Adventures is Baby Traveling

Much of this story is without photographic record. It begins not long after my last post ended. Keoina went home and a couple days later, my husband went on spring break. Spring break has been a time for travel for us. Last year we went to Portland and Salem, Oregon to visit friends, eat seafood, and buy books at Powell's. This year, we decided to go to Seattle. The first and last time my husband was in Seattle was last August when my brother came to visit. But Edward was sick on that trip and it was only a day trip- over the pass in the morning and back in the evening. He did not have a very good time. We did have some good seafood and we crossed the Sound to see the skyline in all its glory- but most of his day was spent in the car. This time, we planned a slightly longer stay. Because Milli did not do well over the pass the last time (which I attributed to it being evening and her being extra hungry and sleep, which makes her extra grouchy and needy), we planned to travel in the morning on Monday. We booked a bed and breakfast on Capital Hill that looked nice and planned to come back the next morning. This is not what happened.

Sunday afternoon, I checked the weather. I had checked the weather for more than a week before the trip with Keoina- but we didn't firmly decide to go to Seattle for spring break until Saturday. Ed was a little jealous of the trip I had just taken (minus the crying baby) and wanted to get to Seattle once before we move. Granted, his idea of fun times was to do outdoor things, which is not really possible in early March. All the hiking paths at Mt. Rainier were snowed in and only allowing skiers. All the roads were also closed. Same with Mt. Saint Helen. Same with Olympic park. But we planned to go anyway and hoped to see a couple of Ed's friends who live in the Seattle area. On Sunday, they posted a severe weather pattern in the Snoqualmie Pass. Bad news for us. We thought about canceling our trip, but the cancellation policy at the B & B was that we had to pay for the room anyway if no one else booked it that night. Ed suggested that we go down to Portland that night and stay with Jenn again. I called and she said to come on down. We were packed and out the door in less than 45 minutes! If you know my husband, you know that is a miracle!

On the road again! We began our drive with a fussy baby. Fussy, fussy, fussy baby. Ed tried sitting in the back with her for a bit, but she was inconsolable. Granted, she wasn't as bad as she had been over the pass, but it was still hard for the parents to listen to. She fell asleep a little before the border and we drove the last half in quiet. We arrived just before midnight and were very tired. We talked with Jenn for a bit and Ed tried to do a little work (he had to submit grades), but we weren't up long.

Milli decided she had slept enough, though. She woke up at 1, 3, and 5! I was sleeping on the air mattress, so I couldn't let her sleep with me because it kept folding us together. I should have taken the other bed, but I gave it to my poor husband because it was firmer and he likes firm. We slept in a bit and had fresh banana bread with the Fuentes girls around 9am. We talked and played Loot until around 11 and then left for Seattle. 

Rain. A lot of rain. Hard rain. And a crying baby. It was a very long drive. We stopped for Milli three times and for lunch once. We had decent Mexican food. The traffic was slow because of the heavy rain and we hit Seattle a little before rush hour. We had a hard time finding our B & B because I hadn't printed directions. I had a map and we didn't search for too long. When we got there, we unloaded in the rain. We fed baby and she seemed much happier to be out of her car seat. 

A few hours later, we went out to dinner with one of Ed's friends from high school. We had wanted to see a few more people, but the dinner was pleasant with the four of us. We had decent seafood at Elliot's Oyster house and I had the most amazing dessert ever! It was their version of lava cake- dark chocolate cake with thick, hot ganache and a scoop of ice cream! It was absolutely wonderful! And deadly. I have gall stones. This dessert was so amazing that after passing three stones, I still felt it was worth it. Then the fourth and fifth ones came. It was a very long night! I was up for over three hours in pain. Ed ran a bath for me around 4:30am. That helped a lot. But it was still rough. Especially after the sleepless night before. Also, Milli had been waking in the night every day since Keoina left. 

Tuesday was my 38th birthday. Because of the attack from the day before, I had to be very careful what I ate. That is no way to spend a birthday! I had breakfast in the dining room and met some nice people from DC who were in town for their spring break. He is a teacher at a community college and his wife is on staff there. I had some fruit. We had a slightly lazy morning and went to the market around 10 or 10:30. It was a chilly day with drizzle on and off- pretty typical for Seattle. We walked through the market, went to Beecher cheese and Piroshki, Piroshki. We also got shrimp cocktail and free soup from City fish. We ate downstairs and hit the shops there. Ed had a lot more fun than last time. The food was all good. At the bookstore, we were given a bogo coupon for the aquarium. After hitting Boston Street baby shop, we decided to go see the fish! Here are some pics.

 This is the giant tank that greeted us as we entered the building. It was full of fish, of course. But what interested Daddy most, aside from showing new things to his daughter (which was his favorite part of the entire trip) was that this pool presented an interesting physics problem. There was a cube of acrylic on display that listed the dimensions of the tank. We took some notes and it is very likely that a question will show up on the optics exam in the future for his students!

Everything was new to Milli! Daddy had a great time showing and explaining the aquatic world to her. I followed with a camera and listened to him talk so sweetly to her. I have a feeling that we will be visiting a lot of museums, zoos, and other scientific establishments with Daddy in the future. If Milli does not grow up to find science fascinating, it will not be our fault!

 There was a really cool touching pool full of starfish and sea anemone and urchins. It was pretty cool! Milli was more alarmed by the cold water than the scratchy starfish. Daddy had so much fun showing her everything there was to see! I can't emphasize that enough. It might be his favorite part of fatherhood, introducing his daughter to the world around her and teaching her all about science!

He also loves squid! But he is afraid of jelly fish.

 According to Daddy, this is a baby eating fish. Striped-fringed Baby Eater! It eats three babies a day. Sometimes four, if they are very small ones! 

Sometimes Daddy is not entirely accurate in his scientific descriptions. In fact, at this age, I would say that he is mostly inaccurate. Listening to him is kind of like watching the original Muppet Show- more entertaining for adults than children.

 Sometimes Daddy and Milli found different things interesting. Milli was always interested in light and motion, while Daddy would look at the thing that was supposed to be featured in the display. 

There were a lot of interesting things to look at for all. I like the sea otters best and the sea horses next. The birds were also fun, but it was a little chilly outside. In fact, while we were in the aquarium, the weather turned from drizzle to hail and became super blustery! We would never have known it, though, had we not passed a door and seen it. By the time we left the aquarium, it was sunny out!

 Look at my little girl standing! She is only 4 months old, but she can stand if she holds onto things. She was leaning up against the glass here. I took this picture and was so proud. But then I began to tear up. She is still a baby! I don't want her to grow so quickly. I'm sure all mothers feel this way, but I have been savoring every moment of her babyhood.

 This is the new baby otter! She was born on January 7 and was already longer than Milli and half a pound heavier! She was so cute, as was her mother and grandmother who were in the tank with her. We got to see her playing with this strap and then dive into the water. The handler was standing on this side of the tank with us and explained that she still has puppy fir and can't dive very well. She floats and spins in circles. It was adorable. Then she swam to her mamma.

Milli liked the otters, too. They were the last things we saw at the aquarium. We then went to the car to retrieve Daddy's laptop and headed to Starbucks. We were hoping to get together with another one of Daddy's friends, but he never got back to us. We waited for almost an hour and then decided to head out. We drove back to Portland, as the pass was still a mess. We hit an Olive Garden on the way, even though I was craving pancakes. Milli slept the first leg and complained the second. It was not a good driving trip for a baby. We arrived at Jenn's around 11 and went directly to bed. This time, I got the firm bed, which was a good thing because Milli wanted to eat a lot again. I didn't blame her this time, as she had been so interested in what was happening in Seattle all day that she hardly ate or slept. She made up for it at night. I snoozed next to her and got enough sleep to drive home the next day- but I was still tired. Daddy was a little disappointed in the trip. He had hoped for much more outdoor things and felt that he was missing an opportunity to see the beauty of the PNW before we move to Texas. He also missed his friends. This made for a melancholy drive back to Spokane. We were all tired and had driven every day that week! From Spokane to Portland on Sunday. From Portland to Seattle on Monday. From Seattle to Portland on Tuesday. And from Portland to Spokane on Wednesday. It was a long and exhausting trip! Milli was tired of her car seat and fussed a great deal of the drive home, as well. All her drives were fussy. Daddy did distract her part of the time with books and pamphlets. But some of the time she was inconsolable. We got home on Wednesday just in time to go straight to my hair appointment, which I set up before we planned our trip. My dear husband let me die my hair back to red as a birthday gift. We were at the salon for nearly 3 hours (I have a lot of hair) and then we went directly to church for Lenten soup and supper and Greek class. We stayed after so I could practice music with the worship team and then we finally got to go home! We were exhausted! But, apparently, Milli was not done. She woke twice in the night.

Thursday was a day of recovery. We had an adventure and I was not sorry we went, although Daddy wasn't sure it was quite worth the stress. There was some fun, but the exhaustion was more than I had felt since giving birth! We slept in, played a couple board games, watched a movie, did some laundry caught up on facebook- but did nothing outside the home. Today, we are fully recovered, I think, and are about to head out to buy groceries. 

Next time, I think we will plan a little more ahead. I was sorry that we couldn't give Ed's friends more notice and therefore see more of them. I was also sorry that we couldn't make it a more happy trip for our baby. But we lived and we learned. Also, it was a good preview of what our move to Texas will be like. I am now thinking that we will do several short drives instead of trying to make 8 hours in one day.