Anyway, our latest trip was yet another jaunt up to the northwoods to hang out in the land of lakes, trees, fake log cabin siding, and poor decorating taste.
The Good:
Nora and Milo love the water! They did a fair amount of swimming and, as you can see, they enjoyed practicing their balance on their uncle's wakeboard. I told them that they can't actually go wakeboarding until next year, though.
I also managed to get a couple of decent shots of Uncle Ken wakeboarding:
The Bad:
It's no big surprise that preparing to travel with babies is a lot of work. There is a lot of stuff to pack, and we have to plan the timing just right. All summer long I've been taking care of these details, packing their clothes, sheets, burp cloths, toys, food, spoons, bowls, water, sippy cups, bottles, sleep sacks, hats, sunblock, and the hundred other things they need to leave the house. Then we go up north and Jake has a blast hanging out with his brother, or sailing, or drinking with his dad, and I'm the one who is watching after the babies and thinking about how to get ourselves home in one piece. It's a hassle.
So I told Jake that if he wanted to go up north again, he could bloody well be the one in charge of packing and timing our travel. Packing is one of those things I just automatically took control over, again falling into the same old pattern whereby I assume extra responsibility without really thinking about it, and Jake lets me without really thinking about it. So anyway, Jake did all of the packing for the kids. It took him about 3 days and lots of lists. He did a good job and only forgot two things, which isn't bad except one of the things he forgot was a big deal.
The minor thing was bibs, which was a bit of a pain but not really a problem. The major thing was their monitor. That was a problem because it meant that we couldn't really be out of earshot of their bedroom any time they slept. The kids sleep about 11 hours at night and nap 3 times a day, so that is a long time to be stuck sitting near their bedroom, which is in the basement when we're up north.
One might think I'm being too paranoid or overprotective about wanting to be able to hear the kids any time they sleep, but more than once one of them has vomited in their sleep, waking up screaming and covered in puke. I'd hate the thought of that happening to them and me not hearing it. Nobody deserves to lie covered in his own vomit, or stuck in some weird corner of the crib, or otherwise in a predicament not getting help from mom or dad.
The first night we were there, Jake's family wanted to have a campfire down by the lake. They always have a campfire down by the lake, it's what they do. Basically they build a big fire and then sit around it with their drinks for several hours. I couldn't go down to the campfire because I wouldn't be able to hear the babies, so I was stuck inside by myself. Jake offered to trade off with me for a little while, but frankly he's the person I'd like to spend time with, not his family without him. So I told him to enjoy himself with his family, and they knew about the monitor issue so they knew I couldn't be there.
What sucked was the fact that the next night they decided to have a campfire again, even knowing that I'd have to be excluded, rather than doing something inside the house. After dinner Jake made me a drink, which I sat on the couch enjoying, and the rest of his family slowly disappeared to go down by the fire. Jake said "I'm going to take a couple of pictures of the fire", and that's the last I saw of him that night. His cousin (a twin herself!) and her boyfriend arrived for a visit, but I never saw her because everybody stayed by the fire all night. I sat there with my drink, listening to laughter float up from the lake, and thought, this is pathetic, drinking alone. So I dumped it and went to bed.
The Ugly:
The next morning Milo was sitting on the futon and he fell backwards, hitting his head on the wooden footboard. He started screaming and Jake sounded scared so I put Nora down and rushed in and grabbed Milo, and then Milo threw up all over me. That scared me; isn't one of the signs of having a concussion that you throw up? Poor, poor guy was really crying hard. It was early and nobody else was up. We wondered, should we take him to the emergency room? I paged his doctor to get her opinion. The doctor thought he'd be fine and that type of fall couldn't possibly cause a concussion, but we should look out for forceful vomiting or extreme lethargy throughout the day. Well, in the end he was fine and didn't even develop a bump on his head, but it was definitely upsetting for both us and him, poor guy.
The Good, Again:
We put the kids in their pajamas and drove home in the evening, and they slept the entire way! It felt great to be back.
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