The trip to Ohio was a complete success... Elliot's changing and feedings made the stops a bit longer, but we still made fantastic time in the car considering, and he again slept almost the entire way. And, throughout the weekend, he slept well, ate well, was a real trooper. When will our good fortune with traveling run out?! My mother has warned me that we are in trouble, because now that it is known that he is an easy traveler (for the time being), we will be expected to travel in more! Ut-oh. Really, though, as he gets older and needs more interesting stimulation, I think we'll face some meltdowns.
We stayed with Pat's brother this time, who has 3 children: Kyle (6), Timmy (almost 4), and Kate (1). The boys loved him, while Kate didn't know what to think. It was great, as they provided us with the larger accouterments that we needed, like a bassinet, a swing, etc.
When we go to northeast Ohio, we usually have quite a few places to visit, since that is where Pat is from, and because that is near where we went to college, so a lot of our college friends are there. We chose to park ourselves at a park for Saturday afternoon and request/invite everyone to join us there for a visit instead of attempting a death-march of visiting rounds. It was such an awesome time. I wish I could post all of my photos of everyone holding him. I was very touched by the efforts for our friends and family to come meet him-- a few had drives that were a couple hours and we only gave a day or two notice. Everyone else who had older kids let them wear themselves out on the playgrounds while the adults got to catch up. It couldn't have gone better, and the weather was lovely if a little brisk. (They've had days and days of rain, so we stole the perfect break in the wetness.)
Great-grandma Papczun was surprised by our visit. She was over the moon with him and kissed him so many times. She thought for sure we wouldn't be in until he was 6 months or so. It was so touching to see her snuggle with him as long as her arms would let her. I love the photo of the 4 generations.
I am now kicking myself for not snapping more photos of our first trip into my parents and everyone there gathered. I missed opportunities then and this weekend to get all the little cousins together for a group shot. Both visits to Ohio had all the first cousins together-- 9 on the Ulrich side and 7 on the Papczun side. I should have been more militant about capturing the moment. Oh well. Sometimes those things just have to remain captured in your memories.
Elliot is in wonderful form today while Pat and I are dragging after rolling in Chicago around 11pm. Pat drove the whole way, so he's pretty worn out with having to head to work, whereas I can linger here in my pjs and putz around.
(I had planned on simply posting small blurbs, since photos are more fun than all my yappin'. But there you have it.)
Plans this week-- laying low for a day or two, possible shopping trip for the day-apart kids, and taking him in to meet the teachers at school! As much as I always love brisk, fall weather, I'm a little concerned that my temperature gauge says it's only 67 inside... Elliot's spending the day in a hat and double layers until our radiators kick on, if they do!
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