Mon Amour was recently out of town for business again, and Papillon and I decided that we needed to take some kind of fairly significant trip to pass the time. We have gotten pretty talented and keeping ourselves busy locally, but it was time for a change pace.
So, Papillon, my dad and I packed up the car and set off on a roadtrip to visit my Little Brother at college waaaay waaay off in the distant cold corner of nearby state. We headed out early, knowing that the 6.5 hour trip with a toddler in tow would probably take a bit longer than that and we wanted to get there before dark.
Papillon was a trooper and we only made 2.5 stops on the way out (the 1/2 stop was just for gas and we didn't even get her out of the car). When we arrived it was snowing quite significantly, and I was very thankful that dad was driving and not I. I trust his snow driving skills much better than mine. We got checked in, paid a quick visit to Little Brother and then called it a night.
The real fun started the next day which we kicked off properly with a big dose of pancakes at the appropriately named "The Breakfast Place". Little Brother very kindly saved me from ordering the full "short stack" which would have been 4 fluffy pancakes the size of a dinner plate. He assured me that even he had never made it through the full short-stack. I got a half stack (2 gigantic pancakes) and even my pregnant-self was slowing down by the middle of the 2nd pancake.
We got Papillon french toast, but she preferred Grandpa's Sausage Gravy. Anything Grandpa was eating was obviously tastier than what was on her plate.
You know how restaurants give kids a paper menu and a couple crayons? Well this place was posh, and Papillon got a whole box of 24 crayons to use! So many options, she had to share some with Uncle E.
On the way from breakfast to church, Papillon grabbed a quick cat nap.
I had told dad he needed to sleep in later than his normal 2am wake up time lest he wake Papillon...he dutifully slept in until 6am. And at the first sound of him stirring, Papillon stands up in her pack n play and happily cries out "Hi!". The 2nd day, at 6am, I thought Dad had succeeded in sneaking out of bed without waking her and I rolled over to take a peek...there she was, standing in her pack n play, holding on to the side with her nose peeking over the top. When she saw me move, she just lifted one hand and waved and smiled with out a word. The cuteness melted me. Side note about sleep: Poor thing, all weekend got no more than 20 minutes of nap at a time. She was sleep deprived for days after our return. But she dealt with the lack of sleep admirably.
After church, we trotted off to "Presque Isle" for some scenic touring. It was very sunny and very cold.
The snow and wind of the previous day had blown the lake up on the branches, creating some pretty spectacular ice sculptures on the trees.
And on the picnic table, which of course Little Brother and his friend had to sit on...and get stuck to!
After a morning of gallivanting about in the cold, we headed back to Little Brother's apartment to hang out for a bit. Papillon was tired enough, and enough overwhelmed by all the new experiences that she was sitting perfectly still. So obviously I had to put her hair up in a pony tail. Carpe Diem!
Fun times with sharing her water and playing silly games with the fun family.
That evening, we headed back out to Little Brother's other church, affectionately known as "Church in a Bar". This was a pretty nifty experience. They are very focused on the inner city crowd and they keep their service very "real". Papillon even tested out the nursery which was most impressive, considering the church takes place in an old bar building and a good portion of the church go-ers are homeless. Papillon enjoyed herself despite being sleep deprived and in a new place; she didn't cry until I came back to pick her up at which point she took one look at me and just fell apart. One of her new little toddler friends gave her a hug. So sweet.
At the end of this very busy fun day, Papillon wouldn't even let me sing her a song before bed, she pushed me away and dove right into bed.
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