Road Trip with a toddler!?!?!?!?

Uh-huh. Okay, it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, but it certainly wasn't easy and I'm quite certain that the toddler in topic didn't have a good time! So, we left on Wednesday morning to meet my (Traci's) parents in Niagra Falls. They had driven from California and started last Friday. It took us 8 hours door to door from New York, but admittedly two whole hours were devoted to rest stops for little Meggers. She was soooo ready to get out of the car, and if she looks grouchy in these pics, she deserves it! Anyone with a toddler should pay us for this information: BUY A PORTABLE DVD PLAYER! It's the only reason we are alive. Okay, so Niagra Falls: gorgeous, amazing, brilliant. Surprised how populated the area was, I had the impression we were going to view some pretty nature but the water part was the only nature we saw, everything else was very man-made. Still, an amazing sight.

On the way home, we left a little later in the day. We stopped at this gas station that had a pleasant grassy field and a cornfield behind it. It was meant to be a diaper change spot but we broke out the travel snacks and picnic blanket and Meg played in the corn. Then we stopped for dinner in Bighampton (creepy place--sorry if you are a Binghampton-ite, feel free to defend yourself, but my impression was creeeeeeepy). After dinner Meg fell asleep for the final 3 hours of the trip. . . BUT woke up when we arrived home at 11:30 and didn't want to go back to bed till well after 1 am. Torture on mommy and daddy.

Since we've been home, grandpa and Brian have painted the back deck, ripped out unsightly bushes in our front yard and planted lots of daisies. Meg loves having "Mah-ma" and "Pa-pa" around and asks for them when she can't find them. They plan to stay through the 7th or the 8th, but who cares, they're on vacation and this time they brought their own car so they can leave whenever they want. They plan to spend a week driving home "through the middle" of the country as the northern route was pretty boring.