Fun family trip

This weekend we went up to Vermont for a Rowe family visit; not only did we get to see Bill and Judi, aka Nana and Gramps, but we coordinated our trip to line up with that of Ethan's brother and his family, who were visiting from California. It was great for the girls to spend time with Uncle Mike, Aunt Kathleen, and cousin Dashiell, and of course Ethan and I were thrilled to see them as well and to meet our nephew. Because there were already a bunch of people sleeping at the Rowe house in Vermont, and because our girls have not been great sleepers lately and were at risk of waking the whole household with their midnight wailings, Ethan and I decided to stay in a hotel to ensure the best possible sleep for all parties involved. We opted for a hotel suite, with a separate, enclosed sleeping area, plus a living area with sofabed and a kitchenette. Julia was so excited when we walked into our hotel room and she got to see our temporary digs. When she looked into the sitting area, she remarked, "Hey, Mom! It's kind of like a living room!":



She was then delighted to discover another room in the whole set-up, exclaiming delightedly, "Look, Mama! I see a bed!"



But nothing compared to her delight when glimpsing the reflection in the mirrored bedroom closet doors, as if what she saw defied reality: "Mama! Look! I see ANOTHER bed!" She was so excited about it, I almost hated to point out that it was in fact the one and only bed and that it was simply an image in the mirror:


She then pranced on over into the kitchenette area and announced, "Look, Mom, they even have a sink here!"



When I responded that they also had a refrigerator, she declared, "Mama! This place is like magic!"

While we enjoyed our cushy sleeping arrangements, we spent the majority of our trip at Bill and Judi's house hanging out with lots of different relatives, which was a lot of fun for both adults and the kids. Julia especially loved her Uncle Mike, and spent a lot of her time engaging him in her various pretend games, even when he was already engaged in other activities. In the middle of our family Hearts game, Julia started some goofy routine that involved her telling Uncle Mike she had to leave and go to Nana's house, after which she would get on all fours and crawl out of the dining room (where the cards were being played) into the family room (where Nana and Aunt Linda were entertaining the kids). She would stop at the family room door, yell out "Ding Dong!," enter the family room and shut the door, then return momentarily to the dining room proclaiming, "Uncle Mike, I'm back!" And then repeat the whole routine all over again. Each time she was back, Uncle Mike had to acknowledge her presence, and after about the tenth proclamation of "Uncle Mike, I'm back!" he said to her, "You're back? Why did you leave?" She looked at him for a minute, then explained, "I left because I'm a dope and I keep leaving." Awesome. Apparently she wanted to show all the relatives what a good parenting job Ethan and I are doing, letting her inadvertently pick up great vocab words like "dope" (and "loser," and "butt.") At any rate, a great time was had by all, and we Massachusetts Rowes are now home so the blogging resumes....