1st Road Trip

We spent Labor Day weekend in Pinedale, WY visiting Kole's friend Trey and spending some time in part of the state that neither of us had been, We packed up the car on Thursday when we got home from work and when it was time to get Payton ready for bed we gave her a bath and a bottle and instead of putting her in her crib we buckled her into her car sear and hit the road. We planned to leave at bedtime in hopes that she would sleep for the 6 hour drive and she did! We left about 7pm and made one stop to fuel up and get some caffeine and we pulled into Trey's house about 1:30am. Payton mostly slept, she woke up a couple of times and looked around, but never made a sound and went right back to sleep, we think she must have thought she was dreaming!

We tried to sleep in on Friday, but since Payton had gone to bed at her normal time she was bright eyed and bushy tailed at about 6:45am and so our weekend getaway began. Trey had to work so we hung out at his house and relaxed for the morning. I took Koda for a walk to explore what we had missed when we arrived in the dark. Pinedale is really pretty and Trey has gorgeous views from where he lives. When Payton woke up from her morning nap Trey came home and took us to lunch on Freemont Lake. The lake is about 5 minutes from his house and has a resort and restaurant right on it. Lunch was great and the view was hard to beat. After lunch we took Payton home for a nap and we were pretty beat from our late night so we decided to join her. Friday night we grilled and just relaxed after Trey got home from work.

Saturday we went exploring in the Mountains (15 min from Trey's) and took Payton for her first hike. I carried her most of the way in the Moby wrap and she did great until about the last 15 minutes and she started to get fussy so Kole carried her and within a few minutes she had crashed in his arms. I guess the fresh air and exercise (we were getting) wore her out! Saturday afternoon we drove up to Jackson and spent the afternoon and evening in Jackson Hole. The drive was only a little over an hour and it was beautiful scenery. We walked around the town for a while and then Trey and Tyler met us for dinner. They treated us to a wonderful dinner at a great restaurant and then we made the trip back to Pinedale.

I have a funny story to share from dinner that night that I don't want to forget. Payton was sitting in her stroller and I was feeding her dinner (cereal w/ apples and squash) and I turned away from her to tell Tyler that she had started this new thing where she spits her food at us sometimes and thinks it's funny, I then proceeded to mimic her and Tyler started laughing and said "she totally just saw you tell me that" I turned back to look at Payton and she flashed me the biggest grin like she totally knew what I had just told him. We all laughed at the thought and then I continued to feed her, I kid you not, the very next bite a gave her, she took one look at me and then spit it all over! We all laughed so hard and I would never believe it had happened had I not seen it myself. Payton is a sweet baby, but I tell Kole all of the time I think she is going to give us a run for our money as she grows up. She has so much personality for a 5 month old, sometimes too much for her own good, it's crazy!

Sunday we went to lunch at the Pub that Trey always tells Kole about and had more good food and locally brewed beer. Trey took us to see the land he now owns, which is beautiful and then we ended up at the softball field right by his house. Kole had found a bucket of balls and a glove in Trey's garage and decided he wanted to play, so we did. We hit balls, fielded said balls (really I just ran back in forth in the outfield, didn't really field much), played soccer and tossed the football. Payton hung out in her stroller in the dugout and watched the festivities. After we were completely worn out which seemed to take far less time than it used to, we headed back to Trey's and parked ourselves on the couch and watched a movie while Payton napped. We grilled dinner again and just relaxed, it was a great day!

Monday morning we woke up, packed up the car and when Payton was ready to go down for her morning nap around 9:30 we hit the road again. She slept until about 11am and I joined her in the back seat and gave her a bottle. To my surprise she had a major blow out so I had to change a pretty messy baby on my lap on I-80, something I will never forget! We made it to Rawlins, WY which is about half way and we were hungry and Payton was ready to get out of her seat so we stopped at Subway and ate and let her stretch on the table. We fueled up got back ion the car about an hour later, I joined Payton again and have her a bottle. Without a fuss she fell asleep about 1:30 an slept until 4:40 when we turned on to a street near our neighborhood, we pulled in the driveway 5 minutes later!

The weekend was awesome, just what we needed! It was relaxing, the weather was great, we saw beautiful places and we went into it with only a few plans and did what sounded like fun the rest of the time. Our first road trip no longer just the two of us was a complete success, Payton couldn't have done better!

These pictures make me laugh, after we finished playing on the softball field Payton was ready for a bottle, but wouldn't take the one I brought for her because it wasn't warm enough ( a bit of a battle for us) so I just let her hold it so she wouldn't freak out until we could get back to Trey's and warm it up. She was so thrilled with herself and I think it should be an ad for Tommee Tippee!!