Monday, August 20, 2012

Vacation!

This past month saw Lucas's first vacation. It was a family affair. We first met my parents, sister, aunt, and cousin for a week in a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. This has been a long family tradition for me - we used to meet every summer when I was growing up. As my sister and I've gotten older, we've gotten out of the habit, but the opportunity for my aunt to meet the little one was too enticing to pass up this summer. It was a lazy week filled with lots of good food and fun family time. My aunt teaches middle school, so it was fun to swap horror stories. She also has a lot of experience (read: wisdom), so it was encouraging to hear from someone who's stuck with it. Even thought I am not. (More about that later.)

Lucas did amazing on the car ride. I was terrified that it was going to be horrible, especially since he had cried every time we put him in the car for about 4 days before the trip. But he slept a lot, and we preempted his meltdowns by stopping and nursing often.

4.5 hours in and still smiling!

Mark's parents have really wanted to go to a theme park lately. His dad, especially, has been talking about it for years, but going to Disney World this past Christmas really gave them the theme park bug. When the plans for his dad's birthday this past summer fell through, and they realized we were going to be about an hour from Dollywood (with it's new roller coaster, the Wild Eagle), they decided to meet us there after our week in NC. I was a little concerned about Lucas, just because going to a theme park is a big deal and I didn't want to overwhelm him. That, and when Mark and I do theme parks, we DO theme parks (A 20 hour day at Univeral Studios Islands of Adventures, 3 12+ hour days at Disney World while recovering from the flu, to name the most recent). I anticipated that having a baby with us would likely slow down our theme park craziness. But Lucas was a champ! He was with us the whole way. He napped in his stroller, and then awoke for more fun. I guess all those roller coasters I rode when I was a month pregnant with him (and didn't know it, by the way) just got him prepared. 

Our day at Dollywood ended with fireworks. Again, paranoid, anxious mother that I have become, I was worried that they would scare him and he would scream the entire time. What was his reaction?


Enthralled. Completely enthralled. He watched the ENTIRE 20 minute show, looking exactly like that. Really, I missed the whole show because I was having so much fun watching him. He loved every minute of it, and even cried when they were over.

So, all in all, I would have to rule that Lucas's first vacation was a total success. I'm looking forward to making more memories with you, kid. You're awesome.