Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Summertime is Finally Here...1st Stop: Cincy

I'm working a little bit backwards here, but I want to get some events and activities up, so here we are. Not in real time, but rather recent time.

It's that time of year again.

We survived the perpetual winter of the polar vortex and being trapped inside because it was too cold to be outside for very long. 20 minutes of layering on clothes for 10 minutes of outside time doesn't seem hardly worth it.  Spring seemed to miss us almost entirely with only a handful of nice days.  May brings the crazy end of the school year schedules and activities and before we know it, BOOM, summer is here!

What that means in my house is a complete change of schedule for 3 months. Reagan no longer lives with us all week, every week with no weekends.  Her schedule becomes one week with us and one week with her mom every Friday to Friday. So she starts the summer off with a week at her mom's.

Andrew becomes domestic traveler and is home only a couple weeks all summer.  The routine for my girls is of course the same, minus Lily's questions.  She's used to Reagan leaving each week, but not Andrew, so that takes a little adjusting.  The first few mornings, she goes into his room looking for him and then coming to ask me where he is. Periodically, she just say out of the blue, "I miss Bubby."  Me too, kid. Me too.

This year, my kids and I have some other vacation plans, so the girls and I didn't go to Nashville for a few days at the beginning of the summer like we typically do.  I just couldn't make it work and am pretty disappointed about it. Maybe a quick trip in August will be in order, if we can make that work!

When it came time for Andrew to head to his dad's this summer, we had to make some changes from our original plan to not miss Lily's recital, but still have Andrew with his dad for Father's Day.

Last Friday, the kids and I loaded up with plenty of snacks, blankies for the girls, movies for Andrew and Lily, and tunes for me.

Andrew likes to sit all the way in the back so he can lay and sleep if he wants as well as watch movies.

 Lily was happy watching movies with headphones!

Violet had a blowout...of course which required a clothing change.

After a missed turn that took us 20 minutes out of the way, 2 potty stops for Lily, and a diaper blowout for Violet, we finally made it to Cincinnati! We stopped to get some gas when I found a station that was only $3.52! {gas has been $3.90 in Pittsburgh} We had to make a Target stop which took longer than necessary and then we finally met up with Andrew's dad for lunch and later to part ways.



After lunch, we took our pictures that we take everytime of Andrew with his dad and one with Andrew and myself.  Eventually, I will make him a book of how he's grown up in these pictures. That's been my plan all along. :)



Soon, Andrew and his dad were off to Nashville while we stayed in the parking lot for me to finish nursing Violet before heading back to Pittsburgh.  After all our stops along the way and nursing time, we left Cincy about 2 hours later than we typically do.  I had hoped for an easy trip home and thankfully all the stars aligned and I got just that.  Both the girls slept a good bit on the way home.
I talked on the phone...bluetooth is my favorite!  Aunt Pam the Great says many of her nieces and nephews call her when they're on the road too.  I always call her on this trip. :)  I like being able to catch up without 8 billion distractions.

Violet did fantastic on her 1st trip to Cincinnati!  She only got fussy about the last half hour or so and even so she wasn't terribly unhappy! Just ready to eat.

We stopped at that same $3.52 gas station on the way home...8 hours later it was $3.85!!!!

When we got home, we ate supper, kissed daddy goodbye for work and the girls and I crashed! What is it about riding in a car that makes you so tired?

Andrew is enjoying his first summer visit to his dad's and this coming weekend, they're off to South Carolina and Florida before coming back home to get ready for summer band, then our vacation, then back to Tennessee and South Carolina then home again for band camp!  Busy kid.  Those who think babies and toddlers are busy, wait until your kids are older and active...no rest for the weary!

Happy start to summer!

2 comments:

  1. I wish I could have joined you on the road trip! I'm glad it went well, despite a few interesting stories to tell. I know you're missing Andrew so much, but I hope he's having fun with his dad.

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  2. Glad summer is here and sorry about all the little things that kept happening. I wish I could have joined you on the road too, would have been fun!
    Glad the girls were easy on you on the way home!

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