| August 2008: Our First Family Vacation Two days after my last day at Chez and one day after my parents took off to L.A., Daddy, PJ, Melissa, Mark, Isabella, Macho and I caravanned to a cabin 6 miles from Downieville, CA on the South Fork of the Yuba River. Having never travelled with the baby before, we packed the car full of bathtub, ExerSaucer, highchair, playpen, clothes, diapers, toys, everything but the kitchen sink. With the car totally full to the brim, the only thing that belonged to Daddy and I were two small backpacks of clothing. Oh, and food... Once to the cabin, we quickly rearranged the rooms so that Daddy was able to share a ginormous bed (by taking a twin bed from the other room and tacking it on the side of our queen-size bed). The Peej was put down for the night in the playpen, and then after his midnight feeding, would sleep with me. It worked out well and we were always able to have a leisurely morning afterwards. The day that we arrived, we had lunch in Downieville at the local pizza place, which turned out better fare than we had expected. After lunch, we went back to the cabin and waded a little in the river out back. Isabella was fearless and didn't seem to notice that the water temperature was quite brisk. The Peej was quite aware that the water did not feel the same as his bath water and made his displeasure known. That night, after the babies had been put down, the adults enjoyed a lovely steak dinner and played gin-rummy afterwards. The second day passed in a most leisurely manner, starting with a hearty breakfast, followed by much enjoyment of the sun, napping and lollygagging. The only thing that we did more or less to schedule was eat! Once again, Isa amazed us all by going into the chilly water up to her chest, without much complaint. The Mommies and Daddies all jumped in at one point or another to refresh ourselves, but the Peej's only concession to the cold water was sitting on a sun-warmed rock and splashing the water that lapped up onto it. Oh, a hard day it was, to put down mimosas for breakfast, rosé for lunch and two nice bottles for dinner with our sausage-rice (all chosen by and Mark). The next morning it was all business again, packing the cars up and heading our opposite ways, the Fernandez-Congero clan to Reno by way of Lake Tahoe and the Su-Bowdens home to Kensington by way of the Vacaville Premium Outlets. It was a wonderful, relaxing trip and one we'd like to make a tradition.
|
