Midwest 2011 Day 1

Nicholas and I have made it to New Stanton, PA (at least I think that is where we are), where we are staying for the night. This has been by far the lamest birthday I've ever had, but it was my own plan that did it, so I guess I can't complain. I spent the morning packing, then Nicholas and I drove the first 215 miles of our trip. The plan had been to get to the hotel by 4:30 or so to have plenty of pool time, go somewhere fun for dinner (and get a free birthday dessert), etc., but we got a late start and then had to take a crazy detour to bypass a stretch of I-70 outside Fredrick that was shut down for an accident and hit some blinding rainstorms later in the drive, so we ended up having to eat dinner at a rest stop and made it to the hotel about 7.

Nicholas had a rough time of it for stretches in the car because his nap schedule is a complete mess from the cruise and he is super exhausted. So he fought sleep for the first hour and was miserable and then finally fell asleep only to fuss and cry in his sleep off and on. That is totally uncharacteristic and had me a little worried, but it was just because he was so tired and was not comfortable sleeping in the carseat. Once he woke up and had some dinner he was back to his normal self, raving about how yummy his fastfood version of spaghetti and meatballs was, repeating everything I said about the water he spilled, and so on.

Luckily we managed to get in 20 minutes of pool time before the choir of 20 10-year-olds came into the pool. I know they have as much right to the pool as anyone else, but 20 kids who know each other appearing at once basically kicks everyone else out. It is a small pool, they were wild and splashing everywhere, and almost all of them crammed into the shallow end, so we cut our time short. Since tomorrow's morning plan involves a 75 minute drive to a museum that opens at 10 am and Nicholas is guaranteed to wake up before 7, I'm thinking about letting him get some extra pool time in the morning. We'll have to play it by ear, I think.

Overall, a decent start to the trip. Nicholas did break my heart a little bit tonight when he plaintively kept begging to go home while we were reading books. He asked on the drive to go home as well, but I was able to distract him with the idea of the pool. He is tired, a little overwhelmed by the string of trips, and I think missing his daddy. And he has no idea of the craziness of the next few weeks.

But for now he is asleep and I am sitting in the hallway outside the room. I think I'm going to go see what fun desserts they have in the shop at the front desk (all of 20 yards away, don't worry) and work on a blog post about the cruise. It may be lame, but it is much more celebratory than my other option--reading about the Civil War to prep my fall class.