Cottage Visit 2015

Charlotte and I departed London early on August 12 for Philadelphia to start our month-long trip to the States. Paul had work in Missouri for a week at the end of August, and what started as a plan to join him developed into a much larger production. We had a wonderful time visiting my parents, sister and brother-in-law, aunt, and DC friends while we were in Maryland for 8+ days, then flew to Missouri for 3 weeks to visit with lots of friends and family there as well.

I was a bit nervous about flying transAtlantically with Charlotte by myself for the first time. Our flight out of Heathrow was early (8:30 am), so we got to the airport around 6 am. After saying goodbye to Paul, we eased through security and had enough time to visit the family lounge for a little while. I wasn't sure what it would be like as we followed signs down a couple of narrow hallways and up an elevator, but it was wonderful! It was super quiet and clean, with baby changing tables in the large restrooms, and large soft play areas for Charlotte to enjoy. The staff were very friendly and one even went and filled a water bottle for me when I asked where a fountain was. She enjoyed interacting with the one other baby in the play area, and it helped her get some energy out as well before the flight. There were stylized paintings of various famous buildings of the world on the walls, and Charlotte pointed to the Parthenon and said "Cribby?" [Her word for crib] I guess the columns looked like the slats of her crib... too funny.

Not to toot my own horn, but I felt prepared for the flight as I had spent about a week ahead of time prepping various activities for Charlotte. The carry-on was STUFFED with random tupperware and bags and binders of tasks. I have to say, she was quite good on the flight and only got fidgety a few times. I could tell a definite difference in her attention span and independence with play since our last flights, in that I was able to read bits of a book on my Kindle between setting up activities for her. Only a few pages here or there, but it was enough to keep me sane on the long flight. 

Unfortunately, she only slept for about 30 minutes of the entire 8 hour flight (!). She just had a tough time getting comfortable and then she woke up when she couldn't roll over 30 minutes into the nap. Then she was mad because she hadn't slept long enough -- and that was when I first pulled out the Curious George episodes I had downloaded onto the iPad before we left. She went from wailing and flailing to silent and absorbed in seconds. Whew! 

When we landed in Philadelphia around 11:30 am (east coast time), I was able to get a luggage cart to help bring our bags, carseat, stroller, and Charlotte through to the arrivals. It would have been quite a long and slow process without that cart! Mom and Dad were there to greet us. We hopped in the car and headed to the cottage. I think Charlotte napped for a bit in her carseat on the way.  Otherwise, she stayed awake until about 7 pm that night... midnight England time. She woke up briefly at 1:30 am, which I was fearful was her actual wake-up (since it was time to wake up in England!). She settled back down almost immediately when I told her it was still sleepy time. Then she slept until almost 7 am (noon England time!). She amazes me with her minimal jet lag. I kept waking up briefly around 2 am for days... not Charlotte. 

We had a truly wonderful week at the cottage. Mom and Dad were well prepared for our arrival with all kinds of new activities for Charlotte -- a big inflatable swimming pool, a tree swing, mini pop-up tents with a tunnel connecting them, books, swimming vests, and more. She was in total heaven, mostly just to see "Gammom n Gandad!" She adored going out on the motorboat ("go fast! again!"), watching the boats on the river ("big ship!"), making the jointed wooden bird sculpture 'fly' ("flap its wings!"), going on walks in the stroller, swimming in the pool with endless hours of pouring water from cups into buckets, ladles into cups, etc., swinging in the tree until her head touched the leaves ("sving? sving? blast-off again?"), and cooking breakfast (pancakes, waffles, and scrambled eggs) with Grandmom and Granddad's help. 

Walking on the dock with Granddad

Trying out her new swimming ring

Taking a little break to watch some Curious George

Stirring batter with Granddad

We were also so happy to get to see Aunt Allie and Uncle Matt over the weekend! Charlotte loved playing with them, even if they were more than a little grossed-out by her cottage cheese eating technique :)

Silly hats with Grandmom and Granddad

Sailing on the Chesapeake -- 3 generations of Hoff ladies!

I also was so thankful to get to take a day to go down to Northern Virginia to visit old friends. Charlotte stayed at the cottage with my parents, our first night apart! I left early Monday morning with my sister, who drove me to Baltimore and showed me her cute apartment before walking me to the train station. I thoroughly enjoyed a quiet train ride into Union Station of DC, a quiet cup of coffee and muffin at the train station, then a quiet Metro ride down to Franconia/Springfield to meet up with my good friend Meghan. Are you noticing a theme here? It was so, so nice to travel without a stroller and a goofball toddler, no matter how much I love her!

I got to see Meghan's beautiful new home and meet her sweet new baby Anna. She was then kind enough to drive me [on her day off!] to Mount Vernon Hospital, my old stomping grounds, over lunchtime to see friends. It was so very sweet to get to reconnect briefly with people I hadn't seen for about 3 years, as well as to tour the renovations the hospital had undergone. Made me miss working there, for sure! I also got to see my old neighbor and friend Dot -- so much fun to reconvene for "girls' night." My aunt drove me back up to the cottage on Tuesday -- Charlotte was happy to see me but apparently hadn't missed me too much. (Fine with me! Good practice for our upcoming separation when Paul and I left her for 4 nights to visit Croatia.)

We loved our cottage visit! It ended too soon, as usual. Thanks for the wonderful time, Mom & Dad!