Thanksgiving 2013: Getting there is half the fun.

We've gone to my Aunt Susie's house in Pennsylvania for the past five Thanksgivings.  We usually leave early Wednesday morning (like 4am), and arrive at her house in the late afternoon.  That was the plan for this year until we took a glance at the weather forecast while sitting in the pediatrician's office Monday morning. 

Caroline's two-month appointment was at 10am, and before the doctor made it in the exam room to see us, we had pretty much decided we needed to leave that same day, and take a different route, if we wanted to avoid the ice and snow that was headed for West Virginia and Maryland.

As soon as we got home I started packing and Pete went to Ellie's daycare to pick her up early.  We put her down for nap at home and planned to leave when she woke up.  We finally got on the round around 4:45pm.  Our plan was to drive north through Columbus, OH before heading East through Pennsylvania and to break the slightly longer drive up into two days. 

Caroline was the big wild card for this trip as Ellie has done very well on every road trip we've ever taken.  Caroline, however, is not a huge fan of her car seat when we're driving around town, so we weren't sure how she would do once we were on the interstate.  We were hoping she'd fall asleep once we were moving consistently instead of stopping frequently. 

Both she and Ellie slept in the car Monday evening - yay!!  One adventure down, two more to go - up first:  first night in a hotel as a family of four AND Ellie's first night sleeping in a bed.  Thankfully, Ellie slept just as well as she does at home.  We just put her in the bed, and built a little border around her with four pillows.  Caroline slept in the pea pod set up on the floor. 

It's blurry, but here she is Tuesday morning, sound asleep in a queen-sized bed.

Burrito in the Pea Pod!

Pete woke up early to check the weather before we headed out and a quick glance out the window helped us decide that we wanted to leave about an hour earlier than anticipated, as the storm was already here.

Snowy Wheeling, WV

Would Ellie and Caroline travel as well in the daytime?  Yes and Yes!!  Here's a pictorial depiction of how Ellie spent her day in the car: 

And here's a blurry picture of Caroline - aka Snoozy Bouf, Jr.

We rolled into Reading just before two on Tuesday afternoon - plenty of time to recoup and get ready for the week ahead.