Planes, Pains and Automobiles

The Bahamas are even the most beautiful islands from the air!

Traveling with a toddler has perks, and they begin and stop with priority line access.  Other than that, there aren't many.  A full day of air travel with a little one, spanning two flights and four hours of wait time in airports, can be tricky - and we have only one child!  Don't get me wrong, Isla is an awesome little travel companion - she's not fussy, no fits, no screams - but what's tricky is the fact that 48 hours of travel can really throw off a child's sleep patterns (and we all know what a sleep freak I am) and keeping a very energetic and curious infant still/entertained while riding on your lap for a total of six hours is no easy feat (hooray for the airplane plastic cups which happily kept her at bay for most of our two flights), and then to strap that same child (now sleep deprived) into a car seat for seven hours the next day can be...a challenge.  Especially when that child has grown up mostly in places where car seats are just not the norm and sitting on momma's lap is...sigh.

Anyway, we are here in Northern Michigan and couldn't be happier.  It's beautiful up here and it's so great that Isla gets to spend time with her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.  She's loving it and so are we.  There's talk of bonfires, pontoon boating and beach time.  Ice cream parlors, golf and s'mores.  Scott even whipped up a batch of Painkiller's last night to give his family a taste of the islands.  They were good...really good.

So that's us right now.  Unwinding.  Enjoying friends and family.  Chilling out, Northern Michigan style.

Sweet home Chicago.