The additional help and rest proved to be essential, as I discovered that this is how Elliott feels about road trips:
When I told family and friends that Elliott cried at least half the drive, most replied with comments like,"you think he'd just fall asleep" and, "weird, most babies like riding in cars."
Yeah....weird, and you would think.
But not this baby. He was fed, changed, and still turned all reddish/purple on the road. This turned the 4-5 hour drive into a 7-8 hour drive when I kept stopping to make sure he wasn't hungry or wet or having his fingers amputated or something. I finally figured it out after a second or third stop at a rest area to make sure he wasn't in horrible pain. Anticipating that I would pick him up, he stopped crying and gazed up at me like this:
When I asked him, "Elliott, were you just screaming like a crazy person so Mommy would pull over and pick you up," he replied with this:
Unfortunately, loneliness cannot be helped on a road trip. So, I maybe turned up the radio and put in ear plugs to make it through the rest of the drive. Judge me all you want folks, but if I had continued to stop to soothe the babe, we'd still be somewhere between Seattle and Post Falls, Idaho.Anyhow, we eventually made it and on our first day visited cousin Dana and her new baby Kori. Kori was born a bit early and had to spend some extra time in the hospital, but Mom and baby were fortunately able to go home a week later. Here is Grandma Carren holding Kori:
The next day we traveled to the "Ranch", which is great-Grandpa Erickson's property near St. Maries, Idaho. Lots of cousins and second cousins and third cousins (or whatever Elliott would call my cousins' children???) to meet. Dana and family were missed, especially since Dana had gone to all the trouble to coordinate the gathering and could not attend. :(Grandma, Grandpa, and cousin Lilly:
One of my favorite pastimes at the ranch, eating:
Speaking of eating, my Mom made the most amazing chocolate chip cookies. Elliott wanted me to eat 4 of them, so I did. You know, anything for the kids....I then told my Mom, "my cookies never turn out this good," to which she replied with a shrug and a "hmmm." Her reply seemed to convey this was my fault, but I found out later she uses a secret ingredient - crisco. Gross. And, oops, I guess it's not so secret after all.
Anyhoo, more photos below.
Uncle Jake and Elliott. They were making their "I'm too cool to smile" faces:
Elliott likes Lilly, as you can see by his "OK" sign in the second picture:
The girls started picking daisies to make crowns. It was adorable.
The week of visiting family ended with a BBQ at Grandma Carren's house. Having spent his entire life in Seattle, Elliott was not used to the 80-90 degree heat. He had to go topless at the party. Good thing he's not shy.
Finally, the sun set and things cooled off a bit:
Elliott and his cousins had lots of fun, as evidenced by the hilarious photo montage this week:
Fortunately, he recovered from the tears in the above photos. When we got home, he asked Aunt Sunny where she was from. She replied, "I-da-ho." He was all, "that's right Aunt Sunny, U-da-ho." Then he laughed like this:
He must have learned that lame joke from his cousins, because I'm sure I never found it funny.
