Our first weekend away

And by "our" I mean, "me, Mark, and Riley", not "me and Mark."  Just to be clear. 

Anyway, the three of us made the 4 hour drive up north to go and visit some of Mark's family.  His grandma is turning 91 in just a week or so, and she has never met Riley!  So we decided that it was about time we went to visit her.  Just for the record, I never realized how much stuff you need to pack when going away for a weekend with a baby.  Our car was literally PACKED!  And we were gone for one night!  Anyway, I was pretty nervous about this trip because I knew Riley's schedule was definitely going to be disrupted, and I wasn't sure how she would deal.  I wasn't sure how she'd sleep somewhere other than in her crib.  Or how she'd do with 4 hours in the car each way.  Or all the strangers wanting to hold her.  But you know what?  It couldn't have gone any better.  I'm the proud owner of an angel baby.  She was pretty much perfect the entire time.

We decided to leave Saturday morning at 8:30 since she's usually down for her first nap by 9.  We figured we'd do her "pre-nap routine" (basically nurse and story) and then put her in the car instead of in bed.  Well, she was asleep by 9:00, and slept for 45 minutes.  Now, that's only half her usual nap time, but she then played happily in the car for the next hour and a half. We made a stop so she could get out, and then continued on our way until we arrived at Mark's nana's house.  And Riley took only about 30 seconds to warm up to her, and then she was all smiles.  I LOVE this photo.

Riley somehow managed to stay awake for 5 hours in a row without getting too fussy, until she was practically rubbing her eyes out she was so tired, so we decided we needed to check in to our hotel so she could have a nap.  She took a few minutes to adjust to her new sleeping arrangement, but then took a 2 hour nap, and was ready for more relative-bonding time!  We had dinner with a few more of Mark's side of the fam, and Riley was the center of attention, of course. 

Riley was absolutely enamored with her 6 year old "cousin" Mishani (I think she's a cousin once-removed? I always get confused).  Riley followed her all around, stared at her, tried to pull up onto her lap, watched her every single move, laughed and smiled at her non-stop... she was kind of obsessed.  And she thought her great-Nana was pretty neat too.

"Helping" her great-Nana open her 91st birthday present!

And Mark's nana was soooo happy to see Buggy.  She constantly wanted to hold her and play with her.  It made me really really glad that we made the effort to go and see her, it clearly meant a lot to her.

Riley was even able to stay up that night until 8:45!  She has been fast asleep at 6:45 pretty much every night, so 8:45 is LATE for her, but we were with the family until 8:20ish and then we had to get her back to the hotel and bathed and nursed, and she was literally out as soon as I put her in the pack n play! 

Oh, AND... while we were at her house, we found a picture of Mark as a baby right about Riley's age.... (yes, this is a picture of a picture)

Why hello there, baby boy version of Riley...

Right?