The Burg.

Every summer we make a trip to the tiny town of Trumansburg in New York State where I grew up. This is the fifth year that Michael has gone and the first year for Bennett! It is always wonderful to escape the Texas heat for a week and spend some time at "home". My parent's home where I grew up is in the middle of the woods on five acres with a pond, lovely view towards Cayuga Lake, and plenty of lush green grass and trees. It is such a peaceful setting and I am so relaxed there. Michael enjoys our trips there too, and Bennett certainly enjoyed his first visit!

We flew in on the 4th of July, a Wednesday. We brought our niece Abigail with us and had a long travel day, being dropped off at the airport by my sister around 5:30 am. We flew from Austin to Houston to Newark to Ithaca and got in around 4:00 pm, when my mom picked us up. Overall it was a good travel day and we were very impressed with Bennett as a flyer (but not surprised, since he is such an easy going guy in general). Our biggest issue revolved around poop and spit up. Bennett spit up all over his pajamas that I had left him in for the first leg of travel since it was so early when we left home, so there goes outfit number one. He dozed on the first flight, then slept almost the whole second flight. As we were landing, I realized that runny poop was dripping onto my shirt as I held Bennett in my lap. We dealt with a big poopsplosion and outfit change with the changing pad draped across my lap and Michael's lap and Abby holding a bag up for dirty wipes while turning away with the most disgusted look on her face! Outfit number two was now ruined and stuffed into an airplane barf bag. Next we grabbed some food at the Newark airport while waiting for our last flight. Michael took Bennett to change him and called me on the phone from the bathroom a few minutes later, asking if I had any more outfits as once again he had poop up the back. Since I had packed two clean ones in the diaper bag, at this point we were out of clean ones so we had to put him back in his yucky spit up footie jammies. Our tiny third plane into Ithaca did not seem to be air conditioned or have any air flowing and it was SO hot. We unsnapped Bennett's pajamas almost completely and rolled up his sleeves but he was still way overdressed (as was I, since the only back up clothing item I had for myself in the diaper bag was a sweater, so I was wearing a nursing tank and sweater with jeans. not so comfy! Thankfully that was a quick flight). I learned that while traveling by air with checked baggage, you can never pack too many extra outfits for yourself and baby in the diaper bag!

at the Austin airport bright and early, ready to fly!

 On that third tiny flight, we hit some turbulence coming down and Bennett LAUGHED for the first time! It was easily the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Overall, a great travel day minus the poop situation. For some reason the whole time we were in NY, any time Bennett pooped it was explosive and went right up the back (and smelled like vinegar. What the heck is that about? Maybe due to his lingering cold/congestion?). We never have this "up the back" problem with cloth diapers because of their awesome elastic at the front and back, but we were traveling with disposables. Fortunately we had laundry access at my parent's house and were able to get everything washed right away.

The first night we ate dinner at home on the back deck and enjoyed some time outside, but it was hot. The temps were in the 90's and with no A/C, sleeping was a bit rough. Fortunately that was the worst of the heat while we were there though there were a few other hot days. On Thursday, Michael and I took Bennett to visit my Grandma Joan. She is at a rehab facility working on recovering some of her strength after being sick. She has a private, air conditioned room and we enjoyed chatting with her for a while before she had to go to PT. Bennett took to her right away and gave his Great Gram some big smiles!

Bennett also met his Grandpa Ben for the first time this trip. Unfortunately we neglected to get some good pictures of them so this is the best we did. Grandpa Ben is not terribly into babies, so he only held Bennett a handful of times but did seem to enjoy watching him play and having him around in general. I am sure he will be much more into grandfatherhood once Bennett can hold and throw a ball and wear a baseball glove.

I feel like Bennett changed so much this particular week. He was really alert and interactive the whole trip and seemed to love taking in the new surroundings. He really is just the sweetest little guy and is so easy going and good natured, even while traveling. He slept pretty well in the pack and play my mom got for the babes, but was still up once or twice a night to nurse has he has been lately. Figuring out what jammies to put him in was tough, since the nights started out quite warm and ended up fairly chilly by the time the air cooled down (again, no A/C, just open windows and fans, which I personally love.)

My Dad has a new scooter/motorcycle type thing that he likes to bop around on, so both Abby and I were treated to a ride while there. Her face says it all...that's the same way I felt when starting out too. The first mile was a little terrifying but then the ride became very enjoyable, at least for me. When we asked Abby what she thought of her ride, she said, "I was scared!"

Of course we had to visit my family's restaurant, the Glenwood Pines (twice!). Bennett's not quite old enough for the vintage bowling game and Sunset Riders arcade game but I can't wait to introduce him to the games in summers to come. I blew through plenty of quarters (straight from the cash register!) on those back in the day.

We discovered that Bennett loves a good, long hammock nap just like his mama. This became our go-to nap spot when we were at the house. We'd rock him a bit and then rest an umbrella over him if it was sunny, and it was perfect! There were also many car naps while cruising around town.

Sadly, my parents had to put our old dog, Cassie the Sheltie, to sleep a week or two before our trip to NY. She was 14 and had been having health issues for a while so we knew this was coming, but we were bummed to have missed seeing her one last time. My parents surprised us all by getting a new puppy fairly quickly, which they definitely needed to do. Since then they have been able to talk about Cassie and remember her fondly while enjoying this new playful little lady, Maddie. She is a trip. She loves to "wallow in the mud" of the pond, as my dad calls it, and she has settled right in to her new home. Michael enjoyed gently placing her in the water off the dog to make her swim and get cleaned off from time to time. She is very into shoes and leaves and is incredibly playful.

Maddie really loved Bennett and was especially fond of pawing at his face, stealing his toys and running off with them, and sleeping on his playmat. She is just two weeks younger than Bennett and I think they will be great friends when they're a little bigger!

On Saturday morning, Bennett, Michael, and I went to the Ithaca Farmer's Market, which is amazing. On the way there a torrential downpour began. We considered scrapping the market plans but really wanted to try to make it work. The parking situation is crazy so Michael dropped us then ended up finding a great spot. The market is covered but the rain was blowing in quite a bit, so Michael stood in a sort of dry place with an umbrella and kept Bennett as dry as possible. The little man just looked around, taking in all the chaos while getting a nice little drizzle on his little blond head. When it calmed down a bit we were able to wander and we purchased some locally raised pork chops and sausage to grill. We also grabbed some food and Bennett took a nap on my shoulder. We probably would have stayed longer and bought more and done some wine tastings had the weather been better.  Next year!

Later on Saturday afternoon after regrouping and drying off, we went to my cousin Danielle's high school graduation party which was held at the home of my other cousin Corey and his wife Alana (formerly my Grandpa's house, now Corey's). They have a great pool, garage, and yard and just the perfect house for parties. Danielle was in her element with all the attention : ) We got to see some other extended family members there and had a great time. Bennett had another poop blowout and took a good long nap on my shoulder again while I visited with folks, and we ate some tasty picnic food and cake and had some cold adult beverages. Forgot to get a pic with the graduate...oops! Congrats to Danielle. (And Ray and Wendy, for getting her out of the house. Ha!)

On Sunday, we took Bennett to the Presbyterian church that I grew up attending and he was baptized by Pastor Cheryl. Our sweet boy fell asleep on my shoulder midway through the service and was crashed when I handed him to the Pastor. He woke up briefly when she put the water on his head, but he seemed to love it since it was hot in the church and the water was cool. He did not make a peep. He then proceeded to fall right back to sleep in Daddy's arms! He was awake and sociable during the coffee hour after the service and gave Pastor Cheryl some big grins. Everyone was very impressed with him and said he might be the first baby baptized there who didn't cry! My dad even came to church (very rare) and my Uncle Kenny joined us as well. It was really lovely. I had purchased this cute little white romper on etsy for the baptism. Originally I tried the 3 month size but it was too small. I exchanged it for the six month size, which was too big! We rigged it up with safety pins and no one seemed to notice that it didn't fit perfectly. Bennett still looked adorable, if you ask me.

On Sunday afternoon we went for a hike at Taughannock Park, which is a mile from the house and is the location of the tallest waterfull in the US east of the Mississippi. 215 feet! There's never much water in the summer but it's still a lovely spot. Usually Michael and I hike the upper trail around the gorge but this year we decided to do the lower trail at the bottom that's a bit easier and is stroller friendly. My mom tagged along and pushed the stroller part of the way and we had a nice time chatting with her on the walk. This was the first time we really used the Bjorn, too. Once Bennett got sleepy we moved him to the stroller (that my mom got to keep in NY for the grandbabies), where he had a bumpy nice nap.

just a trickle...it's more impressive when it's really flowing

After our hike we wandered across the street to the lake side of the park, where we got some ice cream and showed Bennett the marina where we used to keep our boat when we weren't at our cottage.

Later that night, the three of us headed one lake west and had dinner at the Stonecat Cafe, a nice little local spot overlooking Seneca Lake. It was a beautiful night and a delicious dinner. Bennett especially liked our waitress and her raspy voice elicited some big smiles.

On Monday, what we thought would be our last full day in the burg, we went back to the lake and visited my best childhood friend, Kris, at her cottage. Somehow it had been at least five years since we have seen each other and it was great to catch up. Kris is wonderful with babies and seemed to enjoy meeting Bennett, and he liked her too! She's really the only childhood/high school friend that I keep up with and I hope that we never lose touch.

I promise he's not grumpy...just doesn't consistently smile for photos yet and those bushy eyebrows give him a very serious look!

Later that day my mom and I took Bennett to visit his GiGi again and get a shot of four generations together! Bennett was a bit distracted by the nightly news...

Bennett turned 14 weeks during this trip so we missed our weekly shot of him in his crib with his elephant and blocks and had to improvise a bit...don't you love the faded floral bedspread that's leftover from my childhood?

Other NY activities included the consumption of NY style pizza, chicken BBQ, ice cream nearly every day, spiedies and salt potatoes, and Ithaca Bakery bagels. My dad and Michael also picked up a Weber grill (at Michael's suggestion) to replace the crappy old one that was there, so Michael used that a few times to cook for all of us.

On Tuesday morning, we went and visited our childhood babysitter/daycare provider, Jodi, and her husband Mike. Jodi recently took a tumble and broke her pelvis so she was laid up but loved meeting and holding Bennett. Jodi's two sons don't have kids, so she will be like a third Grandma for our kids : )

The pictures stop there, but the trip sure didn't. We were scheduled to fly out of Ithaca Tuesday afternoon (just me, Michael, and Bennett this time since Abby stayed for a few extra days). My mom dropped us at the tiny airport and I was immediately surprised to see a line at the ticketing counter. Michael glanced up at the arrival and departure board and realized that our flight to Newark was showing as "cancelled". Turns out there was smoke in the elevator in an air traffic control tower there so they had to shut things down for a bit to figure out what was going on (but never did). Our flight was rescheduled for 10 the next morning so my mom turned right around and came back for us. It's a lot of work to get packed up and ready to travel with a baby so that was not fun to do twice but we didn't mind an extra night with the fam. The one unfortunate thing that happened as a result of our change was that Michael dropped his laptop on my parent's slate kitchen floor the following morning when getting ready to leave for real and the glass shattered and the computer would not turn on. We later found out that the hard drive was destroyed and IF the data is retrievable it will cost $1900 to get it back. This includes ALL of Bennett's photos so far plus many more and a ton of documents and other info that would really suck to lose permanently. Neither Michael nor I have ever had any type of system to back data up with but that changes now after this experience. Pictures really can be priceless.

Bennett was such a good traveler and we had a really great time on this trip. I miss this place so much and will always struggle with being so far from it. Can't wait to go back again next summer. Hard to imagine that we will have a walker (and runner?) on our hands at that point! So. much. fun.