“Morning Momma” S, was starting to rouse from her nap in our hotel room, and as I went and laid in bed with her, she slowly lifted her face to mine, gave me a small smile and whispered “morning Momma” as our foreheads met one another’s. This has to be one of my favorite things about being her momma – these slow sweet moments that fill my heart until I think it could burst. As we laid in bed cuddling, with T4 softly snoring in the crib next to us, I thought about how I never really thought this would be my reality, and that there would be someone to whisper these words to me. Man, am I lucky. I thought this exact phrase to myself more than once this week while we were on vacation.
Thomn and I were driving home late last night, and we counted the number of trips we have taken together over the last 15 years and came up with a rough estimate of forty or so. However, this was the first trip we have been able to take as a family of four and everything about it is so different from the way we used to vacation, but I don’t think we would change it for the world. We used to be able to see how long a trip would take us by looking at a map on our phones…now we look at that map and add anywhere from one to six extra hours depending on where we are going. A simple trip home from Grand Rapids a few weeks ago took us three hours…when it should have taken us and hour and a half. You just never know what is going to happen – diapers, hunger, more diapers. That lengthy trip home from Grand Rapids inspired us to get up in the middle of the night and leave for the Upper Peninsula, with the goal that the kids would wake up around the time we made it to the Mackinac Bridge. With a stroke of luck, this is exactly what happened. Well, except for a brief wake up from S, when we pulled into the gas station just down the street from our house to check on the baby and she sat up, looked around and asked: “here?” Nope, kiddo, just the whole trip left to go.
We wanted to get out and have a chance to explore Mackinac with the kids and let S burn off some steam before we continued our trek to Marquette, and Mackinac Island proved to be the best possible choice for this. It has been years since either Thomn or I have been there and oddly enough, with all of our trips to the UP, we have never stopped there together. The lilacs were in full bloom, which, made my heart swoon like crazy. Lilac season has long since ended downstate and the heady fragrance of these flowers is one of my favorites. S loves to gather the whole cluster in her hands and bury her face in the petals. We let her go running through the open green space and happened upon a playground that we had to ourselves for a while. She and Thomn climbed 26 flights of stairs while T4 laid on a park bench and watched the tree leaves dance above his head as he softly cooed into the wind. Everything about this stop was perfect.
By the time we made it to Marquette, everyone was more than ready to get out of the car. T4 voiced his opinion loudly for the last twenty minutes of the ride until he eventually gave up and went to sleep as we pulled into the hotel. Pre-kids, Thomn and I would have checked into the hotel and went adventuring to find a local restaurant for dinner. Instead, this time, we chose dinner to be delivered with a hard-core number of cuddles and splashes in the bathtub. But, man am I lucky – we had a great day getting there and our kids amazed us with their willingness to go with the flow.
Thomn had to work each of the days we were there – lucky for us, the days were not too long, so he had time to join in on the vacation fun with the rest of us. Leading up to the trip, I have been sweating it out about nap time. Finally, there is a rhythm and rhyme in our house, and I have not been exactly excited with the prospect of the trip derailing this rhythm. But when we arrived, we found that the hotel had an actual crib for the baby to sleep in…and T4 loves his crib…so this saved us from having to use the pack and play all week. Both kids went down for nap so well that first full day that I read half a book. I have probably listened to forty books on tape in my car in the last four years, but it has been a good year since I have physically held a book and read. I forgot how much I love to feel the paper in my fingers and how satisfying the ache in my hand is when I have been holding the book open for hours on end. Man, am I lucky, I read the whole book on the trip!
One of my favorite moments from the trip was one night as I was putting T4 to bed, S laid down on the couch, looked at Thomn while rubbing her chest and said “Daddy, my’s breastmilk hurts.” Most mornings, S finds her way into our bed and wakes up next to us and I gently have to remind her to be careful as she curls into my body. Being gentle with my chest has translated to the above in her mind. Do you spend much time with 2-year old’s? You should, every day this little girl cracks me up.
Throwing rocks in Lake Superior while watching the cliff jumpers
Our trip ended 12 hours before we thought it would. By the time we had reached Traverse City, our last leg of the trip, our kids were over it. We found Grandma, had dinner with her at the condo where we were planning to stay, but then, at the last minute, decided to drive home at bedtime instead of early in the morning. Everyone was ready to get home. Eyes peeled in the darkness as we drove home, we saw a number of deer, including a few that crossed in front of us, as well as a coyote running alongside the car. We made it the four hours without hitting anything until we were 500 feet from the house where we hit an opossum. Man, we were lucky it wasn’t the deer that ran in front of us. Our first vacation as a family of four was pretty darn great and has given us hope that we can do it again in the future, but for now, I am ready for the rhythm and rhyme to return and to enjoy our own beds for a while.
On the shore of Lake Huron by the Mackinac Bridge
