Our Quick Trip to Boston

Fiona spending some time with her great grandparents, Martha's Vineyard

Dad and Fiona on John Belushi's grave stone, Martha's Vineyard

Fiona's first pose at the Field Gallery, Martha's Vineyard

Okay, so I realize it's been quite some time since I posted, but our family got to go on an unexpected trip to the East Coast and its been crazy pre- and post-trip, so this is the first chance I've stolen to update folks on Fiona's life.

We took off for Boston on June 1st (after dropping Jezebelle off at her first kennel - which had no kennels, we couldn't imagine Jezebelle in a cage for 5 days, so we found a place that lets the dogs roam 5 acres and sleep in the house, wherever they want - more like being home for her, just at someone else's home). We were nervous about flying so far with Fiona and the whole boarding/take-off process takes so long that by the time we got into the air, everyone in the plane had heard Fiona's protests regarding the fact that she was sleepy and hungry and mom was right there and why the heck wasn't there a boob in her mouth. I just didn't want her to finish off her lunch before we hit that crucial "you need to be swallowing during takeoff so that your ears pop" moment. As soon as I did let her latch on, she fell asleep and didn't wake up again until we were on the ground in Salt Lake City. If she had any problem with her ears, she sure didn't show it.

Our flight out of Seattle had taken off 40 minutes late, which took a huge chunk out of our layover in Salt Lake. In fact, by the time we de-planed, we had less than 10 minutes to get all the way across the airport to our next flight. That's quite a trek with a baby in tow, but we made it. They held the flight and I think we were the last folks on. It was great to make the plane, but it was unfortunate that none of us got to use the restroom - we all needed to.

On the other hand, we were lucky during the second flight because the plane wasn't full - we were able to get a whole three seat row to ourselves (thanks to a wonderful man who offered to move for us). It was nice for Fiona to have her own seat to move around and play with her toys, etc, but again, she slept for a lot of the flight and most of the rest of the flight, she played with a piece of foil that came wrapped over our in-flight snack box - that was awesome! It was shiny which attracted and kept her attention, but it was also strong enough that no matter how much she sucked on it and pulled on it, etc, it never broke into pieces that she could accidently choke on or swallow. (For the record, it was also some of the best plane food I've had in a long time).

We landed in Hartford, CT at 10:45 pm. We stepped off the plane and almost turned around - the humidity was SO INCREDIBLE, it was like breathing water! We always forget about that, need to pack our oxygen tanks, geez.

So, we stopped being drama queens and went to see if our luggage had made the short connection to the plane and were delighted to find that it had. Granted the late flight out of Seattle made things exciting, but all in all, Delta performed VERY well on Fiona's first airplane ride ever.

Once situated, we picked up the car my parents had left us at a valet parking lot and drove to my parents house. By 7:30 am on June 2nd, we were on our way to Boston, with my dad's cool Garmin GPS thingy - its weird because I've driven around New England for a lot of my life, so ultimately I didn't think we would need it, but once you have a thing like that...you start to wonder how you could drive anywhere without it. It was especially nice because Dave was able to drive...and not have to put up with my faulty left-right directions.

We spent most of the day time in Boston, where it was trying to rain. It had been very hot on the East Coast and we dressed Fiona for a hot day. Too bad it was a Seattle day and by the time we realized that we need to dress her better, she was one cold baby. She never complained though. I think she was amazed by all the sights and sounds and smells.

I was actually working, so we schlepped all over downtown Boston taking pictures of various buildings and trying to find a family friendly place to eat. It proved to be impossible - we almost starved to death. It was also almost impossible to find a public restroom or a place I could feed Fiona without causing a scene. The day made us happy we live in Seattle, many more nooks and crannies and actual women's LOUNGES in big department stores for a lady to take her baby and care for her/him. We were horrified at the facilities at Macy's in downtown Boston - how can they charge $200 for a shirt and then provide a filthy little hole of a restroom and a women's lounge that is a poor excuse for a restroom at Target. The executives there need to come check out the women's lounges at Nordstrom and Macy's out here - boy oh boy.

Anyway, by 5 pm we were able to head over to Flower's where we rendez-vous'd with Flower, her daughter, Ashlyn and Dani. It was a quick dinner there to be sure, but I think we had a nice time. I just wish it had been longer.

Then we headed out to catch a 10:30 pm boat to the Vineyard. And let me tell you, we couldn't have cut that any closer without spending the night in our car. We arrived just in time to pick up our tickets and drive onto the ferry. Fiona flirted with a couple ladies on the boat - which rocked and rolled a BUNCH - I don't think I've ever ridden it in the dark before, it took me almost a full day to stop feeling like the ground was moving underneath me.

We got to the cottage by 11:45 pm and quickly bedded down...at least that was the plan, Fiona was a little wound from the trip. Luckily we brought Pearl Jam with us and 5 songs later, she was out. We finally go to catch up on some sleep and stayed in bed until 10 am the next morning.

The weather was very Seattle, which, of course, didn't phase us at all. We started our day at the Menemsha General Store - I haven't been in there since I was a kid, I had no idea they stocked so much stuff. Went to the Menemsha Cafe for breakfast - except it was lunch time. Someone was smiling on us though because they had enough eggs leftover from breakfast to make two more breakfast sandwiches just for us. Once we were full, we wandered down to the rock jetty (my favorite place in my known universe), then headed out to visit the rest of the sights. A brief stop at my grandparents graves, a longer stop at the Field Gallery and then about an hour at Oak Bluffs. Got to see Jane and find out that the Blue House is for sale - anyone else who stayed there want to go in with us and buy the place? $700,000 investment on Martha's Vineyard, with its location, its a total steal and the neighbors are GREAT!

Finished our day by ordering food from the back door of the HomePort. It was nice to have gourmet food in our own seaside cottage (without having to cook it ourselves), but the food there isn't what it once was (or so I've heard) and I wouldn't pay that much for food there again. (We tried to go to Lola's - the site of our wedding reception - but they were setting up for someone else's wedding reception, sigh. I know those people weren't disappointed with their dinners).

Dave and I celebrated our anniversary that night - he got me some citrine earrings and a citrine pendant (citrine is Fiona's birthstone). He's such a great guy...but this is Fiona's life we're talking about here, so...

Sunday morning we got up, went to the General Store, went to the Cafe and hit the road, jack (although we didn't know we were supposed to bring the garbage home with us, so we left it in the garbage can out at the cottage, sorry folks, next time we'll know better - at least we put it outside...). And once again, we barely made the boat. Got there with enough time to change the kid (there had been a little pooh mishap on the way to the ferry, but we couldn't stop to attend to it or we would have missed the boat for sure), then we were driving onto the freight boat - a little sad cuz we weren't able to really see the crossing that time either, so Fiona didn't get to really experience that part of the journey - next time, when she's a little older, she'll appreciate it more anyway, right?

We drove back to my parents house and got to see Grandma and Pop, Great Aunt Jacque and Great Uncle Don, Cousin Robb and his finacee Catherine, Uncle Randy and Aunt Kate and FINALLY got to meet cousin Sophia. That was a trip. We all had a great time, although Fiona was a bit wiped out and needed a nap right before dinner. After dinner...Mom and Dad needed a nap, too and we all crashed. So much travelling in such a small amount of time.

Our final day in New England was spent visiting my grandmother for a little while, eating at Shady Glen and heading to the airport. Our flight home was similar to our flight out - Fiona slept for the whole first flight to Pittsburgh, but the plane was on-time so we actually got to go to the potty twice and eat lunch. The flight to Seattle was CROWDED, but Dave and I had aisle seats across from one another and we sat next to an older couple from upstate New York who were on their way to see their 3 year old grandson in Victoria, BC. Fiona took a liking to them and even climbed into the older man's arms for a while. They were good sports and treated her like one of their own.

Since then, Fiona has been having a harder time separating from mom. Jezebelle is happy to be home and things are starting to get back to normal.

We did finally start solid foods with Fiona and so far, she hates them. We tried avocado first - yuk. The first time, she wanted to eat the spoon, then realized there was something yucky on it, now any time a spoon gets close to her, her face crumples and she cries until you make the spoon go away. Second day of avocado, she managed to work most of it out of her mouth and wipe it all over my shirt...smarty. Next we tried bananas, but no, she didn't like those either. And last night we tried sweet potatos. Forget about it. She's going to be breastfed forever according to her. We'll see how the rest of it goes. I'll post some eating photos soon.

Oh yeah, and I know I've probably said it before, but this girl is going to crawl any day now. She had figured out how to move her legs, but then she hasn't figured out that the next step is to move her hands again. She just gets her feet real close to her hands, with her butt up in the air, then lowers herself back to the floor - when she figures it out, look out Jezebelle.

I am still amazed that she has learned to sit up by herself. She can't sit up from her back as if she were doing a sit up, but she rolls to her side, then pushes herself up to a sitting position (you know when someone has hurt their back physical therapists have to re-teach adults how to sit up that way...) Anyway, it's the first big step on the road to independence, she doesn't need me anymore - if I lay her down and she doesn't want to be laying down, well, she just sits right back up again. I love it.