Okay, so after I finished writing my post last night, I realized that I hadn’t really reviewed much of what happened in Lily’s first year of life. So, I am going to do a brief summary in this post of the vacations we took this year.
Happy Birthday, Lily!
First trip: A short road trip to Moncton, New Brunswick to go to Magic Mountain and Crystal Palace. This was Lily’s first ever vacation; her first time driving in the car for more than an hour and a half, her first time staying away from home, her first time in a hotel. It was a lot of firsts for her; it was a very exciting time for us! She did terrific in the car. She had a bit of a rough time sleeping in the strange bed, but she caught on pretty quick. This was the trip that helped us move her into her crib at night. She even managed to have a nap at Magic Mountain in her pea pod (this was one of the only times that she slept in it). This was the first time she got to go on some rides; she went on a carousel, a train, some trucks and in a submarine at Crystal Palace – the trucks were her favourite because she got to turn the wheel!
Second trip: A longer road trip to Ontario to visit Grammie. This trip took two days of traveling in both directions. This meant that Lily had more hotel experiences, a different hotel on the way there and a new hotel on the way home, too. Since this was a longer trip, it meant more luggage, and, we brought the dog – this meant a lot less room in the car for everyone. Lily didn’t like being in the car so long, but she certainly was a trooper about the whole experience. She loved staying at Grammie’s house. She got to meet Sophie, Grammie’s kitty and she got to meet her Grampa Rob for the first time, too. She adjusted to sleeping in Grammie’s playpen no problem. She taught herself to climb stairs while we were there and she cut her first teeth in Ontario (the bottom two). We took her to see Niagra Falls and went to two Hard Rock Cafés. This was also where she had her first bath in the big tub, she was so excited to be able to move around in the water; Momma was very nervous the whole time!
Third trip: A plane trip this time, to Orlando, Florida to go to Disney World. Another trip with lots of firsts; her first time on a plane, her first time out of the country. This trip was quite an adventure! It was Lily’s Christmas gift from her Nana and Gump. We left on December 26, 2012, which meant that Christmas day was a little crazy. She started opening presents as soon as she woke up and spent the entire day opening presents. She LOVED opening presents, and it was quite fun to watch, too. She would have liked to only get one present and then have time to play with it, though. She did great on the plane to Florida, she was awake for most of the first flight and happy, and then she slept through the entire second flight. The flights home did not go as well, but I think that may have had something to do with her not feeling 100%. She really liked having other kids in the house to play with, and more people awake with her in the morning (not just Mommy). She did pretty good in the crib at the house there, but it definitely made me realize that it was time for a solid bedtime routine. She was in awe at Disney World the whole time we were there, very happy, and when she got tired she didn’t fuss, she just closed her eyes and dozed off. I was the envy of all the parents there! Taking children to Disney over the holidays is hard, it’s so busy and the kids don’t want to have to wait in lines, or hold hands to be safe, etc, they just want to run around and have fun! While we were in Florida, we took Lily to visit her Great Grammie and Great Grampie at their house. She had fun there, but she wasn’t so sure about the two of them. We took her and her cousins Kiara and Leo to dinner one night with all the princesses and we all went to breakfast on December 31, 2012 with Winnie the Pooh and his friends – Lily really liked Piglet! We also made sure to go to the Hard Rock Café while we were there, our little princess will be a Hard Rocker, too!
So, those were our family vacations that we took. Tomorrow, I will try to do another post with some more pictures of the wonderful things Lily has done in her first year!