Traveler in Pink

This weekend, Ellie went to her fourth state, Florida. Dad was in a wedding for his oldest friend. P bought 2 new suits for the occasion since he's lost 20-30 pounds and all his old suits hang off of him. The new suits look super nice on him. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to prove it and he won't voluntarily wear one again until the company Christmas Party. You'll just have to take my word for it....

Ellie was a bit of a scene stealer at the wedding. She was very popular with ladies of all ages and grandpas. She did pretty well with a very erratic sleep schedule and tons of extra stimulation. Friday, we woke her at 4 am and left for the airport by 4:30. She didn't sleep again until takeoff (literally the second the wheels lifted off), and then only for 30 minutes. She took another nap at the hotel once we checked in, and then not until we left the rehearsal dinner around 9:30. Total sleep for the day, 8 hours and 22 minutes. The next day, we did much better. She slept till about 7 am, we went to breakfast, she took a nap, we ran to the mall since it was raining and we couldn't go swimming. Then, we slipped in two decent sized naps before the 6:30 wedding ceremony. She got 10 hours that day. Yesterday, coming home, she logged 15 hours, which put her on a better than normal schedule.

The wedding itself was lovely. Ellie and I spent it in the Cry Room. Not because she would cry, but because she tends to be very vocal when she is happy. And, she's a happy child. She especially likes to sing with other music, so I was afraid she might not be appropriately sedate during the soloists and the vows. And, she did sing along for a few of the hymns. Luckily, the only witnesses were a couple other parents and about 7 kids. Toward the end, I put her in her new sling to try to induce a nap. It didn't work, but she did calm down significantly for a while. She got a little feisty when the food came out at the reception. So, we took her out for a little while to eat. After dinner, P took a turn with the sling and she fell asleep.

I learned a few things about streamlining for air travel. We CAN fit nearly everything we need in one medium size bag. Our next trip doesn't require any formal wear, so we should be okay for sure. This trip, we took a garment bag. We don't need a stroller if we have a sling, which packs pretty small. However, I saw a nifty contraption at Midway that attaches to the carseat and gives it wheels and a handle. So long as Rick doesn't mind carrying the carseat, it's not strictly necessary, but would certainly be convenient. I also don't need as many diapers as I took.

So, now that we've got one commercial trip under our belt, we can start planning the next one to Nevada. One thing is for sure though. We all definitely prefer the TBM and would like to be able to fly that way down to Texas next time. Cross your fingers.