Sunday, July 20, 2008
Lake Livin'
D: Now that you’ve learned about our grueling ordeal 30,000 feet in the air and you are feeling rightfully sorry for us, I can assure you that it was all worth it for the wonderful trip we had with our family and friends in the Midwest. Ask us immediately after the flight and we would’ve told you there is nothing worth that kind of torture, but the quality time with our loved ones has more than paid for the trouble. Plus, after deciding to purchase another seat for the way home so both kids could be strapped into their car seats, the flight home was much, MUCH better.
The trip was planned to spend 4 full days at my father’s cabin, by the shores of lake Mille Lacs in MN and an evening back in Mpls. with some friends while my Mom gave us some respite from the kids. Everything went as planned, and the twins did a great job of weathering all the changes in routine, temperatures, sleeping quarters and play space. The first day, my dad offered up a huge bin full of new toys for the boys...planes, boats, trucks, you name it. But they were too busy being snoopy little toddlers and getting into absolutely everything else they could explore.
At the cabin, duct tape was my new best child-proofing friend and by the end of the week every drawer and cupboard was duct taped shut. It was mentioned more than once how much easier it would be to just duct tape their hands together. Kidding, of course.
Several attempts were made to indoctrinate the Deuce to MN lake-livin’, but unfortunately they would have no part in actually getting into the lake to swim. Since W and I are practically aquatic-beings ourselves, looking back at the amount of time that we spent in the water as children, we will keep trying to share our love of swimming with them throughout the summer.
The boys did, however, thoroughly enjoy the boat ride in their grandpa’s boat. They were a bit skeptical about boarding, but once they heard the roar of the motor and we began to glide through the water they quickly realized there’s really nothing quite like an evening cruise across a lake in MN.
O even sat up in the very front of the boat with his grandma and bravely rode high above the water overlooking the sunset.
Throughout the week my parents were troopers, patiently loving my kids through their new toddler tantrums and respecting our ‘positive discipline’ approach (‘distract, distract, distract’ can get pretty exhausting!). The most tolerant member of our crew, who endured the most suffering was our dog Sedro’s dad (my dad’s dog), Dusty. Dusty is quite possibly the sweetest, big ol’ beast you’ve ever met and the boys instantly took to him... as a climbing gym!
As for the flight home, as I said before, the car seats were the missing link that was sorely overlooked the first flight. As a new parent we unfortunately learn important lessons through our mistakes. The biggest lesson that we’ve learned about toddlers is that if you give them an inch, they will take a mile. Our first flight we had thought, “the more room, the better” and were stoked to have 2 whole rows to ourselves. We could not have been more wrong. On the other hand, once strapped into their 5-point harness on the way home, it took only a matter of seconds for the Deuce to realize they were going nowhere (except 30,000 feet into the air with the rest of us), and they were much more calm about the whole experience.
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There's something about the midwest! I'm headed to Chicago and then northern Wisconsin with the kiddos this week, and hopefully they'll also enjoy a little lake living (though they're a bit young, but it's something...). We do have seats for both of them, thankfully, a lesson we also learned after our first trip and attempt at only 3 seats for 4 people.
Gorgeous pix, as always!
Great photos---especially the sandy foot!
I think you've got the ticket to flight semi-paradise with the carseats...we just might have to bite the bullet after reading your tale.
I'm glad to hear that Hell at 30,000 ft was worth it!