Travels

In the past three weeks we've made two trips to eastern Pennsylvania (or "back east," as my family calls it). The first was to celebrate my Grandad's 85th birthday and introduce Michael to the McMillen side of the family. 

Michael with Great Granddad

We carpooled with my family. Michael was none too happy about spending so much time in a car seat, especially on the ride back. But he loved being able to sit at a table with more than just me and Keith and look around at all the faces, and he understood that he was the center of attention!

We also got to visit my Aunt Kim and Uncle Andy while we were there. Aunt Kim is my mom's dearest friend, and not really an "aunt," but that's what I've always called her. I was excited for Keith to spend time with them, because Uncle Andy does all sorts of urban gardening and has built additions on their house with his own hands (including an amazing four-seasons room with walls of windows and a floor of flagstones). Keith came inside from a tour of the gardens munching on fresh kale, and I knew he was almost in heaven. :) 

The second trip was to visit Keith's side of the family, and since we were traveling by ourselves, we took the train. It was my first train ride as well as Michael's, and I was surprised by how fast it went. It was easier to keep Michael happy, because we could hold him and walk the aisles with him, but again the return trip was harder (more on that further on).

It was nice spending some time with Keith's relatives, since the only other time I'd met them was at the wedding. His cousins (11 and 12 years old) loved Michael. There was a heated swimming pool and Michael went for his first "swim," which went surprisingly well considering how tired and grumpy he was at the time. He was pretty zoned out for most of it. 

First swim!

The train ride back was ... interesting. Not bad, but Michael was fussy, we didn't have the best seats, and about halfway through a very interesting character sat down immediately behind us. He was definitely under some sort of influence. He was harmless and relatively happy, but he kept "preaching" the whole time he was on the train about how he hoped Mick Jagger would be in heaven, among other things. He also sang quite a bit and quite loudly, so we were treated to a lot of music. :) 

Next month we'll fly to Colorado for a wedding, so Michael will be one well-traveled baby by the time he's six months old. But I'm glad we get a month to just chill at home until then.