is only a short trip from Aulac to Moncton, AND, we took one of my sister’s children with us the rest of the way to the hotel in Moncton so Lily had someone to look at.
She fell asleep on the big bed…I guess it was nap time.
Playing on the bed with Daddy.
So, the first concern was okay, we made it to Moncton and the fear of the drive home was minimal. Now, how will she sleep while we are there? We have a pea pod bed, which is essentially a tent for an infant, but she has only napped in it once. At home she was napping in her crib, but at night she was still in her bassinet, how was she going to deal with a different bed? Luckily, the hotel had a pack and play that we could use. This made me feel a little better because it is more like a crib than her pea pod. We got off to a rocky start, she really wanted to be in her small bassinet, more confined, she woke up several times the first night, but each night got better, so much so, I decided that when we got home we would move her into her crib at night so we wouldn’t have to start over when it was time for her to be out of the bassinet.
Trip number one was a success! She slept for most of the drive in both directions, she had some decent sleeps in the hotel, and she had fun at the water park and at Crystal Palace. She even managed to have two naps while we were at Magic Mountain in her pea pod! This was a great trial trip for trip number two which was a longer drive and a longer stay.
On the carousel with Mommy at Crystal Palace.
The beginning of the drive. Everyone is ready to go!
Mommy’s in the back seat now.
For our second trip, we took Lily to Ontario to visit her Grammie. This time, we left later in the day. We still stopped in Truro, but we got there for supper. Lily did sleep the whole way to Truro, and she had a good long visit in Truro where she was able to eat twice, get some new diapers on and she got to move around a lot. When we got back in the car, she slept the whole way to Aulac again, so far we are off to a great start! But, somewhere between Moncton and Fredericton, she decided she did not want to be in the car anymore. We pulled over on the side of the highway and rearranged the car so that I could sit in the back seat with Lily, which meant the dog now had to sit in the front seat. Lily was entertained by me sitting with her for a while, until she got tired, Sasha, however, was not impressed with the front seat, she spent much of the evening staring at me as if to ask for her spot back. That night we made it to Edmundston, there, our brakes stated making a funny noise, so we stopped for the night with the hope of getting the car into a garage in the morning. There were no garages nearby open on Saturday, so, we wasted a morning trying to find a garage and then we continued the trek carefully using only the emergency brake to stop. Lily slept for the first part of the trip on day 2. I spent a lot of the second day in the back seat with her, and she did quite well for the long drive and the long sleeps in her car seat.
Sasha has given into being in the front seat.
We arrived in the middle of the night. Lily decided that since she had been woken up to get out of the car that this meant it was wake up time. She was awake for an hour, maybe a bit more, then it was sleepy time. Once again, we were in a new place, she hadn’t slept well in the crib at the hotel the night before, she was going to be in another new bed, a pack and play this time, I worried that she would not sleep well again. I was pleasantly surprised. She didn’t wake up through the night that night, and nap times were a breeze, the rest of the vacation she woke up once through the night for a bottle and went straight back to bed.
Sasha is cuddling up to the baby on the drive home. She must be exhausted!
The drive home was similar to the drive up, but we were all much more tired and we all wanted to be home, so the moments of unhappiness on the way home seemed much worse than on the way up. I didn’t spend much time in the front seat on the way home at all. Day 1 of our trip home was very rainy which brought our spirits down that much more. Driving from Truro to home with no one in the back seat with her was the worst part of the trip, she would begin to fall asleep and then wake herself up and cry.
Reading with Grammie.
The piano player.
Yummy strawberry!
Walking the logs at the camp.
Checking out Grammie’s kitty.
All in all, another successful trip. A much less busy trip than the first, she got her regular naps and feedings in. We went shopping a couple times, we went to Niagra Falls one day, we went to the camp one day to see the progress on the cottage and we went into Toronto one day for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. She really seemed to enjoy most of the trip, at the camp she walked along the logs that had been set out as the start of the cottage frame; we went behind the falls at Niagra Falls which she was very interested in until we got too close and she started getting wet; she taught herself to climb up stairs chasing the dog around Grammie’s house; she got to try strawberries for the first time.
Behind the Falls.
Sitting with Daddy on the SkyWheel at Niagra Falls.
Now the challenge will be to pack lighter for the next trip!
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