To get us through the first 7 months of baby-land chaos, Josh and I planned a 2 week vacation to Boston to visit the Grandparents. We counted down the days and before we knew it the time had come! There was obviously quite a bit of thought and planning done to prepare for traveling with an infant and a toddler on a cross-country affair, but all-in-all, as Tony the Tiger would say, it was "Grrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeaaat"!
To make the beginning phase (phase 1) of our excursion a bit easier, and to solve the parking debacle, we got a hotel for the night before our flight that would let us park for free for the two weeks we would be away (sweet!). We decided this was way better than getting up at 3am to catch a shuttle in Bremerton for the 2 hour drive to the Seattle-Tacoma airport. The hotel also had a free shuttle that would drop us off and pick us up from the airport which was just 20 minutes away. We got to our hotel around 6pm, got settled, and went to the local Red Robin for celebratory, "we're on vacation" dinner with the girls. Then we settled in for the night. Initially we borrowed the hotel's porta-crib for Caitlyn thinking Ashley would sleep in one of the two queen sized beds for the night. That was not the case however, since she was so hyped up with all that was happening, she had trouble settling down. Finally, by mid-night we decided to put her in the porta-crib and I put Cait on the bed with me. (We had a 5am wake-up call and it was time to get serious.) In the confined space of the crib Ashley was able to cozy in and settle down. We plugged in her night light and played her lullabye music on the ipod. That did the trick. (Not a bad thing to try if you are traveling with a toddler)
The next morning we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5am to catch our 8am flight. Security was a breeze, even with the kiddos (blessing!) and we had time to chill out in the chairs, have breakfast, and see the sun come up.
Ashley was beside herself with excitement when it was finally time to get on the plane. We got her a little backpack at the dollar store and filled it up with little dollar store goodies to keep her occupied on the 7 hour trip (2 flights, 1 hour layover in Chicago.)
The girls did great. Ashley took in all the new sights, sounds and of course people. Caitlyn was content to watch Ashley do her thing. We played, watched movies, ate and slept and then we were in Boston!!
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