Road Trip

We survived our first family road trip! We braved the unknown and drove to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this weekend for Jim’s cousin’s daughter’s wedding. It’s about a 7-hour drive each way, and the girls traveled like champs. Like most babies, they enjoy riding in the car, but we weren’t sure whether that enjoyment could translate into seven hours of silence. Thankfully, we only had one instance where I had to climb into the back seat to see if I could hold pacifiers in their protesting mouths (while also attempting to not put myself to sleep; this was taking place near 11:00 p.m. on our drive down. I kept dozing off, only to be promptly awoken by indignant screams when my sleepy fingers let the pacifiers slip from their lips).

The girls even attended a portion of the wedding reception, although we had not planned their attendance in advance. We started out with Jim watching the girls at our friends’ home while I went to the wedding, and he did beautifully for his first time solo-babysitting. I made frequent phone calls to check on his progress, and only once did he sound mildly harried and commented that “this two-on-one thing is hard!” (I must interject here that Jim has always been very good at valuing the work I do with the girls, so this was not a new revelation for him!) Part of the way through the reception, the mother-of-the-bride encouraged me to invite Jim to bring the girls. So Jim tucked them into their car seats and came across town. I felt like we practically needed our own receiving line to handle all the friends and family who crowded around to meet the girls! I just hope we didn’t divert too much attention from the lovely bride. It was a wonderful wedding, and we’re so thankful that we could be a part of celebrating Joel and Holly’s blessed union!

I didn’t get any pictures of the girls at the wedding (oops!), but here are a few photos of a family birthday party we went to on Saturday night:

Jim’s Aunt Peg was more than happy to cuddle with Susanna

Uncle Tom and Aunt Peg introduced the twins to Chloe and Lauren, their six-year-old granddaughters who are two-thirds of a triplet trio. (The third triplet, Josh, was off using a foam sword in an intense jousting match, so he was too busy for silly social engagements!)

Here are Susanna (on the left) and Rebecca sporting their new hooded outfits, given to them by their Aunt Julie:

This last picture needs a bit of an explanation, I’m afraid! Jim spent Saturday afternoon doing what Jim does best – having fun with motorized vehicles! He and his buddies went to an ATV park and attempted to coat themselves, and their vehicles, with as much dirt as possible. They went so far as to attempt to ford a river of mud with a Polaris Ranger, only to get stuck halfway through. Fortunately, much to their delight, they were able to employ their trusty Ranger accessories and winch themselves to freedom. A good time was had by all! (And yes, Jim showered shortly after this picture was taken, although his mud-caked jeans are still sitting in our garage as I try to devise a plan to salvage them!).