Que Sera, Sera: Summer Vacation

We are back from our coast to coast adventures! As wonderful as vacation is, it is always nice to be home.

We left for Phoenix late Wednesday June 29th to stay the night at the Maes' before we flew out early for Philadelphia. We have decided that with Logan it is easier when driving long distances to either A. leave early in the morning after his 5:30am feeding so that his long nap is during drive time which means less time entertaining him or B. leave late after his last feeding around 7pm for the same reasoning. He does ok in the car for short periods of awake time and he might sneak in a nap but after 2 trips of leaving mid day and driving till night time with an unhappy baby, we learned our lesson. We left for the airport around 5am Thursday to catch our flight which left at 7:30ish. We checked luggage including the carseat (which doesn't count as a bag, nice!) and then headed through security. Security was easy, we just told them we had baby food and it went through the xray in a separate bin (we didn't bring any milk, but I assume it would be treated the same), I held Logan and we both went through the metal detector together without any *bings* and then we were done, so simple! We brought the umbrella stroller and checked it at the gate, that ended up working well because it was right there when we got off the plane too. We sat 3 of us on one row and one of us across the aisle. I was in the middle of Dom and Candi which worked well because I had to breastfeed Logan as we took off and he is so big he was kicking or headbutting someone the whole time, so luckily we were with people we know! He ate and fell asleep for about an hour as we took off. He ended up waking up and being happy and playing going back and forth between all of us for the next 3 hours of the flight. He did better then anyone could have hoped! No problem with his ears or boredom or hunger, he was perfect! When we got to Philadelphia we stopped for lunch (Dom ate two cheesesteaks at a place he saw on Man vs. Food ;) Then we started our drive to Delaware which is usually 2.5 hours...it ended up taking us 4 hours to get there because of traffic! Everyone in the car was either losing patience, their minds, or their lunch (ok I didn't barf but I felt car sick the whole ride, blah!) everyone that is BUT Logan. By a miracle he was the only happy guy in the car, for 4 hours...that has NEVER happened before EVER! I think it helped that Dom and I were riding in the back with him and playing with the constant rotation of toys we had. So after a loooong day of traveling we made it to Bethany Beach to Nana's beach house.

Logan did great the entire time, he loves being around people and there were plenty of people around the whole time we were there. He perfected his walking with assistance skills and learned how to pull himself up. The kid loves to cruise. We were even able to stick with our "cry it out" naptime and bedtime routines and as the week went on he was falling asleep faster and faster. He loves the ocean and the waves, especially because it was warmer then California! We spent a lot of time on the beach, on the porch, at the boardwalk eating ice cream and fries and going between Nana and Uncle George and Aunt Paula's beach houses. We spent the fourth of July watching the parade, taking part in the pie eating contest, playing bananagrams, eating far too much, enjoying a good thunderstorm and watching fireworks on the beach while drinking beer. We had so much fun and we were lucky to spend the time with family. Logan got to meet his great great grandma and that is so special. One day Dom, Logan and I drove down to Ocean City, Maryland and went to the boardwalk there. We went to Ripley's believe it or not! museum and enjoyed a day to ourselves. The flight back we took at night time and I assumed Logan would sleep all the way through the plane ride. Not so. I fed him and he fell asleep before take off (we were on the tarmac waiting for an hour!) and luckily no problem with his ears going up. He slept maybe 2 hours then woke up and was delirious and wide awake, so we spent the rest of the time trying to put him back to sleep which didn't work so we ended up just playing which worked fine. For our future flights though we will do the early morning ones as that was a lot easier for us. Once we were back to Tucson it took a few days for Logan to adjust to the 3 hour difference with the time change, but he has been great. We took a bazillion pictures and it's hard to choose just a few so I don't overwhelm the blog. Enjoy :)

Dom, Amanda and Logan enjoying the waves. This was the popular move for the tall people, lift the baby over the waves! Us shorties just got smothered haha.