Sara's first vacation

We just returned from our first family vacation, to the cottage on Mackie Lake, and it was a success! Sara slept for most of the 3 1/2 hour car ride up, and though she was not a fan of having her life jacket put on for the boat ride over, the lull of the ride calmed her down. The first day was an adjustment period for her, and for us too! Babies do not travel light... our Rav4 was packed, how do people travel with small cars?? It was a bit cool and I had packed mostly summer clothes for her - oops - but less sun meant more time outdoors for Sara.

We were lucky to get a good sized bedroom in the cottage addition, quiet and removed from all the action (a portable fan is also key for the noise factor!) We stayed up until 1:30am the first night, pretty rare for us these days, and Sara woke up at 4am... yikes! She slept right through the other nights though, which was great. She had a good time, smiling and laughing a lot with her new friends, and enjoyed looking at all the trees and the lake. It was great to hang out with everyone -- we had delicious food, played some 'cottage Olympics' (BB gun target shooting, water balloon toss, bocce, etc...), poker, and even late night dancing after some drinks.

Sara was especially good during an international beer and appetizer tasting on Saturday afternoon (yum), when there were about 20 people there. She was very happy socializing, I just took her away for some quiet time once or twice. Her little friend Kathleen (2) cracked me up on Sunday morning... K was trying to read her a book but she just kept repeating "Baby Sara is so cute".

We were sad to leave, but Sara liked her life jacket on the way back and fell asleep in the boat. It feels like a huge accomplishment for us, and really boosted my confidence too!