brave or crazy: part 2

Now for part 2 of our whirlwind trip! (Click here if you missed part 1.) We arrived at my grandparents' house around dinner time on Saturday, and the rest of my family arrived around 10:30pm. I can't believe they managed a 15 hour car ride with 6 adults and a 7 week old baby! We thought our 6 hour drive was a huge accomplishment! Oliver and Mae got to meet their great grandparents for the first time.

Sunday, we introduced Mae to the swimming pool and to Lake George. She still seemed pretty unsure about the chilly water!

Sunday evening began the festivities to celebrate both my grandparents turning 90 this year. They both love Jeopardy, so my dad and his siblings prepared and hosted a game made of clues specifically for them. Gramma and Grampa both answered the final Jeopardy clue ("This is what Dorothy thought after she met Al for the first time") with the correct answer: "That's the man I am going to marry!"

The party continued Monday with barbecue, cake, and lots of games including bingo, bocce, and line dancing.

Mae played on a blanket outside during the party.

I love this photo of Oliver, Christopher, Dad, and Grampa... Four generations of my family bloodline all together.

I'm so glad we had the birthday party as an excuse to travel. Otherwise, I'm not sure we would have braved the trip, but I would have been so disappointed to miss out on the beach and Lake George this year!

After our drive back to Philadelphia on Tuesday, we swung by Colleen's new apartment and then met our friends Kierston and Alan for dinner. We finally made it home Wednesday evening... though we only managed to sleep there one night before we had to leave again. More on that later!

brave or crazy

We survived our first family vacation with a baby! Last Wednesday, we flew to Philadelphia and spent two days at Dan's parents' beach house in New Jersey. We left there Saturday morning and drove 6 hours to my grandparents' house in upstate New York where we stayed for another two days. Then we drove back to Philly on Tuesday and flew home on Wednesday. A whirlwind vacation for sure!!

Mae did wonderfully on her first flight... sleeping through takeoff and landing and only fussing a little during the beverage service. (Why are soda cans so loud??) GranE picked us up from the airport, and we arrived at the house mid-afternoon. We were soon joined by Batman (Grandad), Aunt Colleen, and Uncle Tim. Mae donned her "I make a big splash" outfit that Dan bought for her and we set off to introduce her to the ocean.

Thanks to Kelsey, Mae was properly outfitted for a beachy vacation with a little sun hat and an adorable watermelon swim suit. I just melted every time we put her in it! Painfully cute. We tried dipping her toes in the water a few times during our trip and she had the same reaction each time... disinterested grumpiness. Considering it could have been extreme screaminess, I am calling this a win!

Mae loved meeting her Uncle Tim for the first time! They caught up on the news together.

She has a lot of growing to do to catch up to him!

Saturday morning, we packed up all our stuff (how do babies need so much equipment??) and drove to upstate New York to visit my grandparents. More on that in my next post!

tiny clothes

Mae has already outgrown her newborn clothes and will soon be too big for her 0-3 month ones! I'll definitely be sad when I have to pack away her cute little outfits, so I took photos to remember the things she's worn so far.

She came home from the hospital wearing this little denim dress, tiny pink socks, and her handknit hat. She also got lots of use from the newborn yellow dress and leggings, including her first trip to church at 3 weeks.

Her first few weeks were spent mostly in these little footed sleep n' plays and the turtle gown. She was so curled up all the time that her feet wouldn't stay down in the legs of the sleepers. Sometimes I just zipped them right up with her curled up in a ball and didn't worry about the feet!

These outfits were great for outings and lunches. She wore the blue dress on the right to meet cousin Oliver!

This white and gold party dress was perfect for celebrating my birthday this year. I dressed her in the denim dress and yellow stripe leggings from Aunt Emily for our trip to the mall a few weeks ago, but she got so worked up before we left that I undressed her. Then she fell asleep and spent 3 hours in the stroller at the mall wearing just a diaper and a blanket! At least she wore that outfit again for her two month photos.

She spends most of these hot summer days in a short sleeved onesie. Comparing the little newborn ones on the left to her current 3 month size on the right show just how much she's grown!

She feels very sophisticated when she wears her Venezia onesie from Aunt Kelsey.

But what did Mae wear more than anything else the last 2.5 months? This:

About 350 of them!