In early August, we headed off on our first really big road trip to Rochester. If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wow, driving 10.5 hours with a 12 month old! That does not sound fun!”.. well, you would be absolutely correct. Bo was quite a trooper – on the way up, he made it 7 hours before losing his mind and truthfully at that point, I felt like crying and flailing about too. On the way home, he was on to what this long car trip was all about and was basically miserable the whole way, even with me sitting in the back entertaining him. He slept approximately 60 out of 600 minutes, both times. Neato. Despite all that, I will say I preferred this to flying because at least his crying was self-contained to our vehicle and we could stop whenever we wanted for some fresh air, caffeinated beverages or just sitting at a rest stop and watching big trucks go by for a happy break. Either way, we made it. Another mama merit badge earned.
The big draw for our trip home was that the PGA Championships were being played at the golf club my parents belong to and Matt’s a big golf fan. I went to the practice rounds and that was enough for me to get a taste of it, and the rest of the week Matt attended with my brother-in-law or Dad and he was a happy camper. I spent the week letting Bo act as a Babyproofing Consultant on my mom’s house and visiting with old friends. There were a number of people who had returned to our town for the PGA so it was a great opportunity to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in years, especially since I rarely spend the holidays in NY anymore.
One of the highlights of my trip was getting together with 3 of childhood friends for a playdate with their children. My friend Jenn hosted, who has been one of my best friends since we were 13. My mom came along, since she’s good friends with Jenn’s mom, and we were laughing to ourselves as we walked up their front path about how many times I had been to Jenn’s house for things like prom pictures, New Years Eve sleepovers, even a dinner party for our high school Spanish club… and now we were here for a kiddo playdate. The other two girls, Kristen and Laura, I have known since elementary school and their little boys, Ryan and Nate, are 1 month and 2 months older than Bo respectively. It was so, so fun.
I also got to spend some time catching up with friends from the neighborhood I grew up (that none of us actually live in anymore.) It was totally a picturesque 80s suburb neighborhood where we played capture the flag and rode our bikes all over until it was time to go home for dinner. (Our moms are all best buds to this day and refer to themselves as “the hood ladies.” I love it.) A couple years ago, I reconnected with some of the “hood kids” over Twitter. I had a fun night catching up with them in real life at a cookout – and finally got to meet the wife of one of my childhood buddies, who I’ve talked to on Twitter for the last two years! We actually got together for a walk earlier in the day, and it felt strange to say “nice to meet you” because it really was just like seeing an old friend. This is why I love the Twitters.
We also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary while we were at home! Hard to believe 6 years have flown by already. We opted not to go out because of the PGA crowds, and had a yummy dinner at home with the family and shared a bottle of our favorite champs.
It was a fun trip home, even with the travel drama, and I’m happy we had both the opportunity to spend some time with my family (and for Matt to spend some time with his favorite golfers) as well as get to see far-flung friends I miss. I absolutely love our life in NC, but going home to Pittsford in the summer time and seeing childhood friends sure makes me nostalgic for my roots and wishing the road to get there wasn’t quite as long as it is.
