Family Roadtrip, Sure! Wait, Are We Driving?

I had the brilliant idea that Matthew, Layla and I should take our first family vacation to upstate New York to meet up with the rest of my family at my Great Grandma's house. This was of course easier said than done and I should have realized that when I started looking for flights. First of all, we wanted to go around the Fourth of July and all of those flights proved to be very expensive with incredibly inconvenient layovers. The goal was to make the journey from one end of the country to the other as easy on our little pumpkin as possible, however, that was apparently not in the cards for us...

We ended up booking a flight to Chicago and then decided to drive from Chicago to New York with my sister. We were excited at the prospect of a roadtrip included in our vacation and since Layla is such an experienced traveler going back and forth from Seattle to Chicago all the time, we hoped it would not be too bad. The flight to Chicago was a breeze and Layla charmed everyone as she always does. We stayed at Matt's parent's house for two days before driving up to NY. We drove at night thinking she would sleep and it would be no big deal...again, we were very, very wrong! Layla would not go to sleep and when she did, she only slept for short periods. In between, she spent quite a bit of time crying. Matthew was exhausted and not used to the nighttime drive that I have been doing my whole life. All in all, the drive up was not what I would call "pleasant."

Once we arrived at the beautiful Great Sacandaga Lake, we had a blast! Layla went swimming for the first time and we enjoyed beautiful weather and time with family. Matthew and I even got to go out to dinner together for the first time since Layla was born. I was so thrilled to spend time with everyone and see family I haven't seen in a decade! We were also able to get five generations of women in my family together (my great grandmother, my grandmother, my mom, myself and Layla). I'm so happy we had the opportunity!

Of course once we were there, we knew we had to get back. After a week of fun in the sun it was time to hit the road again back to Chicago. This time, we decided it might be better for everyone if we did it in two days and stay overnight in Cleveland (about the halfway point). I will say that though Layla was not thrilled with being strapped in her car seat for hours at a time, she tolerated it a little better and we were all more rested. The stop in Cleveland was welcome and irritating at the same time. We booked a hotel suite with two rooms and a living area, so that Tara could have her own room and Matt, Layla and I could share. It was nice to get there and get settled in the room which involved getting toys out for Layla, eating dinner and setting up her pack n' play to sleep in. We took care of all of that before it got too late and were just about to give Layla a bath when Matt noticed a HUGE wasp on the ceiling. We all ducked for cover while he called the front desk. They sent someone up right away...WITH A CAN OF TOXIC WASP KILLING SPRAY! Yeah, spray that in the same room that my baby is playing on the floor, I'm sure that'll be good for her tiny lungs! IDIOTS! After some arguing and another call to the front desk, Matt and the guy they sent up were able to kill it with a shoe. Yay, crisis averted, right? Not! We took a walk around the room and found dead wasps near all of the windows...this clearly was not going to work for me. I called the front desk again and told them we needed a new room. Luckily they had no trouble with that and even gave us a discount. The unfortunate part was now it was about an hour after Layla's bed time and we had to repack EVERYTHING, move it and then unpack it all again. By this point, I was sooooo over Cleveland...

The next day we got back on the road, much to Layla's dismay, but got back to Chicago in one piece with most of our sanity. The following day we were to get on a plane back to Seattle. By this time, I just wanted to be home. Of course our flight was delayed two and a half hours (because apparently I angered the travel gods at some point and was now going to pay dearly), so by the time we were in the air Layla was running a fever and not well at all. Mid-flight she got sick. All. over. me. I, being the prepared Mommy I am, packed extra clothes for both of us in my carry-on. I got us all changed and she went to sleep. When she woke up about a half hour later I figured she would be feeling better. No such luck. She projectile vomited all over herself and me, again. Then she passed out. I was so done, I just lost it. I was sobbing, covered in puke, holding my sleeping baby while the drunk chick in our row insisted on touching her. I remained that way for the last two hours of the flight. Awesome experience.

We made it home and I survived, thanks to my wonderful husband. Though the vacation itself was lovely, I have vowed never to travel, ever again. Obviously, that is a lot of big talk because we are already talking about our family vacation next year, but for now I take comfort in the fact that I don't have to roam any further than the back yard for at least the next six months if I so choose :)