Well, we made it back! We had a wonderful time in each of the places we stayed. Caleb was a great traveler- quite the trooper considering we traveled over 1300 miles in the last five days. Not sure if it was the extended (boring??) time in his car seat on the trip or the foot rattles that he's been using during playtime, but Caleb has found his feet. You will notice it in several pictures, including the one above.
The first part of the week was spent preparing to head out of town. We had never taken Caleb further than Broken Arrow (ha!) so it took awhile to wrap our brains around how to pack, what to take, etc. I consulted with my cousin Tiffany, whose Julia is a month older than Caleb, then we made a list and went for it. You really do feel like you are packing for a month! Here's a picture of us backing out of the driveway. Check out how full the car is.
Wednesday night we stayed in Amarillo with Aaron's best friend from high school and his wife. This was the longest leg of the trip (about 6 hours from start to finish) but we only had to stop once. Our babysitter did us a big favor and kept Caleb awake all morning so he slept about 1/2 the trip. We ate dinner, went through the nightly put-to-bed routine, then got to catch up with Crystal and Myron for an hour or so before hitting the hay.
We got up and around Thursday morning but it still took us three hours to get ourselves and Caleb ready and re-load the car. This day we were headed to Brownfield, TX outside of Lubbock to visit Aaron's great aunts. We had a wonderful time with them and Caleb put on quite a show- talking and grinning like crazy. We stayed at Aunt Grace's house and Loretta (Auntie) and Ruth joined us for dinner and dessert. These ladies are in their 80s and 90s but still live independently and have lots of spunk and great stories to share. Little known fact about Brownfield - it is the town where the card game Skip-Bo was invented. The woman who created it was a friend of Aaron's aunts, so they played the game before it was really a game and still play it almost every afternoon.
Friday we traveled to Farwell, TX which is just across the border from Clovis, NM. Aaron's sister Lori and her family live there. In the two hours it took to get to their house, the temperature dropped about 25 degrees. So began the lovely weather that day :) Lori and Gary had built a new house since we had been there last so it was fun to see it. Caleb also enjoyed meeting his cousin Stacey, though, at six years old, she wasn't sure what to think of him. Again, he was very social until he just couldn't keep his eyes open anymore and passed out on Dad's shoulder.
Later that afternoon we headed to Boise City, Aaron's home town. Regularly a three hour drive, we were somewhat delayed by bad weather and a fussy son. Shortly after leaving Lori's, it began to snow. Aaron took a great picture from the driver's point of view.
The ironic thing is that we scheduled Saturday's baby shower in mid-April to avoid the weather that plagues the panhandle this time of year- oh well! We arrived in time for dinner, put Caleb to bed, and followed shortly after ourselves as the trip was beginning to fatigue us a bit.
Saturday was the baby shower, hosted by several of Aaron's mom's friends and held at the Methodist church. It was a good time and Caleb received lots of nice gifts including diapers, lots of fun summer clothes, and good books. I was a little concerned because Caleb hadn't taken a nap before the shower like I had hoped and I just knew he would be fussy during the event. However, he came in just smiling up a storm then fell asleep as Aaron and I started opening gifts. Aaron said Caleb was a "gamer": he might not always practice well but shows up great under pressure- ha!! Here's a picture of Caleb with the hostesses.
We left Boise City Saturday evening so we could make it halfway home, which is Woodward. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. It had great cinnamon rolls and new linens with a duvet cover instead of a grody bedspread but somehow the bathroom was built incorrectly. The toilet paper holder was way out of reach once you were actually using the facilities. And, of course, I kept forgetting this so Aaron had to rescue me several times (isn't marriage wonderful!!). We had a king-sized bed and Caleb loved playing on it while Aaron made several trips to unload the car. It was a picture perfect photo op and made me wish I could take better pictures. He is getting so big, I barely propped him up against the pillows and he stayed there chatting and playing with his toes.
We made it home this afternoon about 3:00. I started some laundry then drug Aaron, Caleb, and the dogs on a walk because I felt very sedentary from spending so much time in the car. Even though he slept a lot on the way home, Caleb was conked out for most of the walk too. Here's a video of Aaron attempting to wake him up. (Equally amusing are the songs Aaron makes up as part of the effort).
I know every mom thinks her children are outstanding but mine really is. He hasn't really rolled over anymore (he gets on his side then catches a glimpse of his feet and gets distracted) but he is getting stronger and stronger during his tummy time. Until this week, he didn't use his arms at all but he's figuring out that he can push up on them and get a lot further off the ground. It makes tummy time a lot more bearable when he's not face-planted into the floor. What a novel idea!
