Road Trip to Indiana!

We're home from our road trip to Indiana. Oliver has been asking to go to the beach, and I knew of a great one that we always went to as kids: The Indiana Dunes! It's just supposed to be a 5 and a half hour drive, but it took a lot longer with the little kids and stopping so much. We had a great time, though! We stayed at a bed & breakfast in Chesterton, Indiana called Riley's Railhouse, which had all things train! The kids loved it. And, of course, they loved the beach. 

I blogged about our trip on my travel blog here. I highly recommend this road trip if you still have little ones and are in road trip distance to the Indiana Dunes. 

Some picture highlights of the trip:

I was looking at  past trips, and our kids have made it to a lot of states so far in their little lives.

So far, Oliver has traveled in 10 states and 2 territories:

*Colorado
*Texas
*Nebraska
*Massachusetts
*Illinois
*US Virgin Island - St Thomas
*US Virgin Island - Saint John
*Iowa
*Utah
*Florida
*Wyoming
*Indiana

So far, Joanna has traveled in 9 states:

*Colorado
*Illinois
*Texas
*Nebraska
*Iowa
*Florida
*Wyoming
*Utah
*Indiana

Happy (Early) Anniversary!

Andrew's aunt and uncle are coming into town from Texas next weekend, so we made plans to celebrate our wedding anniversary (6 years!) a week early. Grandparents watched the kids, and we spent the weekend in the mountains! For the first day, it felt really, really nice to have some space from the kids. I started to miss them today, and, by the evening, I was happy to be home to them. Sometimes, a couple days away is exactly what I need!

Andrew and I tried to hike to Hanging Lake with the kids last year. When we got to the trailhead, we saw that it pretty much went straight up. There was no way we could hike it with the kiddos. We had to turn around then, but we tackled it this weekend together! The trail was hard because it was so steep, but we had a lot of fun. I even packed a picnic for us to eat when we made it to the top! It was stunning. We had a great time.

I blogged about our mountain adventures on my travel blog. Those entries are here. 

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from the hike:

This afternoon, Andrew took me berry picking (again!) at the Goose Creek Trail in Lost Creek Wilderness. We didn't have to hike very far at all! We found dozens of raspberry bushes all along the trail. I picked them and tried to decide what I would tell Oliver we could make with them. He loves making new things. Maybe we will try to make a raspberry-topped cheesecake.

 

The kids got to hike, too! My parents took them to Rocksborough State Park. Apparently, the kids were more interested in exploring the dirt and rocks than hiking, but they had a good time!

Toddler in an Airplane

Oliver's going to be on a flight soon, and I've started to get really worried. He's traveled numerous times and has always done well, but now he's at an age where he likes to go, go, go!

I tried to look online for ideas to keep him entertained on the plane. It seemed odd that *none* of the ideas seemed to really suit Oliver. A lot of people mentioned crayons. Oliver thinks crayons are OK, and he'll play with them for about 30 seconds before dismissing them for something else. People also mentioned stickers, which Oliver hates so much. He literally screams if someone puts a sticker on him.

Finally, I decided to go to the Toys R Us website. I browsed pages and pages of toys, knowing Oliver wouldn't like any of them. The boy just doesn't like most toys. Oliver enjoys figuring out how real things work. Currently, he's obsessed with learning how to pour milk from the carton as well as pulling out and reinserting the pegs that hold our screen door together. He definitely needs something new, something that will pique his interest. I know if I can successfully find a toy that will perplex Oliver, he'll play with it nonstop until he masters how it works.

It took a lot of searching, but I finally found something that I think Oliver will like: a tool bench!

Success! I pick it up later today. My plan is to give it to the little man on the plane. As long as it's not too noisy, we'll bring it to the wedding ceremony, too, so he doesn't freak out there.

Babies on Planes

By no means do I think people are bad parents when their babies cry on planes. As a mom, I now know that there are times your baby will cry, and there's nothing you can do about it. However, I think airplanes are a place when you pull out all the stops to keep your kid from crying or fussing for as long as possible.

Oliver is a seasoned traveller now. He has flown to Austin and back, gone on a road trip to Omaha and back, and has now flown to Omaha and back. Truly, he's done a superb job. In February, when we flew to Austin, he slept the whole time. Easy, easy! On the way back, he fussed for a few minutes, but never really threw a fit and was happy for most of the time (not bad for a two hour flight, ey?). Driving to Omaha, he cried for about one hour out of the eight, and he was quite the trooper on the way back.

I was nervous flying to and from Omaha this time because it wasn't timed to be during bed time. Still, he managed to be amazing. Before boarding at DIA, Andrew walked and patted Oliver. He fell asleep and stayed asleep for about 40 minutes of the 54 minute flight. When he woke up, I nursed him, so he didn't fuss a moment.

The trip back home was a different story. We elected to go to the airport early so my sister, Julie, could drive us on her way to work. We arrived at 6:30am for our 10:50am flight. Oliver was a champ at the airport and didn't cry at all. He even napped. This good mood lasted until shortly after boarding the plane. He sat on my lap and watched all the passengers board (when travelling with a small child, you get to board first). As the plane taxied before take-off, he started to fuss. I tried nursing him, but he wasn't hungry. Andrew and I started to panic. If he started fussing before take-off, it was going to be a long flight. I busted out a few toys, but he wasn't interested. I went for the Hail Mary--Oliver's toothbrush. Success! He chomped at it and shook it for about 10 minutes before showing signs of fussiness again. Andrew and I busted into song: Head, shoulders, knees, and toes... The singing worked for a few more minutes. Forty-five minutes left in the flight. What to do? I tried nursing him again, but he lost interest after a minute or two. We changed his diaper. Oliver still hadn't cried, but he let out a few unhappy calls. We knew it was only a matter of time until the crying would start unless we could figure out something quickly. Then, Andrew started patting him and swaying him (which wasn't easy in the restriction of an airplane seat), and Oliver fell asleep. Cue sighs of relief. Oliver slept until we landed.

After landing, Andrew and I had to wait for our gate-checked stroller. We stood off to the side as other passengers disembarked. A man from New Zealand whom we'd met at the Omaha Airport gave Andrew's shoulder a pat as he passed by. "Not a sound," he said. It was a reference to Oliver, as we'd previously confided in him that we were scared Oliver would cry on the plane. Success! Even though we wre freaked out the whole time, apparently the other passengers never realized that Oliver was close to throwing a fit. We did it!