Vacation

We returned last night from a twelve day vacation. To keep it simple and actually relaxing for Mr. Doodlebug and me we went to Vermont and stayed with my mother and then to Spring Lake, NJ and stayed with my in-laws.

We headed to Vermont last Friday after Mr. D got out of work at 4:30 p.m. We had planned to do most of our driving at night so baby Doodle would sleep and not require our attention. It didn't work. We drove until about 6:00 p.m. then stopped to eat at a humble Italian restuarant in New Jersey. I thought BD would fall fast asleep after dinner, but he didn't. He refused. He sat in his forward-facing car seat and talked/babbled for three and a half hours finally falling asleep at 10:30 p.m. (normal bed time is between 7 and 7:30). I think there were two reasons for this: BD is so used to our night time routine that it's difficult for him to fall asleep at night without it, and he was fascinated by the green, reflective highway signs, the red tail lights moving steadily away from us and the white headlights heading toward us. We arrived at my mother's house just an hour after BD had fallen asleep. Luckily, I was able to move him to his Pack n' Play without disturbing his sleep.

I forget how much I love Vermont in the summer. It's the most beautiful, pleasant place to be. We took BD to the Chittenden Dam, where we took him last summer, and he walked right into the water. He loved it, which we were surprised about because he hasn't taken too well to his baby pool or the ocean or even a bathtub that is not his. He marched right into the water up to his waist and squealed with delight. It was fantastic.

I spent my first night away from baby Doodle. Mr. D and I went to Woodstock, VT and stayed at a lovely motel, seems like an oxymoron but it was really a great place, but you get to your room from the outside making it a motel, not a hotel. We went to Quechee (pronounced Kwee-chee) and saw the incredible gorge there. We hiked down and enjoyed the river up close. The weather was in the 70s and sunny. Not an ounce of humidity in the air -- my kind of weather. I am currently sitting in our house with two air conditioners running because outside our door is a wet, swampy air in which you can barely breathe. I miss Vermont already.

Baby Doodle was great for my mother. He didn't cry, he napped easily and went to bed for her without incident. He woke up in the morning and looked for us, but my mom distracted him with a ball or something and he forgot all about his parents. We met them for breakfast at Sugar and Spice, a great breakfast/lunch restaurant where your pancakes come with real VT maple syrup, if you want the fake stuff you're charged extra. Baby Doodle was thrilled to see us and we were equally excited to see our little guy. We had bought him two presents during our 24 hours away from him (a t-shirt from the Quechee Gorge gift shop and a wooden magnet toy from the oldest independent bookstore in Vermont).

We left Vermont around 6:00 p.m. the next day for New Jersey. Baby Doodle pulled the same I'm-not-sleeping-in-the-carseat stunt he had pulled a week earlier falling asleep a little before 10:00 p.m. He made up for it the next day with two long naps. Baby Doodle is quite taken with his Grandad. My father-in-law has something to which baby Doodle is attracted. He actually cried a few times when he left the room and he doesn't even notice that Mr. D or I am in the room when Grandad is around. It's great to see.

During our visit baby Doodle overcame his fear of the baby pool, plunging right in with the other kids, and his fear of the ocean. He actually walked into the cold water and let the waves splash him above his belly button. He loved it. He was at the beach four of the five days we were there. My in-law's house is about a mile from the ocean so there wasn't a need to spend all day there. We were able to get wet and cool off and then go home instead of baking in the sun.

Mr. Doodlebug and I went out to dinner one night while my in-laws watched baby Doodle who I had already put to sleep. I had a delicious black bean soup and plantain encrusted halibut. We split a bottle of wine and had water ice for dessert from the most amazing water ice place I've ever been to -- Strollo's.

We got home, unpacked and watched some crappy television. Mr. D took today off from work to recoup and I'm glad because I slept until 8:00 a.m. I definitely feel well rested and don't need a vacation after my vacation.

I thought I could post links to individual pictures on our Snapfish account, but I can't. Each link comes up as the first picture I linked to, but they are all in the same album so if you're really interested you can scroll through the pictures at the bottom or view as a slide show. I'll have to figure out if you can even do that from a computer that isn't ours.