Family Vacation?

This past weekend was spent in Wichita, Kansas for hubby's niece's wedding. Since we did not venture up for Christmas, we knew that hubby's relatives would spoil little one (lavish her with gifts), and because she has so much paraphenalia of her own, we decided to drive. The drive SHOULD be about 8 1/2 hours...but with little one....we knew we would have to stop and let her stretch her legs so we counted on a long day's drive. In preparation for the drive, hubby purchased a small DVD player and checked out 5 kid DVD's from the library.

We left on Thursday at about 11am and made it to Grandma's and Grandpa's house at 9:30 pm. Long day...but have to say, the DVD player was AWESOME! (On a weekly basis, little one watches approximately 1-2 hours of video. It is the same video each time. A video called Baby Songs - Animals. We watch/sing some of the songs before she goes to bed as a way to wind down, after our bath and before our last book.) Thus, she was just mesmerized by all the new characters that she was introduced to - Pooh and all his friends, Big Bird and all the Sesame Street people, and The Wiggles.

Friday, we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa. Saturday was a completely full day. We started the day with a visit to hubby's sister's house. They have a 9 year old girl that just loves little one. They played and giggled and played. There was one boo boo time out (little one fell off the bed and landed on her head). From there, we went to the afternoon wedding. The wedding was beautiful. Little one did not really care. She had brought one of her cousin's dolls with her and was occupied with taking her clothes off. (Do you know that they make dolls anatomically correct these days?) From the wedding, we went back to hubby's sister's house for more play for the girls and a 6 handed Pitch game for the rest of us. After more playtime, we headed off to the reception for more fun. The girls had a great time. They danced. They played under the tables. I tried to get little one to eat something healthy, while hubby's big brother kept dropping M&M's onto little one's plate. We called it a day at 9pm. A hugely long day for little one.

Sunday, we hung out at hubby's other brother's house. More playing with cousins. Hubby and I had our turn with Wii. We decided we are not good and video games AND we don't have the time to get good at them. Monday, we went to visit an old classmate of hubby, who happens to be an eye doctor. He gave little one her first eye exam. He was awesome with her. She sat in the chair and looked at the things he told her to look at. What a big girl she is getting to be!

Yesterday was the DVD filled drive back. (Note to self, bring more than 5 DVD's for two 10 hour drives.)

There were so many firsts on this trip. Little one got to play in snow (we saw snow last year but this year, she got to throw a snow ball). Little one slept in a big girl bed (we decided not to bring the Pack-and-Play as she can now crawl out of it with ease. She was so exhausted by the end of each day that she just fell in bed and did not move until morning.). She attended her first wedding reception and dance. With all the comings and goings, missed naps and bedtimes, she still had a smile and laugh for everyone.

Grandpa and little one playing bubbles.
Little one and cousin...they played and played and played.