A few posts ago I documented our big multi-state tour of western Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. At the end of July we were on the road again. Craig had a conference up on Mackinac Island. The two of us had used the conference as a vacation for a couple of past summers, mainly because we got to stay at the famous and elegant Grand Hotel! We decided to do the same thing this year, thinking it would be an easy trip to take with a baby.
It was a wonderful few days. As we've learned, with traveling we need to be flexible and creative, and we were--like changing a very messy diaper on the floor of the ferry that took us from the mainland to the island, and pushing Elizabeth endlessly around the island in her stroller because she refused to nap. My parents came up to the island to see us, and were a big help one evening when they watched Elizabeth so Craig and I could enjoy a nice dinner in the hotel dining room.
We decided to extend our trip a bit by going a little further north and exploring some of the Upper Peninsula. We had a great time with all thing Up North: driving across the famous "Mighty Mac" bridge, visiting the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, seeing Tahquannemon Falls. Other than some very less-than-stellar nights of sleep, Elizabeth did great.
Pictured: Who needs a nap on Mackinac Island?, hanging out on the famous porch of the Grand Hotel, making the "squish face" under the very end of the Lower Peninsula side of Mackinac Bridge.
A few weeks later E. and I were on the road again, headed out to Holland (my college town) for my annual girls' weekend with my college girlfriends Rachel, Rachel, and Emily. We all spent the weekend in Emily's in-laws' summer trailer on Lake Macatawa, enjoying all the delights of ice cream, art fairs, strolling my college campus, and swimming. Elizabeth got IN a pool for the first time at Rachel's parents' house, sitting inside a baby inner tube. I think she liked it!
That weekend was rough in that she had one horrible night's sleep...in the trailer she slept in her Pack and Play in a back room, with me on the living room sofa at the front of the trailer. She literally woke up every hour. Not wanting to bother my friends, at 3 AM I took her into the living room with me, thinking maybe we could sleep together on a blanket on the floor. Well, she thought that was pretty hilarious, and lay there on the floor grinning at me and reaching for my face. Time for Plan B! I fed her and we went back to the tiny back room where her Pack and Play was. She protested so much about the PNP that, in desperation, I spread a blanket on the floor of THAT room and let us lay side by side. She fell asleep...I was curled in the fetal position because there was no room for me to stretch out all the way. I got two more hours of sleep :) Praise God, the following night was MUCH better.
We're off again next week for another visit to Illinois to see my family. I'll admit it's tough schlepping around all the time, but that's the life we chose when we set up home away from our families and close friends. So far, Elizabeth has been a champ. I do look forward, though, to a quieter fall!
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