Reed Baby Blog

Last month, we took our first family beach vacation.  We rented a house in Ft. Morgan, Alabama, just outside Gulf Shores.  It was a full house.  Cory, Carter and I were joined by friends Annette, Marty and Frankie, and Cory’s parents, Janie and Dave.  Taking vacations with built-in babysitters rocks.

The house we rented was beautiful.  It had four bedrooms, four baths, a hot-tub, and it was right on a private beach.

It takes 12 hours to get to Gulf Shores, so we started the drive just before midnight.  My speed demon of a husband made great time while the rest of us slept.  Once we got to Alabama, we had to take a ferry from Dauphin Island over to Ft. Morgan.  Since it was nap time – and hot – Carter wasn’t all that impressed with the ferry.

Carter enjoyed the sand, but wasn’t crazy about the ocean.  The waves freaked him out.  He also enjoyed our dolphin cruise, despite the life jacket that swallowed him.  Well, we say he enjoyed it, but he actually screamed for the first 30 minutes of the cruise.  We were definitely NOT the favorite passengers on the boat. The rest of the week was spent eating meals on the porch, walking on the beach, and relaxing in the sun.

All in all, it was a wonderful week.  And thankfully, Carter shows no lasting effects of me allowing him to roll off of the bed onto the hardwood floor!

Last week, Carter returned to his roots. This meant he also made his first plane ride when he and I flew to Baltimore. Cory had to work in Baltimore last week so Carter and I joined him mid-week for our first family vacation. I was a little apprehensive about traveling with him by myself, but all turned out fine. We sailed through security (after they tested each of the seven bottles of milk), and were fortunate enough to be able to snag a better seat. When we booked the flight, the only thing available was a middle seat in the back of the plane. Fortunately, I was able to talk the gate agent into giving us a window seat. Before getting on the plane, I ran into a friend from college. I haven’t seen Beth in nearly 10 years, despite the fact that she lived in Baltimore while we did and now lives less than a mile from us. Carter handled the flight really well and made friends with the guy beside us. My treat of Oreos and ear plugs for the other guys on the row probably helped. I also had a stroke of genius: I tied all of Carter’s toys together on a ribbon so that when he tired of one and threw it, it didn’t hit the floor and we could move on to the next. Anticipating that I might have had a bad flight, Cory met us at the airport with a dozen roses. My boys missed each other.

Thursday was spent visiting friends at Cory’s work and at Hopkins. Carter easily met 40 new people and received dozens of raspberries on his cheeks. He handled it like a pro. That night, we had a wonderful dinner in Columbia, MD with friends Wil and Elisa.

Cory took Friday off, and after a leisurely morning at the hotel, and lunch at the “gas-ateria,” we headed down to Washington, DC for some site-seeing. While Cory and I enjoyed the sites, Carter seemed to be more impressed with the throngs of people. It was Memorial Day weekend and DC was packed. Crowds were everywhere, so we chose to do something that didn’t require standing in line. We parked outside the Dept. of Commerce and walked around the ellipse and up to the White House where Carter got his first look at his future home. He also got to see his first political demonstration. Native Tamils from Sri Lanka were petitioning President Obama with a chant that we still haven’t gotten out of our heads. Friday night we met my friend Susan for dinner at the best Italian restaurant period: Sabatinos in Little Italy. Cory practiced his right-handed eating while taking care of Carter so that I could catch up with Susan. A good time was had by all.

On Saturday, we visited our old neighborhood and stopped by to see our neighbors. Thankfully, Carter didn’t meet any Baltimore rats. However, we did climb Federal Hill so that he could get a good view of the Inner Harbor on an absolutely gorgeous day.

The flight back was uneventful, even if Carter didn’t sleep as much as we would’ve hoped. He was more intrigued with the baby across the aisle and the man sitting behind us making faces. We’re so glad Carter was a good traveler and we hope this is the first of many trips.