Taylor Travels Part 4 - Orlando

Last Saturday we left Atlanta and headed to Florida on our way to visit my childhood friend, Nancy. I didn't have anyone to visit at a good halfway point, so I ended up going all the way to Orlando in one day and went the rest of the way to Fort Pierce on Sunday.

Man, it was a gruelling trip. Google maps said it would take 7 and a half hours and it took me 10 and a half. We stopped for a relaxed lunch at McDonald's and I let Jonah run around in the playplace. I fed Benjamin his baby food and some yogurt from the fruit and yogurt parfait. Benjamin has decided that he will not nurse at all when we are travelling. This is annoying on a 5-hour trip, but it's a disaster on a 10.5-hour trip. He nursed at 7:30 that morning and wouldn't nurse again until we arrived in Orlando around 8:30. I tried to feed him multiple times throughout the day. Finally I had to pull over and pump because I was in so much pain. And of course since he isn't nursing during the day he wants to chow down all night long. It's started a terrible pattern of not eating much during the day and waking up two or three times a night to nurse. So frustrating.

Jonah did pretty well considering it was such a long trip. His main forms of entertainment are eating snacks, listening to his tape player, and watching videos on my ipod. By the end of this trip he'd just about eaten his weight in snacks, he had the tape player confiscated because he pulled all the tape out of one of the cassettes, he had the ipod confiscated because he was chewing on the headphone cord after I told him not to, and I had to pull over because he wriggled out of his car seat and I looked back to see him standing up in his seat. But at least he did take a nap - he fell asleep with his hand in the chicken nuggets box. I so wished I could have gotten a picture of that!

So we stayed the night with my uncle Ken (my dad's brother) and aunt Betzi. They just moved to Orlando recently for Betzi's job and this was my first visit to their beautiful new home. Sunday morning we had a nice visit with Ken, Betzi, and my cousin Amanda, and left around noon to get down to Nancy's place in Fort Pierce.

Taylor Travels Part 3 - Atlanta

After a fabulous five days in Charlotte, we continued south to Atlanta. We stayed three days with my uncle Glenn (my mom's brother) and aunt Beth. Highlights for the boys included meeting Glenn's three dogs, playing with an exercise ball, and a train ride through the mall. Highlights for me included seeing Glenn's office (it looks like those sweet office buildings you see in movies), dinner with Jon's cousin, Margaret, and shopping at Trader Joe's. I didn't get as many pictures as I should have when we were there, but here are a few.

Glenn and Beth bought a few toys for Jonah to play with while we were there, but we had to get creative for Ben. You can't go wrong with Tupperware and a wooden spoon. You can also see the ear of the littlest dog, Ronan.

Here we are on the mall train. This was the first time I'd ever seen a little train in the mall that doesn't run on a track. It just goes on a loop through the mall. Jonah LOVED it! Thanks Aunt Beth!
Okay, well maybe this face doesn't show it, but he really did love it.

Taylor Travels Part 2 - Charlotte

The first stop on our five-week road trip was Charlotte, NC. We went to visit my childhood friend, Rebecca, who also happens to be Jon's cousin. She has a three-year-old little girl and a one-year-old boy. Our kids made fast friends and we had such a fabulous time together.

Baby Daniel turned one the day we arrived. We got to have cake and celebrate with him.
These second cousins had a great time playing together. Such a sweet little pair.
It was nice to be in a place with carpeted floors for Ben to practice sitting up by himself. We only have hardwood at home and I can never leave him sitting because he'll really hurt himself if he falls over.
We spent a morning at a park and ate a picnic lunch. Ben enjoyed his first time in a playground swing.
Jonah went down the slides about 50 times, like usual. (He escaped to the slide before I could wipe the Oreo crumbs off his face.)
Jonah decided he wanted to play in the sand and marched up to a dad holding some sand toys and asked if he could use them!
Rebecca has a great camera and she did a little photo shoot at the park.

Taylor Travels Part 1 - Bye Bye Daddy

Jon left almost two weeks ago on a five-week trip to Saudi Arabia for work. I decided to take a huge road trip with the boys to visit friends and family while Jon was gone. After our five weeks on the road I'll leave Jonah with Jon's parents and Ben and I will fly to meet Jon in Micronesia for our two-week visit with Pacific Missionary Aviation.

It's hard to be home alone with the boys when Jon's gone. We all tend to go a little crazy. When all else fails run in circles, right?

After Jon left we stayed home for a few days packing and pulling everything together for our seven weeks away from home. Packing for three people to be gone for seven weeks in different climates and getting it all into the car was a bit tricky. I got everything lined up in the hall and I had some serious doubts about whether or not it would all fit.

Good thing I played lots of Tetris as a kid. I somehow got all this (minus the basketball hoop) plus a stroller, folding cot, snacks, toys and two car seats into the car. It only occurred to me when we were halfway to Charlotte that there will be absolutely no room for Jon and all his stuff to ride back with us from Chicago at the end of our adventure. Oops. We might need to rend a Uhaul!
Here we are all loaded up and ready to head out. You can see Ben in the mirror and if you look closely you can see me too.

This is my new favorite picture of the boys. So cute!