Travelin' Light

There's nothing like a family vacation to make you need a vacation.

Notes from the last two weeks, spent cruising the east coast and checking in with the families:

• Both kids traveled very well, which I can only attribute to the soothing smells of Daddy Travel Sweat.  Works every time.
• A 100% increase in children results in a 300% increase in crap that needs to be toted to and from the airport and between each house stop.  Huge props to the lovely folks at Hertz for driving us to the airport in our rental car, thereby removing at least one repacking effort from the tally.
• After a rough start in NY, Edie made liars out of us all with nothing but sleep & smiles for the rest of the trip.  This is the second consecutive year in which a child has deliberately contradicted the behavior documented in the blog, thereby calling into question my credibility.  Which is not difficult.
• Finn continued to prove that he is a master of travel with exactly zero issues, even though he had to spend hours in the car listening to his sister cry next to him.  Thank goodness for the lovely hot pink gun club ear protection that helped him drown out the sound, though it did result in a new car rule that people wearing ear muffs cannot ask questions.  Apparently, we can only take so many questions, immediately followed up "What did you say?"

More pictures will be coming along soon, but there were three other highlights that must be called out:

• This trip provided the much-anticipated Meeting of the Edie Parkers, with five-month-old Edie Parker facing off against her 98-year-old great grandmother, Edie Parker.  Handbag maker Edie Parker and former Jack Kerouac spouse Edie Parker were unable to attend but sent their regrets.

• This was also the first time that all of the Finn grandchildren were gathered in one place, which only proved that the rest of the world better watch out.  This is one good lookin' group. 

• And finally, we all got to wish MeMa a very happy birthday at the greatest lake/BBQ place on Earth, Winding Trails in Farmington, CT, where all of the lifeguards appear to have been ripped directly from the pages of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.  I'd include pictures to prove this, but I wasn't quite sure how to approach them as a group for the photo op without sounding ridiculously creepy.  You'll just have to trust me on this one.

It was a blast, but I sincerely hope that we don't have to do anything like it again any time soon.  Really.  Any time soon.

I need a nap.