First Road Trip and the Mountains

On Saturday Allison made her first official road trip to North Carolina. The trip from Jacksonville to our house outside of Asheville normally takes about 6 1/2 to 7 hours. I was quite concerned this one might take 12! I couldn't believe it, but with me sitting back there with her, she fussed for a total of about 5 minutes. She did great. She took a couple of naps and then I gave her a couple of toys that played music. She is crazy about music! You ought to see her dance. It is hysterical. She rocks back and forth the moment a song comes on. Even if there is a song way, way in the background, her little ears pick it up and she starts to dance. So Ted found this great toy at Target that plays classical music and it kept her entertained for a long time. We were very proud of her. We were also worried about changing her environment and how she was going to sleep. We have made the guest room into her room in the mtns and during this trip we have started to switch it over to a very girly room and we are going to paint it light pink tomorrow. We took her pack and play and after some hesitation the first night, she is sleeping better than she did back home. She took a 2 hour nap today and she slept through the night two nights ago. We are having a great time. Today we went into Asheville and we ate at the Mellow Mushroom. Tomorrow we are going to the Grove Park Inn to look at the gingerbread display they do every year. We went I think last year just Ted and I and it is incredible. We are taking all of the kids this time. Well, it is just us for Thanksgiving, which means I am in charge of the whole meal this year, including the turkey. Thankfully, I only have Ted and the kids to embarrass myself in front of! It has been a great trip and we got some great pics of Allison out on the back porch. When you see her standing by the railing it makes you realize how tiny she is! One thing that she is doing that is driving me absolutely crazy, though, is that she has learned how to grab our attention by gagging herself. She does it deliberately and looks at us. I believe she is very smart and has learned survival techniques of how to get attention in the past. Well, we had one child who did that also before (I think Kevin when he was about 11 months) and let's just say the car started to reek after awhile so Allison is going to have to learn to cut out this technique very quickly!! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!