Intercourse

First, get your mind out of the gutter....it's not about that. It's about Intercourse, PA. Yep, it's a real place and that's where we went on day 2 of our vacation...into Amish country.

Life post vacation has been crazy, hence not being able to get these posts out timely. It took everyone a couple of days to recoup from a rough travel home. Dylan's been sleeping more than usual and a bit more whiny, Cade's schedule (or any semblance he had of one) has been non existent and Mike and I have felt pretty tired too. Not to mention that we've had a few other commitments happening and I haven't slept much at all for a couple of nights. So, I'm behind in life in general, not just blogging.

Day 2 of our vacation was forecast to have rain (like every day we were there) but the odds were lower during the morning so we got the gang ready and made the hour-ish trip from Hershey to Lancaster county. PA has a lot of farm land. It's pretty much all we saw when driving around it. Not a fact I knew before this trip.

We got to a tourist shopping area and got out to browse. Normally I'm a snob about these major tourist grounds, preferring to attempt to try and find more real connections to the places I travel, but with 2 kids in tow, I'm all about 1 stop shopping. We headed straight to our #1 priority of the day, a horse and buggy tour. We signed up and then had some time to duck into some shops before the tour began.

Meeting Our Horses - Tom and Jerry!

We carted along the major road with all the cars zooming by and then turned onto the quieter roads where the Amish community was. Then it was pretty much just us. Dylan, the ever observant guy he is, asked us after a while where all the cars where.

We learned all kinds of things about the Amish culture from our guide, Miriam. Seeing as I knew next to nothing about it, I learned about. We learned about their air pressure and propane methods of powering things in their homes, that most of the homes are multi generational, their church is held in personal homes (rotated amongst the community) and that they speak Pennsylvania Dutch and call us "the English."

Work Horses

Amish woman working and personal buggy parked outside.
They personal buggies can go up to 10-12 mph but the multi person one we were in only goes about 6-7mph

 Our guide lived about 30 miles away so she takes a taxi over, stays with a friend for a week and then taxied back since taking a horse and buggy daily, or even weekly, is just not feasible. The Amish find any kind of job they can after their schooling...which only goes until 8th grade. Then they take an apprenticeship or train for any kind of job they can out in the wide world.

Dylan Checking Up on Cade

Now, I thought the Amish lifestyle came from their interpretation of religious doctrine. Though our guide told me that's not true, I've since had a conversation with a neighbor that knows more about the culture than I that said they are intertwined. Seems the religion\culture separation is a complicated one that is translated differently looking from within and the outside. I'll have to try and learn more.

Our ride was a pleasant one. We saw lots of clothes hanging out on lines, gardens next to houses and even their cool little bike\scooter hybrids. I didn't get a picture but imagine a bicycle that instead of a seat has a scooter platform at ground level. It was pretty cool. We also got to experience an Amish drive through. Our buggy pulled up to a home where they had a stand selling snacks and drinks, including home made root beer. A woman brought out our order and we tasted. The popcorn was great and the root beer fair but I think I prefer the bite of Barq's myself.

Once we made it back it was prime nap time so we hit the road. Mike let me jump out at an antique store but we were quickly on our way again. We took the scenic route back so the boys could sleep. Once back in the Hershey area, we hit another antique store recommended by the woman we were staying with. While there, it poured so we timed our activities right with the weather. Those things made it a full day so we went back for dinner and then bed.

Cade Michael - 4 Months

I still have some posts to get to about our vacation, but yesterday our baby Cade turned 4 months old so that takes center stage!

Let's start with the not so big developments. Sleep. Not so big in development because not much has changed. While he's great at falling back asleep after a feeding, he's still not achieved his sleep through the night status (6 hours). He came very close 2 of the nights we were on vacation but fell just a bit short. Nights with 4 and 5 hour stretches are still not the norm (though lovely when I do get them). We often get 3 hour stretches but still have lots of nights, like last night, where he's up every 2.5 hours. Again, I'm mostly adjusted to sleep deprivation so feel like I handle the tired fairly well most days. However, the one major change in sleep is that we've transitioned him out of our bed and into the crib which we moved to our room. So I'm also sleeping a bit better without him wiggling around next to me.

Cade in the Burch Family Bassinet
While he hasn't been sleeping in it, we've been using it as a safe place for him to hang out while the whole family gets ready in the bathroom. We're getting ready to go to the newest member of the family to use. My brother, Jamie, has just adopted a son, Bryson Landry Sawyer Burch.

One big accomplishment is eating. A couple of weeks ago he was having some fits and I thought he might not be getting enough to eat. So, though just a bit early, we introduced him to solid foods. He's really done a great job eating rice cereal mixed with milk. To that, we've also tried apples, carrots and peas. That's all we've been able to introduce as of yet since we were instructed upon Dylan being introduced foods to leave 5 days for possible allergic reactions. So far so good on that front.

Dylan, friend Jessica, Cade and Michael
We had a cookout last night on Cade's 4th month b'day
when my friend Jess was in town for a quick visit.

First Time Eating Baby Food

Cade is quite a talkative guy and has lots to say. He has lots of coos and ahh sounds to make and it seems like his baby vocabulary is growing. One of my favorite noises from him is a purring from the back of the throat that reminds me of the noise Tigger (from Winnie the Pooh) makes.

Physically, he's growing by leaps and bounds. His 4 month check up is tomorrow so we'll got all his stats then. I was able to weigh him a couple of weeks ago and he was 13 pounds. Judging from the extra chub on his cheeks and thighs, I know the number we see tomorrow will likely be a good bit higher.

A big milestone he hit just over a week ago was rolling. He has rolled from his back to his stomach twice that Mike has seen. I have yet to witness a solo roll (only ones where Mike was helping him get his arm out of the way to make it from his side to his stomach). I'm very much looking forward to seeing it for myself.

With his good neck control, he can use this seat now.

Dylan just loves his brother. While in Pennsylvania last week, they had a great interaction that we were able to catch on tape - Dylan cracking up his brother. It was too cute. Dylan wanted to try again the next night and it worked again. Very enjoyable to see! Here are clips we caught.

Cade is a true snuggle bug. He likes to be held. A good portion of the times he's fussy (and he's not hungry), he cheers up instantly when you pick him up. It was one of our biggest issues on our travels. He just didn't like being in the car and in the stroller all the time because he wasn't getting his snuggle time in. We've been trying to give him lots of hugs since we returned home to catch up.

It's official, I'm head over heels for this little guy. I've always loved him but something clicked in the last month or so and I'm just mad about him. He's such the perfect addition to our family!

Indian Echo Cave

Since storms were forecasted for the afternoon on day 1 of our trip, we found something we could do rain or shine - a cave tour! We saw the signs on our way into town. Caves are super cool and we've seen them all over the world and can't get enough of them so that was our plan. Dylan's been in several caves (Bermuda, Silver Dollar City) but this was Cade's first. He only slept through about half of the tour so he must have been somewhat impressed.

While we waited for our tour to start, we fed the bunnies, chickens and goat. We also saw a quail and a chicken roaming wild that Dylan had fun following for a while. He deemed them his friends and was a bit sad when we didn't seem them after our tour so that he could say good bye.

Goats and Bunnies Behind Us

The cavern was, of course, pretty cool both in formation and temperature. Dylan's favorite part of the cave  was the formations that looked like different things - the dragon, bunny and melted snowman got several mentions throughout the rest of the day. I really liked Crystal Lake which was an untouched, pristine part of the cave. It was in the back of the cave where the owners had blasted out some rock and discovered it. Unlike the rest of the cave that was subject to uncontrolled traffic before the cave was owned\operated\protected by an owner, this area was completely untouched before they accessed it. It was beautiful!

Crystal Lake

Pristine Portion of the Cave

The last "room" of the cave we were in, which was not far from the entrance, was named Wilson's room and was named after a man that had used it for 19 years (!) as his home. Crazy.

Of course, it didn't end up raining after all so we probably got more wet being dripped on in the cave than we would have with an outdoor activity. In any case, the family seemed happy with the days activity so it was all good. We grabbed some dinner for the way home and pretty much called it a night after that.

Zoo America

After our disastrous start, we all actually had a decent night's rest and got up and had a great first day of vacation. However, before getting to bed we got more semi bad news. You see, this trip was both planned long ago and was very last minute. We thought of the location a while back but didn't plan much more than that because we weren't sure if and when we would be leaving. Poor kitty Oliver's health has been a big question mark and we were nervous to leave him for a week. So it wasn't until Saturday night that we decided to leave on Monday (after I accepted that a Sunday departure was unrealistic). We booked our place to stay on Sunday and packed. Nothing more was researched. After arriving in PA on Monday, we looked up Hershey Park info and realized that it wasn't even open until Thursday of this week nor was the Dutch Wonderland we wanted to visit. Bummer. We can be fly by the seat of our pants kind of folks so we found other amusements to fill the first part of our trip.

And what does the Hines family always do? Why, go to zoos of course! Zoo America is in the Hershey Park area and a very short drive from our lodging, so it was to be our first stop. The weather was looking iffy for the afternoon so we tried for an outdoor activity in the morning when we hoped the rain would hold off and planned an "indoor" activity for the afternoon (that post will be next).

Zoo America is a cute little zoo with great animal exhibits. We got the chance to really use our new double stroller and the boys both had a great time. Here is our morning in pictures.

The Boys in Matching Outfits
(Which you can't really see in this picture)
Not cool, I know, but I'm doing it while I can get away with it.
Dylan was totally into being in charge of the map. He kept showing it to Cade and saying "see Cade, this is a map"
Cute!

Ocelot - Cats are Cool

Bobcat
He was pacing by the fence.

And this is what the bobcat was eyeing.
Goslings

Super Fluffy Cute Bear
(Whom I'm sure could rip our heads off easily)

Porcupine!

Me and Dylan with the Porcupine

Dylan LOVED This Bear

Another unpictured favorite of Dylan's zoo trip was the mountain lion. Not the actual mountain lion, which Mike and I loved, but the smushed penny he got with a mountain lion picture and a mountain lion carved tree\totem that was stalking a bunny hiding out under the ledge. Other animals we saw and enjoyed were the zoo's new Sandhill Cranes that had great, loud voices and the wolves that were napping in clear view.

After seeing all the zoo had to offer, we went back to the apartment where Mike and Dylan had naps before we had our afternoon tourism treat.

The Joys of Travel

Ah, family vacations. The destination usually holds great times and memories but getting there and back home can be, well, not so fun. While still on maternity leave, we wanted to take our first family vacation as a family of 4. Being not quite brave enough for the rigours of the airport, we wanted to find somewhere where we could drive the gang. Mike and I are always open to seeing what a destination holds and like seeing something new ourselves. The tricky thing is that he and I have traveled and seen a lot, especially in driving distance of Boston, so it took some creativity to come up with our vacation location.

We settled on Pennsylvania. He and I have never really explored Philadelphia (though it doesn't look like we'll be getting to that this go round), thought Hershey Park would be great for Dylan, interested in checking out Amish country and would love to hike some in the Poconos. Seemed a place that would hold lots for us. This road trip, by New England standards, is no short one. By GPS, it should take about 6 hours. Throw in 2 young kids and a lot of rain and it took about 8.

Our adventure started out at 6:45am Monday morning when we started rushing around the house trying to get us all ready and packed up to go. Even though we did 95% of the packing Sunday night, it was extreme chaos for hours trying to get out the door. At 10:45 (we had hoped to leave at 9), we finally were leaving our driveway. About 2 miles away, we realized we forgot the contract and check for our vacation rental and turned around to go get them. Good thing we did since we had also forgotten to shut the garage door. It was going to be a long day!

About 45 minutes out of town, we were all very surprised by a loud exploding noise. So loud that my ears were ringing for a bit after. A semi truck tire had a blow out right next to our car and tire pieces were flying all around us. It scared the bejeezus out of me! My heart didn't stop racing for a while and Dylan was talking about truck tires and asking questions about the event for the duration of the trip. Cade slept through the excitement.

Not long after that the torrential rainfall started. I hate driving in the rain. In Hartford, CT, Cade woke up screaming (hungry) and we also hit standstill traffic. So we took the next exit (right into the ghetto) to stop for lunch for everyone. Mike hopped out of the car and left. I had hoped he would take Dylan with him so the poor little guy could be out of the car for a bit. I rolled down the window and yelled after him but he was gone. Oh well. I carried on. Cade needed a diaper change so I went to open the door to get supplies and use my seat as a changing table. I thought it strange that I had a hard time getting the door to unlock. When I opened it, the car alarm started going off! I sent Mike a text and called and he didn't respond. Eventually it stopped so I assumed that Mike had disarmed the car from inside Subway. I tried again to open the door and the alarm went off again. Ugh! I was stuck. So much for finding a discreet place to feed Cade.

He returned with food to an irritated wife and in trying to get in the car and help with the situation, drinks were spilled everywhere. Cade got fed, Dylan went inside with me to use the restroom and get more napkins and we got in the car to head out again. That pit stop took about 45 minutes. It was going to be a long day.

The next couple of hours were spent driving in horrible rain with ridiculous driving. We were going 65 mph then cars would slam on their brakes and slow to 30 mph for no apparent reason then go back up to the speed limit and repeat the process. This process combined with being surrounded by lots of semis (and the blow out still in very recent memory) did not make for an unstressful time.

Around 4 hours into the trip Cade freaked out. I mean cried like we've never heard him cry before. We thought he might cry himself to sleep eventually (there's only so much calming you can do from the front seat of a moving vehicle) but he continued to escalate to heart wrenching proportions. We pulled off the highway and the first thing we came across was a hotel. Cade and I got out, walked around, calmed down and he ate for a bit. I thought all was well. But back in the car seat the freak out started again. This time we just had to carry forward. With some time and some head pats from Daddy, he finally passed out.

We had one more pit stop to feed Cade (at the 6 hour mark) that was mostly without drama. Well, other than Dylan repeatedly saying "I want out, I want out"....I think he was done with being in the car. The next hour and a half was actually pretty peaceful. At 6:40 we drove up to our lodging. It only took 8 hours. Good grief!

We went with a vacation rental by owner so we have a 2 bedroom basement apartment for our family. Our hostess is lovely and really helped us melt away the hard trip day we had. Yesterday was actually a really great day and I'm glad we're here. I'm really not looking forward to the road trip home but am trying to keep that out of mind until the day arrives. My kids are not Texas kids and just aren't used to car trips of this length. The most Dylan has endured (since he was 3 months old) is about 3 hours in the car. Cade's not done anything longer than our 2 hour trip to NH. Looking back, given the conditions, I'm pretty proud of how the kiddos endured the trip. Hindsight's always a lot easier\clearer, isn't it?

Mike and the Brood of Boys

Almost a month ago now, I went in to work for a couple of hours during the busiest day of the month, the 25th. Partly just to be a team player and help out (since me not being there is a huge burden on those left behind during this time period) and also to keep from getting too rusty on my work skills. A couple of days before, my good friend Kari called and asked for a huge favor....for us to babysit her boys for half of the day while she fulfilled a work obligation. Normally not a problem but this time it would be all on Mike.

Shockingly, the day went very smoothly and Mike had no problems with the boys. They played well together and Mike had fun playing with everyone. I didn't realize he'd taken pictures during the day as well until I found them on the camera recently. There are some cute ones so I thought I'd share. Cheers to Mike.....Super Dad and Babysitter Extraordinaire!

Ryan Watching Luke and Dylan on the Slide

Fun at the Sand\Water Table

Ryan Checking in on Cade

Can you see Ryan peeking down at the swinging boys?

Move Time!

BCM

Having done the fair on Saturday, it was a doubly special weekend for Dylan since we got to go to the Boston Children's Museum on Sunday. My friend Tamara has a membership so we were able to enjoy for free. Sunday being soccer day for Mike, I ventured downtown with both the boys solo.

Mike woke me just before he left at 7:30 and I jumped in the shower with Dylan. I got both of us cleaned and ready, then got Cade ready and was downstairs a few minutes before our planned departure time. Silly me, I didn't realize it would then take about 15 minutes to get packed up and loaded in the car. Still very much not used to this 2 kids thing. Once downtown, it took longer to get out of the car then planned as well. I felt bad being about 20 minutes late but Tamara didn't seem too bothered by it since she assumed it was going to happen.

The Children's Museum is a mad house on the weekend so we wanted to get there early when it's only open to members before opening to the public. During that time, it's a little less nutty. First off, we hit the bubble room then went to the room where golf balls can be played on lots of different tracks. These rooms were probably the only ones where Dylan and Elsa were interested in being in the same area.

After that, we went up to the next level and soon thereafter split ways with Tamara and Elsa so Dylan could explore what interested him.

Playing in the Sand

Playing in the Water
(His sand\water table gives hours of amusement to him at home too.)

Soon Cade got hungry so I found a little used area of the museum to sit and nurse him. Dylan's instructions were to stay where I could see him and he followed them extremely well. When I lost sight of him, I would say his name and he would immediately move back into my sight. Considering he had to entertain himself for about 15 minutes, I was really impressed with him.

It was so nutty trying to keep up with Dylan, keep Cade happy and try to keep track of where Tamara and Elsa were as well as trying to juggle the camera and all of our stuff. My life now involves trucking around 2 kiddos and all that goes along with that but it's still all very new and Cade is still so extremely high maintenance. That means that every time I make it through a trip like this without major meltdowns and without losing my mind, I pretty much feel like superwoman. I wonder how long it will take to get more used to it.

Fair Day

The weekend before last was a busy one for us. There always seems to be fun things happening that we want to have Dylan enjoy and it's tough to make time for them amongst the chaos of having an infant around, trying to get some projects done at the house and, well, just keeping up with life in general.

At one of the parks we frequent for play dates, there was an advertisement for a fair that one of the private schools in the area was putting on. The weather was nice that day so we decided to check it out. We got started out later than planned (thanks to Mike letting me get a little sleep in the morning while he played with the boys) and arrived about an hour after the fair had begun. Not a big deal except that the only parking was a shuttle ride away and we only had an hour until nap time. Mike dropped me and the boys off at the fair and went to the lot to wait for the shuttle to get back.

While we waited, Dylan was excited to do the bounce house. I distracted him away from it as long as possible (wanting Mike to be there for the fun) and we went to a toy sale they were having. For $1, we bought a few little used toys that have brought Dylan hours of enjoyment. Unfortunately Mike was still not back and Dylan was just dying to go in the bounce house. Mike said not to wait so I bought some tickets and helped him get in. It was his first time in one and I obviously couldn't accompany him since I needed to stay outside with Cade in the stroller. Poor Dylan didn't really know what to do. He just kind of wandered about during his time in there. I wish I could have gone in and bounced with him to have made it more fun for him. In any case, even though he didn't do much he seemed ok with the experience. So, it was on to the carousel next to it.

Wandering Aimlessly in the Bounce House

It was pretty much the tiniest carousel known to man. Just as it was about to start, Mike showed up so I was able to join Dylan for the ride. He chose a horse on the inside circle and I stood next to him with my back up against the middle. Since the thing was so small, it was like I was just spinning around in little circles and I quickly became dizzy! I changed positions to stand more with him facing forward by the horse and was able to make it through the ride without getting sick. Man, I'm getting old if a stupid little carousel can do me in.

By this point, Dylan was fading. The crowds and activity was a bit overwhelming for him so close to nap time and he was half checked out. It being so much effort to get there and another activity we (Mike and I) wanting to do before leaving, we pressed on. What could make us such bad parents to drag around a poor tired child, well Barn Babies of course!

The Barn Babies experience has pens of little critters you can pet as well as some babies wrapped in swaddling blankets you can hold and cuddle. Dylan can get snuggly when tired so luckily this activity worked very well for him in that state.

Bunny Baby

After the first bunny, Cade was hungry so I made my escape to find a corner to sit and nurse him while Mike stayed on with Dylan. Mike said Dylan was very gentle and huggy with all the animals. Ahh....my sweet boy!

After the Barn Babies experience, we had a few more tickets to use so we went to the fair games designed for little guys. Dylan did the sucker tree where we didn't find a marked sucker (ie didn't win), fished for little fish in a pond where we got 1 token and did a spin the wheel game where we also lost. With our one token, we went over to the price area to see what it could be traded for.

Classic Mom mistake, I picked out 2 things I thought he would enjoy and gave him the choice. Dylan is not good with multiple choices...especially not a tired Dylan. Not that he kicks and screams, I just don't think he understands the concept of one or the other. He got attached to both choices very quickly. In a choose your battles fashion, I just let him have both. Yeah, I'm not going to win mom of the year for letting him "steal" a prize but we made our donations to the games and I just didn't want to make that scene just then. After we got home and realized Mike had a pocket full of forgotten tickets, I felt a lot less bad about Dylan getting a toy soldier and a little rubber ice cream cone.

Luckily we caught a shuttle very quickly so we were able to get to our car as quickly as possible and head home. I'm glad we went but it's always tough to do special things during nap time. The tired kiddo just doesn't get the full enjoyment out of it and melt downs seem to be imminent. Glad we avoided disaster on this go round.

Cade's First Hike

Two weeks ago we finally made it back up to our place in NH. We hadn't been there since our Storyland trip in September. Yikes! That's a long time! Between moving, holidays, being too pregnant to do much of anything in the outdoors and having a baby we just haven't had the chance to make the quick trip to our mountain getaway. Also, poor Oliver the cat has had so many unresolved health issues that we were waiting for him to be more stable and also needed to find a reliable cat sitter in our new area, which we did. So now, it was definitely time to introduce Cade to the mountains.

We went up on a Tuesday during nap time and all the boys napped in the car while I drove. It was nice to have the peace and quiet with only the radio to keep me company. After unpacking and cleaning up a bit, we had a relaxing afternoon. That night was a particularly bad one for sleeping. Cade was up every 2 seconds it seemed and even though Mike slept on the couch to try and actually sleep, he was up every time he heard Cade and I upstairs. That meant that Wednesday morning was spent taking turns napping. Then it was time for Dylan's nap. During that time, I referenced our hiking book and picked out a place for us to go that afternoon.

Once Dylan was up, we made the 30 minute drive to the base of Mt. Morgan which is on the north side of Squam Lake (where the play\movie On Golden Pond was based). It's a beautiful area. I thought I had picked a relatively short hike for us (2 hours round trip) to have as an experiment. Dylan hadn't been on a hike in about a year with us (since I was about 8 weeks pregnant). We had no idea how much he might want to walk and how much we might be able to carry his ever increasing body weight. It would also be interesting to see how long Cade lasted in the pack while on the move. Time for the adventure to begin.

The hike started out at 3pm. Dylan walked about 30 yards and then was ready to be carried. Oh boy! I was assigned Cade and Mike had Dylan. We stopped and got him in the hiking back pack and continued on.

Upturned Tree

Cute Hikers

After about 45 minutes or so, Dylan started to complain about being uncomfortable. We decided to have him walk for a bit which he wasn't initially happy about at all but after a few minutes of holding my hand, talking and walking, he was enjoying the trip again. This time period where I was holding his hand and helping him up some big rocks and steps did the most damage to my back not carrying Cade.

It became apparent after a while that this was not a one hour 45 minute round trip as I thought the book described but that far one way. Whoops! I never seem to read that darned book right! Well, we just kept on trucking and decided to play it out to see what happened. But, we thought we should turn around by 5 in order to have plenty of time to make it down before the sky started to darken.

Unfortunately at 5 we had not yet made it to the top. One of the reasons I chose this hike was because the book described it as having boulder caves just before the summit. While the boys sat and had a snack, I continue on with Cade just a bit to see if the boulder caves were close. Alas they were not. We went back to Mike and Dylan and started out for the trek down having gotten to just about 1/4 mile from the top. Sigh.

The View From the Highest Point We Made
(Squam Lake Behind the Trees)

Dylan Having a Snack Before the Descent
Me With Baby on the Front and Backpack on the Back

Mike made easy time of the trek back. I, on the other hand, had some trouble. 1) I didn't have the snack time the boys did that gave them some good energy, 2) Seeing the path down over Cade's head was challenging so I was taking sideways steps a lot and 3) I'm just not in great shape yet and my legs were very fatigued.

Mike and Dylan had a fun time down. They spent a good while playing hide and go seek (Dylan putting his hands over his face and Mike being an entertaining father as usual and finding creative ways to "find" him) and then I engaged Dylan in a good game of I Spy (which is tough to make a long game when only surrounded by trees). The most exciting thing I spied was a red squirrel. Dylan also enjoyed listening for the mountain water streams and waiting to see it.

And Cade. Well, that little guy fell asleep soon after we left the car (within 30 minutes) and he snoozed the rest of the way. Other than the difficulties I had carrying him, he was a breeze on his first hike.

All in all the hike lasted about 3 hours. By the end, we were ready for a good dinner. We stopped at the pub down the road from our condo, had a very enjoyable dinner and then headed home. Some day we'll have to do that hike again and we definitely won't turn back until we get rewarded with the view from the top.

Thursday morning, we got up, packed up, cleaned up and at nap time headed home. I drove and the boys all napped the 2 hours home. It was a good first traveling adventure as a family of 4. So successful that we're planning a longer family car trip to happen very soon. We also hope to be getting back to NH again before long. My maternity leave is too quickly passing and we have lots of family bonding fun to enjoy before it's over. Some more sleep would be nice too.