Roadtrip Ramblings: Day 7 of 8

Today is the last day of Mommy's course! :)  Liam and I got up and took her to class, then ate breakfast and played at the local park one last time.  We picked Teri up around 2 o'clock and headed downtown to the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts (part performing arts center/part children's museum).  We played quite a while in the Market Square, Historic Remodel, and Water Table areas of the kid space before leaving Downtown Harrisburg for the evening's adventure - Liam's First Trick-or-Treating!

Since we'll be traveling on Halloween and may not be back in time to go around the neighborhood (and apparently the day for trick-or-treating around here is always the last Thursday of October anyway) one of the ladies from Teri's class was very generous and offered for us to spend the evening with her family and let Liam go around their neighborhood with her kids.  We didn't think to bring his costume to Harrisburg, but this family had several in their dress up box to choose from, and Liam chose the chicken outfit!  

We had lots of fun watching him learn from following the other kids and have a great time.  All the walking wore him out and he slept a joyfully tired sleep when we got back to the hotel, which was perfect since Mommy and Daddy had to pack up so we can hop in the car and ride home tomorrow.

Roadtrip Ramblings: Day 4 of 8

Another great day in Harrisburg!  Liam and I dropped Teri off at class, got breakfast at the hotel, then went to the park for a loooong time today.  After eating lunch back at the room, Liam snoozed out in the car while Daddy explored the area further.  Anyone who knows me well knows I love the mountains, so it's no surprise that I love Harrisburg's geography with ridges encircling the city!

After class got out we picked up Teri and showed her Reservoir Park before eating dinner at the best Asian restaurant we've found while traveling.  The General Tso's Chicken was the most amazing I've ever had, the Crab Rangoons were made in-house,  and Teri's Egg Drop Soup was perfect!  After dinner we came back to the room and relaxed, enjoying family time, and everyone went to bed early :-)

Roadtrip Ramblings: Day 6 of 8

Well, between Liam's late-night/early-morning play session and rainy weather here in Harrisburg today, it was definitely tough getting up this morning!  There's a cold front pushing through and it rained on and off until about 2pm, so Liam and I hung out at the hotel all day except for one mid-morning excursion to the park.

During a break in the rain we spent 15 minutes puddle-hopping and getting soaked on playground slides that were considerably faster when wet.  Liam loves any opportunity to play In water and wear his rain boots and dino rain coat, so he was one happy little boy out there!

Since it was a little cool though we kept the play time short and came back to the hotel to dry off and snuggle in warm jammies.  After lunch we both enjoyed a nice long nap before picking Mommy up from class, eating dinner, and hanging out before Mommy studied for her test.

Roadtrip Ramblings: Day 5 of 8

Today Liam and I made a side trip to Gettysburg!  Where we're staying in Harrisburg is just under an hour away from there, so I decided since we're so close that we had to go.  Most of you know that I'm a history buff, but you probably don't know that in high school I had a heavy interest in the Civil War, so I've always wanted to get to Gettysburg.

Why take a toddler there, you ask?  Three reasons:

1) Parents are still people too and should go places from time to time which their children will not understand fully, but through the experience of which they are exposed to the human condition. 

2) Small children, even toddlers, understand far more about the world than they can verbalize (more on that later in the week), which I didn't really understand and fully believe before Liam, so I now believe we should take every opportunity to expose them to the world around us for learning.

3) It's October in the mountains and too beautiful not to share a short road trip with my son!  I grew up traveling to the mountains almost every Fall with my family to enjoy the beautiful views and amazing weather, so I really loved the drive :-)

Later: Liam went to bed extremely early tonight, so we had an unplanned play session from 12-3 this morning - Mommy and Daddy are very tired...

Roadtrip Ramblings: Day 3 of 8

"Adventure Day" 2 went well!  It was a bit cool and windy in the morning, but warmed up as the day went on. 

Liam and I explored Reservoir Park, which is what I hope Dix Hill Park resembles one day in Raleigh - large playground, concert shell with grass seating on a big hill, artist spaces for pottery, sculpting, painting, etc. and a museum on top of the hill.  I really feel that a mixed use of a park is how you reach all parts of the community and love the layout of Reservoir Park for this reason.

In the afternoon we went back to Lingle Park where we played yesterday and got to watch a high school girls' soccer game and play on the playground.  After they cleared the field and went home, Liam and I played with his ball on the field for about 20 minutes and had a great time.  (You should check out the YouTube video if you've not seen it yet)

Teri's class got out around 6:30 today and so after dinner we all went down to the pool to swim.  We then all got in our jammies and Liam passed right out, exhausted from another exciting day in Harrisburg. :)

Roadtrip Ramblings: Day 2 of 8

Today was Teri's longest day of training, starting at 8am and going past Liam's bedtime, but we got to see her for a couple of hours for Mass and dinner from 5-7pm, which Mommy and Liam were both very happy about!  This was also the first of Liam's 6 "Adventure Days" with Daddy. While I've taken care of him solo many afternoons, evenings, or Saturdays, this will be the first time I've taken care of him during the day for 6 straight, so I guess we'll find out whether he gets tired of me haha!

It's so cute how much Liam likes to help Teri and I do chores.  After dropping Mommy off for her training today, he had a great time helping Daddy unpack all of the food bags and turn the hotel room dresser into our pantry for the week.  I couldn't keep up with how fast he was trying to hand items to me!

After dinner, Liam and I went swimming at the hotel pool, then Liam got a hot bath and fell asleep snuggled into Daddy's side watching a kids show.  Day 2 was a success!

Roadtrip Ramblings: Day 1 of 8

As many of you know,  we traveled this week to Harrisburg, PA for the last week of Teri's on-site training as a Creighton Model System Practitioner.  Since I would be taking the week off to care for Liam either way we decided it would be best for the whole family to travel up so we could be together in the evenings after Teri's class lets out.  The trip would be Friday to Friday, with us getting home in time (hopefully) for Liam to go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood for the first time.

We loaded the car up, hit the road at 9am, and made good time to the D.C. Area.  We're fairly laid back travelers, so we took a long lunch break for Liam to stretch his legs and burn some energy off.  Unfortunately, we lost two hours to the early rush hour traffic and a couple of wrecks, but we got into Harrisburg around 7:15pm.

We've determined that Liam is a little Road Warrior, taking two naps for a total of 3 hours of the ride, and generally enjoying watching traffic go by when he was awake.  Let's hope his interest in traveling continues next Friday for the trip home!