Nathan and I took our first drive up to Ithaca a couple weekends ago for the wedding of my friend Jocelyn. For some reason I wasn’t too nervous about the trip, though I was a little worried about how breastfeeding him on the road would go, and hoped he’d sleep most of the time. Nathan didn’t disappoint! He slept the majority of the trip both there and back, and we only had to stop once each time for him to eat. Nathan got really tired of the car seat during the last 40 minutes on the drive home and pretty much cried that entire time, but otherwise he was great.

On the way down we met up with my friend Mariah at a rest top. She was also traveling to the wedding from Baltimore, with her daughter Olive and her husband. I’m so glad she was there for that first stop because it helped me feel comfortable nursing in that environment. It was a beautiful day and we sat on a picnic table in the sun nursing our babies. What a wonderful and liberating experience that was for me!

I was really happy that my mom got to see Nathan since she lives kind of far away and hadn’t seen him in two months. He’s changed so much since then and it was exciting to show off some of the new stuff he’s doing. It was a quick and busy trip, but I hope she got her fix

The wedding was simple and beautiful. It was held in a park, and the ceremony was on a rock ledge next to a waterfall. Jocelyn has been following our website and all the updates, so I was really glad that she and Nathan finally got to meet. He did really well at the wedding despite the heat and noise. He flirted and smiled at everyone, and even endured getting passed around quite a bit.

I’ve said before that it’s becoming harder to be out and about and still keep Nathan to any sort of schedule. I knew there was very little chance of keeping to one during the weekend but hoped for the best. Even though Nathan was definitely overtired at certain points, he was a good sport and seemed to really love all the new stuff he could soak in.

There are some pictures from the weekend in the September Photo Album and pictures from the wedding here

As Gary mentioned in an earlier post, we took Nathan to Ocean City this past weekend. It was not only his first trip to the beach but his first overnight away from home. Since this was also OUR first time traveling with Nathan, its safe to say we overpacked just a little bit…did we really need the activity mat, the bumbo AND the bouncy seat for a 3 day trip? Probably not. The bathtub might have been overkill, but I did use it one night since we’d put sunblock on Nathan. And I’d love to say that we’ll know better next time, but I bet our car is just as overloaded for the next trip…which will be to Ithaca for a wedding and to see my mom…so mom, be warned!

Nathan was very smiley and chatty and had lots of fun talking to everyone most of the weekend.

Nathan and Oma

Nathan got to spend a little time with his cousins, Ben and Jacob. I think they are mildly amused by him but he’s not terribly interesting to them yet. Maybe when he’s older and they can all wreak havoc together. Nathan was a little fussy before the picture but Jacob had the magic touch and he was good to go as soon as Jacob was holding him.

We made a big family excursion with him to the beach one evening for family pictures. I don’t think he was particularly thrilled with the wind and cool humid air, but once we had him a little more bundled up and he’d expressed his frustration by spitting up on mom’s shirt, he did just fine.

It appears none of us were particularly thrilled with the sun in our eyes and the wind in our hair. Opa definitely had the right idea with the sunglasses.

Oma and Opa watched Nathan one night so Gary and I could have a nice dinner out. We had a great meal, and a little much needed time as a couple.

Here’s our little family right before we left for dinner

We even got Nathan dressed up for the occasion. It was a somewhat wasted effort since, unfortunately for Oma, Nathan was so pooped he fell asleep shortly after we left and didn’t make a peep the rest of the night!

We took Nathan mini-golfing with us one afternoon. We put him in the bjorn and I tried to keep him shaded most of the time. I somehow managed to have a pretty good one-handed golf game.

Our last morning there, Gary and I took Nathan back down to the beach for some family time in the sand. Nathan was so excited about it that he slept through the entire excursion.

So that about covers it. There are a lot more pictures from our trip in the photo albums link.

Next year- Outer Banks!

Nathan and his big sun hat thank you for reading about our first traveling adventure.