Lee and Elsa's Big Adventure

This weekend Elsa and I went to Michigan to visit Ellen, Dave, Carter, and two sets of grandparents. We took the Lake Express out of Milwaukee on Thursday afternoon. It was Elsa's first time on the high-speed car ferry, not counting an extremely rocky trip last summer while Elsa was still in utero (the one where everybody around me was puking their guts out from seasickness, while I enjoyed a ham-and-cheese panini from the snack bar). Fortunately, this weekend, the lake was very calm and we had a nice, smooth ride in both directions.

Being so early in the season, the boat was probably not even a third full, so Elsa and I had plenty of room to spread out. And that was a good thing—I didn't bring my car on board, so I had to schlep all kinds of junk up to the passenger cabin. I was able to park Elsa's stroller right next to the seats, which was very convenient, because when it was naptime, I just put her in the stroller and reclined it. She ended up sleeping more than 45 minutes. When she wasn't sleeping, she was a little bit noisy, but just in her usual happy, babbling way—no crying or fussing. And now, all we have to do is get her on a train in the next few months, and she will have taken every major form of transportation (car, plane, boat) before the age of one. She's definitely Mommy and Daddy's little traveler already. Here's Elsa on the ferry:


Grandma B. came and picked us up when the ferry docked in Muskegon, and Ellen and Dave were nice enough to loan us one of Carter's carseats so that we didn't have to bring our own. We headed back to Grandma's house to eat takeout and watch the babies play together. They got along great—they seemed to love hanging out together, often smiling and laughing at each other. Carter is smaller than Elsa in both height and weight, but he sure is a lot more mobile! He was crawling all over Grandma's living room while Elsa looked on. (I was hoping she would pick up some moves from him, but so far she's still pretty firmly planted in one spot.) Here's a picture of them playing together:


And here they are in their dueling Johnny Jump-Ups (Carter may have Elsa beat at crawling, but she was able to show him a thing or two about swinging around in the jumper):



Elsa has been going to sleep extremely well at home, but we took a tiny step backwards while in Michigan, probably because she isn't used to falling asleep in strange surroundings. But Grandma was nice enough to stay in her room with her for about 15 minutes while she fell asleep Thursday night, and each night after that she fell asleep even more quickly.

Friday was a beautiful, warm day, so we took the babies to John Ball Park Zoo. It's not exactly a huge zoo, but we did see a tiger, a grizzly bear, monkeys, and we had a great view of the chimpanzees, who came right up to the window where we were standing. Elsa really seemed to notice the chimpanzees and enjoy them. Here she is checking out the chimps with Grandma:


Elsa and Carter side by side at the zoo:


On Saturday, we headed out to Grand Haven to visit Grandpa and Grandma J. It was yet another gorgeous day, and Elsa got to see Grandpa's store for the first time. After that we walked down to Snug Harbor and had lunch on the deck. The babies gummed on oyster crackers and orange slices (both were firsts for Elsa) while we ate our sandwiches. Elsa wasn't thrilled about leaving her sunhat on, but the sun was really bright, so after I had picked the hat up off the ground and put it back on her head for the 80th time, I gave up and put up the hood of her sweater instead. She tried to pull that off too, but since hoods don't work quite the same way as a hat, she was foiled at last. (I really need a hat that ties under her chin.) Here are both the babies on the deck at lunch:



After lunch we walked down to the beach, for Elsa's and Carter's first glimpse of sand! They seemed curious but not quite sure why were making such a big deal about it:



We thought Carter was dressed more for a hunting expedition than the beach—if he crawled into the grass along the dunes, we'd never find him:


Here's Elsa with Grandpa, checking out the boats coming down the channel. We figured she must like them a lot, since she's constantly making motor boat noises:


After the beach, Ellen, Dave and Carter headed for home, and Elsa and I went back to Grandpa and Grandma's for the night. Elsa got to eat dinner in the high chair Grandpa made for Ellen and me way back when:


The next day we headed back to the ferry for the trip home. The ferry's elevator had stopped working sometime between Thursday and Sunday, which meant I had to carry all of my crap (including the stroller) up the stairs to the passenger cabin, but other than that, the trip was uneventful. And I guess I should just be thankful it was a normal temperature on board—every time I took the ferry last year, they had the air conditioning cranked so high I could see my breath. I actually brought Elsa's winter hat and mittens on board with me, just in case! Fortunately, they weren't needed.

We arrived home Sunday afternoon to a Daddy and a puppy who missed us very much. We can't wait to see everybody again very soon!