Ithaca is Gorges!

Josh, Isaac and I visited Josh's sister, Moriah, and her boyfriend, Craig, last weekend in Ithaca, NY.  Not only was it wonderful to see her and meet him for the first time, it was Isaac's very first long car trip (~6hrs directly) and he did amazingly well.

Josh and Isaac picked me up at Brandeis on Friday afternoon and we drove for an hour or so. Then pulled off to feed him and change his diaper. After that, Isaac was awake and happy. After a brief hour or so, Isaac started fussing and rubbing his eyes. So we pulled over at the next rest area and did a variation of our normal bedtime routine: PJ change and disposable diaper and then extensive nursing in the front seat of the car. One problem was that Isaac was so stimulated by the light, the car and various noises that he wasn't very efficient with his eating. Eventually, I called it quits and put him in his car-seat, draped a blanket over his bucket car-seat handle and played the ocean sounds on our iPod player. Josh and I did a little prayer and then started driving. Within minutes, he was asleep! We got to Moriah's house at 11:30 and then transferred him to the pack-n-play that we'd brought from home and set up in our room a Moriah's house.

Moriah and Craig live in this big, funky old house owned by an actor who played one of the Klingon in Deep Space Nine. It's really big and our little family stayed in their spare bedroom. Moriah and Craig had made the room very cozy for our arrival.

Saturday we spent at the farmer's market, walking around Ithaca and eating at Moosewood and a yummy ice cream shop and then ended up hiking several miles around one of Ithaca's amazing gorges. They really are spectacular. We finished off the day with my lentil soup and Moriah's fresh roasted squash.

Sunday morning arrived too soon after Isaac woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. So Josh and I got up and packed in a hurry. We grabbed breakfast in Ithaca and hit the road. Isaac slept most of the trip but when he was awake, he was a little pissed off that he was still in the car. We took frequent breaks when he was awake and sang many songs in as entertaining a fashion as possible. Have we told you how the Flight of the Conchords' song "You don't have to be a prostitute" is Isaac's favorite? Well, he loves it!

We walked into our house at 4:30 and felt really happy with our adventurous weekend.