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Thursday, June 03, 2010

Meeting the Cracker

We went to visit our friends (parents of The Cracker) for Memorial Day weekend. We were nervous about the trip since it would be our first with both girls and it is a longish drive (7 or 8 hours including stops), but it was a success!

The drive wasn't too bad. The girls did as well as we could have expected them and Ellie went out of her way to try to keep Addie happy in the boring car. It was really only toward the end of each drive that either of them started having issues. They're good sports.

The weekend was a blast. We did one activity a day, which was a nice pace. Poor Addie - since she was the most easy-going, we decided to forgo any sense of a nap schedule for her. It was necessary because Olive usually naps from 9:30-1:00. Ellie usually naps from 1:00-3:00. Someone had to give up their naps in order for us to do ANYTHING!!! But she was a good sport, given that not only was she tired, but she was also sick. She's such a sweet little thing - boogers, sleepy eyes and all.

Ellie went to sleep late every night but was still in decent spirits the following day (though we're paying the price now that we're home). I think the main reason for her being so well behaved was The Cracker (7). It was the first time that Ellie was able to hang out with an older friend and I loved to see her interact with him. It made me kind of sad to know that Ellie is the oldest of all our local friends' kids because it would be neat if she had more chances like this.

She adored the Cracker. She wanted to do everything he did. She ate what he ate. She said what he said. She played what he played. She ran where he ran. He was her idol. She even slept in the tent all by herself (without either parent) because the Cracker was with her. We heard them talking about mature topics like which train they each want to be and why. It was obvious that she loved being one of the "big kids" and felt so mature.

And I absolutely loved it! I loved watching her with him and best of all - I LOVED THAT SHE DIDN'T NEED ME TO ENTERTAIN HER!!! She met Graeme and that was the last I really saw of her. It was nice for a change.

To my surprise I didn't take many pictures of the weekend, not that I can show them to you anyway (our internet is currently misbehaving). I thought about it at the time, but I was enjoying the relaxation and didn't want to spoil it. The trip was a huge success and Ellie wants to visit the Cracker more often.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awww. I'm glad you guys had a good trip. Poor Addie, though! How did she handle her nap mish-mash?

Jen

Niffer said...

Not too bad. That baby is just so dang easy! We did have a bad moment when we took her to the top of a mountain and she didn't take a nap, she was hungry, and it was cold and windy. Not to mention, she was sick. She had more of a melt down then than I've ever seen, but even it didn't compare to past experience. I think as long as she's not BOTH tired AND hungry, she can manage to get through it with moral support.