Weekend adventure!

Well, we did it! We survived our first big trip with a baby. Elizabeth was a trooper. I'm so proud of her!

Our gradual journey west began last Thursday afternoon when we drove out to Grand Haven, a beautiful town on the coast of Lake Michigan. Craig's parents have a trailer that they had set up at the state park. Elizabeth was delighted to get out of the car (only a 2.5 hour drive) and was ready to take in the sights. We all walked the pier at the entrance to the harbor, with Elizabeth bouncing along with us in the Baby Bjorn. Craig sat her in the sand a few times for pictures, and she wasn't sure what to think about that new texture!
We set the Pack 'n' Play up in the trailer, and Elizabeth put herself to sleep babbling delightedly at the ceiling, which for some reason enthralled her. She slept beautifully, and the next morning she joined us in our little trailer bed and she and I did what we should do on vacation--napped together.

Too much excitement on the new day--she wouldn't take her morning nap and was a bit fussy, but I was determined to get her down to the beach for the first time. Grandma Phillips and I took E. down to the water, placed her little tootsies in the damp sand and held her as the waves washed over her feet. I think she liked it!
Then our little family headed north to the town of Ludington for the biggest part of our adventure--taking the SS Badger, a steam powered car ferry, across Lake Michigan. Poor E. was exhausted (had only grabbed a couple cat naps) and was screaming bloody murder when we arrived to park our car, but quieted when we toted her up the steps to the big ship in her carseat. We spent a little extra money to spring for a state room on the boat so that we could have a private place to rest for the four hour journey. After touring the deck and watching the sun set, the three of us hunkered down in our little room where we all were able to grab a little shut eye.

A good thing, because the ship docked in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, at 12:30 AM. Exhausted, we made it to our hotel room and set up for the night. Fortunately Elizabeth slept quite well again.

The next morning, Saturday, we took a long walk along the pier in Manitowoc after breakfast to watch the boats and see the lighthouse. Then we were off on our next leg--a journey about 3 hours to the west, to the city of Wisconsin Rapids where we would attend the wedding of my cousin Kevin and his fiancee Megan. This leg coincided beautifully with Elizabeth's morning nap, so Craig and I enjoyed a peaceful drive through the Wisconsin countryside. We met up with my parents, who had also just arrived in town for the wedding, for a picnic lunch at a nearby park. Grandma and Grandpa Schneider were more than ready to take E. off of our hands for a bit.

Back at another hotel, and I scrambled to get ready for the wedding while Craig stayed behind with Elizabeth. It was wonderful to see my cousin Kevin (who I still think of as a stocky 4-year-old with a spiky blond mullet) marry a delightful girl, and I had a great reunion with my other cousins who had made it to town (coming from as far away as Connecticut, Arizona, and Hawaii--crazy!).

Back at the hotel room I dressed E. in one of her darling new dresses, and the 3 of us headed to the reception. Again, my parents were delighted to spirit Elizabeth away as much as they could, and Craig and I enjoyed our dinner. We left after only a few hours because all 3 of us were exhausted.
Sunday was the big day. We'd debated about the many ways to go home (go south or go north? try to do it all in one day or spend the night at my parents' outside of Chicago?), and finally decided to take the plunge and drive all the way home in one day--a big 4-state schlep. All in all, it went beautifully. We had to be creative and flexible, like when we stopped at a Walmart in Rockford, Illinois for one of our breaks, because it was rainy and the malls weren't open yet (but that was fun for E.--we spent time in the toy aisle!)...or when we got stuck in horrible traffic right outside of Chicago, and Elizabeth was screaming at the top of her lungs--Craig and I sang nursery rhymes to her in silly voices, over and over again, to get her to quiet. We felt fortunate that Craig's sister Wendy and her family live directly on our route home, so we got to spend some substantial, quality play time at her house. By the last leg of our journey Elizabeth was not thrilled to go back in the carseat, but she made it...we made it...we thank God for keeping us safe on so many roads.

Just thinking about the weekend, in retrospect, kind of exhausts me. But I'm so proud of how flexible, creative, and patient we were on our first big trip with a baby, and even more proud of Elizabeth for being such a take-it-in-stride baby. This trip was a very successful litmus test. We plan to go up to Mackinac Island in late July, which right now seems like small potatoes compared to this journey--let's hope for the best!