Vermont Trip Part 1: Traveling with a baby!

This trip was a lot of fun and full of a lot of firsts for our little family of 3.  I'm breaking the recap into 2 parts- one focused on traveling with our sweet baby Duke and everything about the weekend that wasn't wedding-related, the other focused on the REASON we went to Vermont in the first place- My Best Friend's Wedding! 

So, close your eyes and travel back to the wee hours of the morning on Thursday.  Juuust kidding, you can't read with your eyes closed.  We headed out for the airport around 5:45 a.m. Thursday morning for our 8 a.m. flight.  Naturally I pushed us to the limits and had to stop for coffee because frankly, I'd rather speed to get there than not have coffee at 6 a.m.  We got checked in, checked our bags, and fumbled our way through security with a bright-eyed, slightly confused little boy.  Our first leg of the trip, besides the 1 hour drive, was a ridiculously quick flight to Minneapolis.  I wanted our first flight with Duke to be short and sweet juuust in case he was a shit show.  Just being honest.  But, lucky for us, he did a great job, nursed on the way up and slept for quick flight. 

We had a loooong 4 hour layover in Minneapolis and I was silently cursing myself for booking our trip this way back in March, but it ended up being a nice break in the day.  We sat down, ate breakfast, fed Duke some fruit puree and relaxed until our next flight.  The flight to Boston was a long one, but once again with lots of nursing and a little peekaboo with the people behind us, Duke was a happy camper and slept most of the way.  So much so, that we all got to snuggle up a bit and take a family airplane nap. #vacationwinning  We had tons of toys to entertain him, but he was pretty exhausted so I did my best to just make him comfortable so he could get as much rest as possible.

All. The. Coffee. on travel day!

After landing in Boston and loading up a months' worth of clothes and supplies our bags, my BFF from the West Coast and her boyfriend picked us up in the rental car and we embarked on the 4th leg of our journey to Vermont!  We knew we would be getting in after 10 p.m. anyway because of the 3+ hour drive, so we took our time and stopped for dinner in a little town called Derry, New Hampshire.  It's one of the very few times I've been on a road trip of sorts and not felt like I was in a rush to get somewhere!  Plus the Northeast is beautiful and we had never been to New Hampshire or Vermont before, so it was worth soaking up the views while we had the daylight. 

Parked in front of the most perfect street sign...Ms. Abbott was about to have a name change!

We pretty much collapsed into bed after arriving on Thursday night and started our day bright and early on Friday with delicious local eggs, bread, and coffee for breakfast and lots of catch up time with a few of my favorite people.  7 of us were sharing an Air BNB house that was absolutely adorable and super charming.  It was so nice to all wake up in the same house and be able to make ourselves comfortable!  In no time at all, Duke had toys all over the living room floor and got some practice crawling around on hardwood floors which is great since our new house is covered in them.

Friday afternoon was all about local libations and catching up with the wedding crew before rehearsal and dinner later that night.

Rehearsal ready!

We skipped the Ben & Jerry's tour because of a bit of a tight schedule in the afternoon which was a bummer, but we made sure to find a local ice cream spot that was perfection.

Pretty sure I could spend every. single. summer afternoon like this.

We had a super relaxing and lazy Saturday before the wedding, hoping that Duke would be well rested and happy for the main event that day.  We ate brunch at an adorable café inside the Big Picture Theater in Waitsfield.  The staff was super nice and the place was a really cute with an eclectic mix of mismatched furniture and loads of charm.  Plus there were donuts and iced chocolatey coffee drinks so I was in heaven.  Duke was all kinds of adorable sitting up like a big boy in the high chair and flirting like a champ with the waitress. 

Sunday rolled around and we enjoyed some hide and seek under the covers...aka Dennis and Duke hiding from me because they did not want to get out of bed one bit the last day.  Packing + a full day  of travel was ahead and I can't say I blame them. 

Notice my teary eyes, Duke's fistful of my hair and devilish smile!

We ate breakfast at the Inn/Wedding Venue {all wedding details will be shared tomorrow!} and took off for the airport with plenty of time to spare.  Unfortunately our flight was delayed the EXACT amount of time as our layover in Chicago so I had very little hope we would make our connection that night.  Which happened to be the last flight home that evening.  We ended up getting a discounted hotel, staying the night and being put on a plane at 1:25 p.m. the next day.  I was pretty proud of the way we handled everything because normally this type of thing would stress me out to the max, but knowing it was entirely out of our control, we rolled with the punches.  We ordered from the hotel restaurant, ate food in bed and watched TV and woke up approximately147 times because Duke could see us through the hotel crib and was determined to be in bed with us. :)

Thank goodness for yummy cinnamon roll French toast!

Duke struggled a little bit on the last flight.  We still managed the nurse/sleep routine for most of the flight but he was a lot fussier than normal and we're 99% sure it had to do with the 2 new teeth he has poking through his top gums!  Anyway, I'm glad we have this first trip under our belt.  I know traveling with kiddos is always unpredictable but I felt like it helped that we were pretty relaxed and laid back about it all and Duke seemed to enjoy all the activity!

When all else fails, a little airport drink/appetizer break helps take the edge off.

If you made it this far, you deserve a Gold medal!  ;)  I love having these details and memories to look back on so I hope it's something you enjoy reading as well! I'll be back tomorrow with all things wedding related!

-T-