First Family Vacation

Over the past four days we took our first family vacation/trip! We had not originally planned to take a trip right now (seeing as we'll be going to Africa later on this year as a family) but ended up needing to make the trip to see an eye specialist in Connecticut (for Garrett). So, we used this as an excuse to have a little family get away.

First of all, you must know that we have NEVER taken a REAL vacation as a family before. Kenny and I have used most of our vacations as recouping time from parenting and quite honestly, just from the small trips in the car to visit family and friends, we learned that our precious son just isn't a traveler. In the past he has been a real "routine keeper" and anything out of the ordinary would have rocked his boat. And caused sleepless nights. And tantrums. Lots and lots of tantrums. When Garrett was 20 months old I took him on his first plane ride with my dad and his wife to visit some extended family in Louisiana. Big mistake. It was awful. I was exhausted. And for the past two and one half years, have dreaded the day we'd HAVE to take another plane ride.

But, the eye doctor is in Connecticut and we're here. So, we went. Period.

And let me just say, I was PLEASANTLY surprised! Garrett did an amazing job of traveling! He was content to just go with the flow, miss his naps and even spare us any tantrums. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop because in reality, our traveling was asking a lot of a 3 1/2 year old.

Mommy and Garrett on the Plane

We had two connecting flights on our first day of travel. During the layover Garrett suckered his Daddy into this:

"Pongo Boy"

And, boy did Pongo Boy ever travel with us...he made appearances everywhere we did:

Pongo Boy & Garrett on the Plane (both buckled up, mind you)

Pongo Boy and Garrett in the "Borrowed" Car...Garrett had a hard time understanding why we couldn't just take this car home with us!

After a long day of travel and NO Dr. Pepper to be found, we putzed around Guilford, CT and were pleasantly surprised by it's quaintness. All of the homes were so unique and the town appeared idealistic. Kinda like Wisteria Lane. Or something. Anyway, we got a good night's sleep (SHOCKER!) and went sightseeing the next day:

A Connecticut rock - Garrett collects rocks here at home, so it was no surprise he had to find the perfect one from CT!

The Guilford Train Station - the first REAL one Garrett has seen! He wanted to know when Thomas would be coming down the tracks to ride on!

Boys at the Guilford train tracks...

Garrett at the shoreline...it was SO bright for our little light-sensitive man!

Garrett, Mommy and oh, yes, Pongo Boy at the shoreline...since there was no sand, we sat on HUGE rocks. No sooner than when we had sat down, we noticed hundreds of tiny ladybugs crawling everywhere!

Look! More Ladybugs!

Murphy's law found us...three days before our trip Garrett caught a virus. While the virus didn't effect his mood, we spent many moments like this one, wiping and blowing his nose!

My sweet boys taking a stroll in the town's green area - a beautiful, open green park area in the middle of the town.

The boys reading bedtime stories in the hotel room....it was a long day, complete with a great doctor's visit and report! Garrett will be sporting some new glasses in the next few weeks!

I'll end this post here....tomorrow I'll follow up with day three of our journey....New York City!