Last night, we returned from our ski trip vacation to Park City, Utah. On this trip, I learned many valuable lessons which will help me hugely with our Disney trip, which is LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!!!!!!!
DH, Claire, and I took a cab to the airport Wednesday afternoon. In the cab, I learned
lesson number one: bringing the big stroller that came with our travel system was a huge mistake! It was so hard to fit the stroller in the cab with all of our other luggage. We got it in there eventually and we were on our way. I kept a death grip on Claires carseat the whole way to the airport because our driver was insane! Ive never experienced that level of slamming on the brakes in my life! In the end, we arrived safely and got through check in and security with no trouble. We did not buy Claire a seat on the plane and we were on Southwest, so it was open seating. Of course it was a full flight, so Claire couldnt have her own seat. And, of course, the ONE man that you would never want to sit next to you on the airplane sat in our row! He was very large, very sweaty, and very grumpy! He fell asleep soon after he sat down and began snoring, which prompted Claire to start making her version of snoring noises. It was hilarious! Claire was wonderful on the flight! I quickly learned
lesson number two: Dont try to get Claire to go to sleep on the plane. She will sleep when she is ready. The only time she cried was when I tried to get her to go to sleep. When I stopped trying to do that, she was perfect. Silly, sweet, and playful. She then passed out on her daddys shoulder for the last hour of the 3 hour flight. I was happy that she was sleeping on DH because I was able to play games on my iPhone!
Upon arrival in Salt Lake, DH went to get the rental car while I retrieved the bags from the luggage carousel. We had checked 2 suitcases, a duffel-type bag, a pack and play, and a car seat bag. 5 items total. That was a lot of keep track of on the carousel while keeping Claire entertained! Eventually all of the bags showed up and we met up with DH and crammed all the bags and the seemingly gigantic stroller into the car and got on our merry way. It was a quick drive to Park City, where we rent the same house each year. Our friends from Phoenix had arrived about an hour before we did. It was so great to see them again! DH and I lived in Phoenix for 3 years, but moved back to Chicago about 2 years ago. Our best friends from Phoenix have a daughter who is 5 months older than Claire. The girls hadnt seen each other since Claire was 3 days old, so I was very excited for them to see each other again and have ample play time. It was late when we arrived at the house, though, and the other baby was in bed already. The reunion would have to wait until morning. We got Claire to bed quickly and spent the rest of the evening catching up with our friends. While bedtime went quickly, the rest of Claires sleep did not go very well that night. She was up 3 times that night, crying and yelling! DH and I took turns getting her settled. Not one got much rest. It was during that night that I learned
lesson number 3: Let Claire have her pacifier when sleeping on vacation! I normally only let Claire have a pacifier when she is in her car seat or when she is teething and nothing else will soothe her. But soothe her the pacifier does, so vacation has now been added to the list of pacifier-friendly times.
The view from the front door of our vacation rental:
The next day, Claire was up bright and early, as was the other baby. We quickly found out that the other babys high volume is too much for Claire to handle. Claire was terrified of the other babys loud voice! It was pretty sad. As long as the other baby was quiet, Claire was fine, but as soon as the other baby yelled, forget it! The daddies went skiing that day while the mommies and babies went into downtown Park City for lunch and shopping. In the car, the girls started out fine, but when the other baby started shouting in the car, Claire started crying. That led to more shouting, which led to more crying, and you get the picture. This taught me
lesson number 4: Claire needs to be in a play group. She is great around other kids until they touch her or yell in her face. I think a playgroup will help her with this. Once we got to the restaurant and both babies were in high chairs that were a safe distance from one another, they were both happy. They kindly shared their lunches with one another and chattered away.
Claire had grilled cheese for the first time and loved it. At lunch, I learned
lesson number 5: Claire can eat many more things than I ever imagined! When the other baby gave Claire a little piece of her grilled cheese, it made me a bit nervous because Claire has had cheese and bread, but never together in a grilled form. But when the other baby handed it to Claire, she ate it all up and wanted more. Lunch done, it was time for a
WalMart run for diapers and other necessities. The girls were adorable in their gigantic shopping cart.
Next, it was back to the house for naps for the babes and the daddies were home soon after naps were done. We had a fun dinner at the house that night and spent that evening chatting the night away after the babies went to sleep. Claires sleep was a little bit better this night, but still not great. Again, no one got much rest. .
The next day, the daddies went skiing again while the mommies and babies went to the Salt Lake City Zoo. That zoo was wonderful. First of all, it was completely empty. I think we were the first visitors there that day. It seemed like we had the zoo to ourselves. The animals seemed to be very close to the visitors at this zoo, which was great. We got to look at a lot of the animals very close up!
At the zoo, I learned
lesson number 6: Claire will indeed still nap in the baby carrier that I carry her in. I wear the carrier on my back, so its like a piggy back ride. She fell asleep about 20 minutes after I put her in the carrier and stayed asleep until we left the zoo. That gives me great hope for our Disney trip. I hope shell sleep in the carrier there, too!
Here's Claire in the double stroller we rented at the zoo. We thought both babies would be happy in there, but that only lasted about 10 minutes together!
After a fun day at the zoo, we headed back to the house for lunch and naps. Soon after naps were done, the daddies arrived at home and we had another fun dinner. Claires sleep was much better this night. Only 2 wake-ups, which were quick and easy to remedy. It seemed that she was finally adjusting to her new surroundings and new time zone!
The next day, DH and I watched both girls while our friends skied. It was a relaxed, fun day at the house with the girls. It was so nice to be on vacation and have nothing to worry about but playing, eating, and sleeping!
Here's Claire trying on my ski goggles
The day after that, it was time for DH and I to ski all day. The weather was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Sunny and in the 40s. The snow was great also. I felt like I did my best skiing ever that day, despite the fact that I hadnt skied since before I got pregnant with Claire!
Views from the slopes
Here I am in my dorky, but very safe, helmet
The reasons I chose the ski resort that I did for my ski day (Deer Valley) were 1) No snowboarders and 2) GREAT food in the ski lodge
Here's my panini and homemade potato chips. YUM!
I was very nervous to leave Claire all day as we hadnt ever left her that long with anyone but my mom. After a rough start of the morning without us, she was happy the rest of the day and was in a great mood when we returned from our ski day.
Here we are after my ski day!
She slept all night that night with no wake-ups! She was finally on track, just in time for us to go home.
The next day, it was already time to go home! The Salt Lake City airport has a nice little play area for kids. My inner germaphobe said NO WAY to the play area, but thankfully, DH was there to reason with that germaphobe in me, and Claire had fun passing the time by playing with all the toys and the other kids in the play area.
Here are daddy and baby playing at the airport
Again, Claire was great on the flight. This time, I didnt even try to get her to sleep, so there was no fussing or crying. Just a happy, silly baby who passed out on my shoulder with one hour to go on the flight. Fortunately, she passed out in such a way that I was still able to play games on my phone!
Here's my sleepy pumpkin on the plane:
We arrived home last night and Claire is now stuck on Mountain Time. She is going to bed at 8, instead of 7. And this morning, she slept till 8:30! Shes normally up at 6:30. So now Im wondering...should I try to keep up this later bedtime until we go to Disney World? On Florida time, shell be going to bed at 9 if we keep it this way. That will give us much more park time. Of course, she would be waking up pretty late, but we dont plan to make rope drops anyways.
All in all, it was a great trip filled with friends, relaxation, and fun. And I did learn a lot of things that will be of great use to me in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!!!!!!! I unpacked everything today and realized that Im about ⅓ packed for Disney World already! Another bonus of this trip being so close to the Disney trip!
That is hilarious! 
That's always hard for a mom... 
It's a good thing that we leave a week from Monday because that will give me all of next weekend to prepare. 
