On the way over it was a full flight and so he was an "infant in arms" the whole way. It was about a 4.5 hour flight and he got a little bored and cranky. We had to change him twice on our laps because there are no places to change a baby in the bathrooms on domestic flights--there's barely enough room for an adult to turn around! He did fall asleep a few times for brief periods, and towards the end he did fall asleep on my shoulder...
He had been fussy enough that I thought the people around us would be upset, but once the plane stopped and everyone got to stand up, we had a little flock around us praising how good he'd been. I guess everyone is so plugged into their earbuds that a fussy baby gets a little muted!
We flew into SFO and my dad picked us up. After lunch in San Francisco where Steve got to meet his Aunt Kristin and Aunt Katie (and got some really cute outfits, too!) we headed up to the cabin where Steve got to meet his great grandma Gladys (Nana). We took some four-generation pictures; Mike snapped about 30 in a row trying to get at least one or two where all four of us looked good. I think we had a few!
It was very chilly at the cabin. Luckily Aunt Christa had bought Steve a tomato hat. He tried it on but it's still a little big. It will be perfect by the fall, though!
It got particularly chilly at night, especially since the wood burning stove isn't going then. We had Steve in both a sleeper and a fleece sleep sack, plus mittens and his Stanford hat. He mostly wiggled out of the hat, but he got it back on in the morning when we went to wake up Grandpa...
On Tuesday we got to see my Aunt Virgina, cousin Chris, and cousin Laurie and her husband Darryl and little boy David who is almost one. Unfortunately it seems we didn't take any pictures! But it was nice to see them, if briefly, before we headed down to Sacramento for a couple of days. We visited with some friends and took a nice walk along the American River bike trail, and we got a lot of laundry done--how fun!!
On Thursday we headed down to Fresno. Up until this point Steve had been fantastic in the car, sleeping almost the whole way on every trip. Unfortunately he didn't make it to the planned stop at the rest area before he wigged out and so we made an unscheduled stop in a Costco parking lot. We had rented a car, which turned out to be a crossover-SUV type of vehicle, and we had a mini-adventure changing him in the very back and then I fed him in the backseat. Not terrible overall, and the parking lot was large enough we parked far away from everyone else for privacy, and under a tree for a bit of shade. Half an hour later we were on our way to meet my parents at the rest stop and then on a bit further to lunch at In N Out burger, which we try to hit every time we're back in California. Steve slept all through lunch and most of the rest of the way to Fresno. After a meal and a bit of activity, Steve and Daddy took a nap on Nana's bed...
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| Don't worry, Daddy's not really sleeping! |
We went out to dinner with Amy and Uncle Ted and again Steve slept through the entire meal. I was so impressed with his ability to fall asleep on this trip--he's not that good at home!!
Friday we headed down to Los Angeles for the final leg of the trip. It was a longer car ride and Steve didn't quite make it to the hotel before he woke up and started crying. Unfortunately at that point we were stuck in bad LA traffic and there wasn't anything to do but keep on going. So we had a crying baby in the car for 45 minutes or so. Daddy reached into the backseat to provide a finger to grasp or suck on and that helped for a bit. Once we got to the hotel we did manage to get two adjoining rooms with a door that connected them, which was the perfect set up for the following night when Gram and Grandpa babysat while Mike and I went to a swanky black tie wedding...
Steve was very good for Gram and Grandpa. They went for a long walk and later Steve fell asleep on the bed all on his own while watching the Olympic trials. Again, his ability to nap on this trip amazed me--he would NEVER fall asleep at home if there was something around as distracting as the TV!
On Sunday we headed back to Michigan. It was a VERY long day as we were up before 6:00 to get to the airport by 7:00. After waiting in a line for 40 minutes just to drop off our bags we made it to our gate about 10 minutes before boarding. After everyone boarded we sat on the plane for another hour while they tried to find a part to fix a broken relay in the cockpit. When they couldn't find one they had us deplane so they could take the plane to the hangar to fix it. Long story short, 6 hours after our original departure time, after changing terminals and gates, we finally took off for Detroit. Fortunately enough people had rebooked that there were lots of empty seats...
The trip back was much better for all of us, as Steve slept much better in his car seat than he would have in our arms. We did have to do one diaper change, but again the rebooking helped us, as there was an empty row behind us and we could easily lay him down across it. After experiencing one flight with a lap child and one with him in the car seat I have to say that unless we're on a very short flight (maybe GRR to MSP) I would be willing to pay for that extra seat on the plane!!
Since we got into Detroit so late we spent the night in Ann Arbor with cousin Joan before driving back to Ada on Monday. It's good to be home. Steve's not quite back to his old sleeping routine, which had been thrown off pretty significantly by the trip, but hopefully that will come soon. Now to plan our Midwest tour for August!
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