A Vacation Like No Other

This year, John and I decided to repeat a vacation that we had twice done as a childless couple in years past. We both had our doubts about the whole thing...... driving for 18 hours each way with a 16 month old, camping with a 16 month old, trying to attend a multi-day bluegrass festival with a 16 month old, trying to get out for mountain bike rides that we might each enjoy while making sure that a 16 month old is happy, and making sure that we all felt relaxed and refreshed after all was said and done.

In the end, we were more than pleasantly surprised by how it all went down. We were actually blown away by how much more fun this vacation was than almost any other we've been on. Really! Cally was a total rock star in the car, as a camper, at the music festival, and just about everywhere that we went she brought smiles to people's faces.

Here are the highlights:

• Mushroom lasagna at Nana and Grandpa's house-- after four hours in the car, we arrived in Farmington to a delicious dinner that Peg had prepared for us. Plus, Aunt Lynn and cousins Catherine and Chris came up to hang out with us (which is a lot to ask two busy high school kids).

• A "Lie-In" -- Cally's lovely grandparents scooped her out of her pack-n-play at 6am when they heard her talking to her animals and let John and I sleep until 7am and then catch a quick run along the Farmington River.
  
• A reunion- After a pretty painless seven hour drive, most of which was on the Jersey Turnpike, we arrived in Middlebury, VA where my dear friend Hester lives. Her girls, Olivia (5) and Flora (3) immediately took Cally under their wings and let her blow off some steam at the playground right around the corner from their house. And then, after all the kiddos were in bed, Hess prepared a wild turkey and morels that her charming boyfriend had hunted (and harvested) in recent days. The meal was amazing and being around an old college friend was even better.

• Cally getting goofy in the car-- She totally held her own on the 8 hour car ride to Pisgah National Forest-- when not sleeping, she read books, talked to her animals, or tried on the new shades her aunt Lynn gave her for a belated Christmas/Birthday present.
  

• The Tent-- We borrowed a mac-daddy six-person tent from the Ganz Clan. Until a few days before departing, we thought we'd just squeeze the family into a backpacking 2-person tent. Now that we've seen the "light" that a family tent has to offer, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to go back to ducking and squeezing ourselves into that kind of cramped space (at least when we don't have to carry the tent on our backs). This set up allowed for us to stand up inside the tent, walk around our blow up mattress, and set up a pack-n-play in which Cally could sleep behind a "wall" separating her from us.
  

• The Aubin/Weyland clan -- on Sunday night we met up with them. They had driven 13 hours with Isaac (14 months old) and were still smiling when they arrived. Bryan and I teach together and we all play on a softball team together. Last summer, the kids spent some time in strollers on the sideline at our games. They seemed to like each other, in the way that six - eight month old infants can "like" each other.
  

• Friends- Seeing Cally foster an almost instant bond with Isaac.
  

It got to the point where Cally would wake up in the morning and immediately walk over to "Baby Isaac's" campsite, not even interested in eating breakfast until she got to see him.

• Mountain Biking-- Being able to go on great mountain bike rides each day because of understanding partners, excellent napping babies, and great childcare swap options was one of the greatest treats of the week. In years past, our days revolved around 5-6 hour rides. This year was a little different, the rides were shorter, but I think we both appreciated and enjoyed them so much more than we ever have.
  

• Warm Temperatures-- Having the air warm enough for Cally NOT to have to wear a onesie, so she could show off her belly button to anyone who would look (including biker chick grandmothers and young boys).
  

• Merlefest-- this is a bluegrass festival in Wilkesboro, NC that takes place every spring to honor Doc Watson's son Merle who died in a tractor accident. It brings about 80,000 people to the area for a four-day festival. The line up this year was incredible. We attended on Thursday and Friday. And after two years of attending at this venue, we had the logistics nailed. We loaded the chariot with chairs, food, clothes, toys, and Cally and rode the mile into the concert from the free parking area.
  

• Washboard Girl- the biggest highlight was seeing Cally take to the stage in the "Little Pickers" tent. Without any prompting from us, she saw a bunch of kids on stage-- playing the kazoo and spoons. She decided to walk up onto the stage and a nice woman gave her a washboard and spoon. Somehow, she knew exactly what to do with it:

She even marched right in with the big kids (as you can see, she's about half the height of every other kid on stage):


When the song was over, the lady who had given her the washboard announced to the entire tent that there was a very little performer in the back, at which time the guy leading the song called her up to the front of the stage. She had no idea what was going on, but took to her first stage experience with a lot more confidence and charisma than either John or I have ever had.

• An Adaptable Sleeping Child- Luckily, Cally fell asleep both night (on Thursday in the Ergo carier and on Friday in her Chariot). This allowed us to hang out and see Sam Bush, Deirks Bently and the McCoury Boys, Taj Mahal, Zac Brown Band, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage and Little Feat (on two separate evenings).
  

• Seeing Family in Baltimore- My sister, Jenn, her husband Rob, and son Will (10 months) live about seven hours north of Merlefest. It was such a treat to arrive at their house and let the cousins hang out. Cally loves "Baby Will" and had a great time tromping around the famous "Tot Lot" in my sister's neighborhood.

• Red Sox/Orioles Game- Uncle Rob was kind enough to get us tickets to see the Sox play in Camden Yard. John and Rob caught a game there last summer and he's been talking about it ever since. Having not been to a professional baseball game in a VERY long time, I wasn't really sure what to expect. It was a total blast! Within minutes of getting to our seats, John touched, but didn't catch a foul ball that came careening towards us. And even though our boys didn't pull off a win, we enjoyed the scene. Plus, the kids were total troopers.

Unfortunately, the ball game didn't have the same soporific effect that camping and Merlefest had had on Cally. She was still awake, barely, at 10pm when we were leaving the venue:

• More Goofiness in the Car- Sunday involved the longest day of all in the car-- nine hours of driving. Cally spent most of the time like this:

But then, at 6:30pm, after seven and a half hours in the car, we stopped on Rt 22A to see a big cow moose on the side of the road. When we tried to put Cally back into her car seat, she rebelled for the first time. She actually cried and battled me when I strapped her in. So, a few minutes later, we stopped for dinner, which was akin to trying to feed a wild horse (Cally wanted nothing to do with sitting still in a restaurant). With nothing more to do, but continue driving, we plugged along. Amazingly, Cally never slept until we got home at 8:30pm, but she did settle into reading her books, ripping apart a magazine, and chatting to her animals.

If that is as bad as it gets, we really have nothing to complain about. We had an amazing vacation. The perfect combination of music, activity, friendship, family, and fun. I'll happily hop into a car and take to the road with this team again. Cally, John and I got the road trip figured out. I can't wait to try it again this summer.

Babysitting Coop

John and I both know how important it is to get out on dates. We also know how expensive it is to both go on the date and pay a babysitter. And we know how much harder it is to actually jet off and play/adventure like we used to. So recently, we've been doing some swapping of child care with friends both formally and informally.

Earlier in the winter, our friends Mary and Austin offered to watch Cally for a weekend so that John and I could go away and ski. We've always loved going to Mt. Washington for some spring skiing, so we decided on a date in mid-April for them to watch Cally. This weekend we reciprocated--we had the pleasure to host their kids, a.k.a the Ganz clan (short for Ganzenmuller). Claire (8), Timmy & Auggie (both 5) came by for a sleepover last night. The Ganz kids are amazing. I can only hope that Cally will be half as loving, sensitive, friendly, independent, and cute when she is older. The best thing about these kids is how much they adore Cally.

These kids made babysitting so easy. In fact, they made us feel like totally lame caretakers because they were so happy to just sit in front of the tv and watch some "Chipmunks" movie and upon finishing they got themselves ready for bed and were out like lights. They even got Cally to snuggle up with them for a few minutes to watch some of it:


The boys woke us up at 6:45am because they wanted to play with Cally and couldn't get her out of the crib on their own. Twenty minutes later, all three kids carried Cally into our room wearing a green tutu, mardi gras beads, and red boots.

I keep fast forwarding to a time when these adorable kids will be studly high schoolers, and Cally will be a gawky middle school kid........ The boys will probably be incredibly handsome and Claire will be a fashionista, cool girl and I imagine Cally will have a major crush on the boys and think Claire is "all that". However, she'll be lucky if they even notice her, let alone get up early and ask if they can hang out with her. In the mean time, I'll cherish the relationship that they all have with each other now-- so loving, gentle, and innocent.


Next weekend, we're packing Cally's overnight bag so she can have a sleepover at the Ganzenmuller's. We're hoping there is enough snow to still ski Mt. Washington so that we can get out for our much anticipated adventure. Even if it's not, I'm sure we'll be able to take advantage of the time to hike or bike. In any case, we'll know Cally is having a ball with her buddies.

P.S. I couldn't resist adding this photo of Cally's two best friends, who happen to be pretty tight themselves:

Spring Chicken

A few weeks ago, my friend Medora stopped by with her daughter Addy and a few of her newest chicks (she's become something of a "Chicken Lady" and now has several dozen egg layers). There is nothing like a baby chick to ring in the spring season.

Cally thought they were pretty cool.


And it got me thinking about how we'd "celebrate" Easter this year. The thing is, I usually don't even know when Easter is. We don't get any extra time off from school and the day changes every year. I don't think I've actually celebrated the holiday since I was living at home with my parents (20 years ago!). When I heard the rest of my family was getting together for the holiday, it dawned on me that maybe this Easter celebration thing might be fun to embrace. I've never been a huge fan of the Christian Easter story-- the whole "rebirth" of a human is too far fetched for me. I do however, like the idea of celebrating spring and it's rebirth that is represented by baby animals, spring flowers, and longer periods of daylight.


Our lovely friends, Tim, Sophia, and Beckett visited during the early part of the weekend. Tim and John are old friends and it's been fun to get our kids together over the past year.


Since we had another child in the house, I decided to do what I loved doing on Easter-- dye eggs and hunt for them (though I have no idea what this has to do with the Christian Easter story). In any case, I bought a PAAS egg decorating kit for $1.99, boiled a bunch of eggs and set the kids up for some egg dyeing fun. Beckett is a year older than Cally, so he sort of "got it" a little more than she did. Even so, they both had a ball. Cally took to the dyeing thing like she'd been doing it for years. Beckett was a little more delicate than she was:


Tim and I hid both the dyed eggs and some plastic ones in the upper field. Cally wasn't sure what to think as we prepped the kids for the hunt:


But she figured it out pretty quickly:


She lost interest after about four eggs were found, but basket in hand, she was one proud little girl!


Since Saturday was such an amazing day (record breaking temps in the 80's), we decided to head to the slopes. However, as is commonly the case when the Abbott's try to get out of the house in too much of a hurry, an important bag with our ski clothing in it was left on the porch. However, it was almost 80 degrees on the mountain and I wasn't going to miss this "once in a decade" kind of ski day, so I made the executive decision to hit the mountain anyway-- jean skirt and all:


Even Cally got her skis on for a little bit:


I wondered if we needed to do the whole Easter Bunny visit thing for Cally on Sunday, but John quickly reminded me that Cally wouldn't have a clue about the whole thing, doesn't eat candy, and doesn't need any more "stuff". So, we opted to go with our annual tradition....... for the past five years, John and I have met up with friends at Stowe where we dress up in 80's ski wear and tailgated in the parking lot. While not necessarily the most child-centered Easter celebration, we decided to introduce Cally to the fun at an early age. How could we pass up a gorgeous spring skiing day?

We didn't rush out the door in the morning and managed to get Cally into a pretty cute Bunny dress handed down from cousin Kesley:

Once we got up to Stowe, we set up a base camp for tailgating in the parking lot:


It doesn't look like there's much snow, but there was plenty on the mountain. In years past, people got pretty decked out with the 80's attire. This year the efforts were not match by those of the past for most of us:


Until Jen Baer showed up. She definitely get's an "A" for effort in the costume department:

While the parent's had a great time skiing, Cally had a great time hanging out with the boys at the "base camp".


And I'm hoping it won't be long before she's skiing like her three year old buddy, Chase!


While we made a sort of half-hearted effort to celebrate Easter with Cally, I'm hoping we can have many more weekends to celebrate the rebirth of spring like this again.

15 Months

It's official! Cally is a walking and talking toddler. I guess they say 15 months is one of those "milestones". Whatever is the case, Cally is more and more fun everyday.


I know, I know, we are probably pushing it, but she is the one who regularly points at her skis and gets all excited to "try them on". So when we were at Mad River for a lovely day of spring skiing on Saturday, she gladly paraded around the base area with her sun hat and a big smile:

Impromptu Daddy Daycare

One of the downfalls of having Cally in a small inhome daycare situations is that when Meike or either of her kids is sick, we have to keep Cally home. So far, this has only happened twice this year. Today being one of those days. I, unfortunately, needed to be be at school today (I hadn't seen one of my classes since last week and didn't have time to deal with sub plans for the other group before realizing Meike couldn't take Cally). So the "burden" of spending the day with Cally was placed upon John. Having just gotten back from a week in Idaho, this wasn't ideal, but we worked it out so that I could take tomorrow off (which is usually John's day with Cal). That way he could get caught up on work.

So Meike called at about 7:30am to cancel and I had to head out the door 15 minutes later. Just as I headed out the door, John exclaimed, "I have a dental cleaning at 9:15am, what am I going to do with Cally?".

"Bring, her," I said as I walked out the door, "she should be fine". What I was really thinking to myself was how the heck is he going to keep a 15 month old occupied while his teeth get hacked at?

Well, apparently, she did just fine:


Cally sat on John's lap on the dentist's chair for 45 minutes, eating an apple and making some calls on her toy phone.

Next stop, was ECHO, the local Lake Champlain Basin Museum. I thought I had read that there was some sort of parent meetup thing going on there, so I mentioned to John that he could swing by there. Apparently I was wrong, but that didn't matter. Cally had a ball. She got to touch her first starfish, see a milk snake, go down a slide for the first time, and took a long "hiking tour" on the balcony of the museum.

Apparently, she fell asleep between ECHO and John's office (which is about a mile away) and this is how she remained for the next 1/2 hour (notice the green Mardi Gras beads, she's obsessed with them and prides herself on being able to put them on and take them off):


I guess the museum wore her out.

Alas, I was released from my duties as a teacher a little early b/c of a power outage (and when you have a classroom without windows and the power is out, it's hard to do much of anything). So we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous March afternoon and do a mini-ski tour to Underhill State Park. While we love the chariot, the backpack works great to motor around too.



Don't worry, John really wasn't going all that fast in the following picture. I think the road is about a 3% grade, even so, Cally loved it:


And it turns out, Cally really is a true Vermonter. She loves Mud! She stomps in it, sits in it, puts her fingers in it, and just doesn't seem phased.


While it can be inconvenient to deal with impromptu daycare cancellations, it can also enable working parents to grab a little more unanticipated quality time with an incredibly amazing little person. Every extra moment that we get to spend with her is a good thing (most of the time)!