Road Trippin' with the Boy

Last week, we drove from Louisville to Chambersburg, PA to spend Thanksgiving with the Locke side of the family. Normally a not-so-ambitious undertaking, the drive is a beautiful tour through West Virginia and Western Maryland that takes about 8 hours. But this time, we had a complication...it was the first trip for our boy, just a week shy of 3 months old.

The packing was excruciating: did we remember burp cloths? Do we have enough diapers? Are the wipes where we can reach them? Then there was the planning. When will we feed him? What about stopping to change him? What will we do if he just screams his head off for 8+ hours?

Fortunately, our fears were without merit. As it turns out, Aiden loves to ride in the car (or more accurately, loves to sleep in the car). Kristen had to wake him up to feed him, and he was otherwise happy as a little clam.


Thinking ahead, Kristen bought this toy bar so that in his rare moments of wakefulness, he could entertain himself. He seemed to enjoy it once he realized he could hit the various parts and they would spin and make sounds.

He did great with feedings too! We ended up scheduling it so that he only had to eat twice on the trip, and once was with a bottle while the other coincided with a lunch and gas stop (I could see in his eyes that he wanted my Hush Puppies at Long John Silvers). Of course, the last hour of the trip, he was fussy, but who doesn't want to wail and scream after 9 hours in a car? As it turned out, the trip only took us an hour longer than sans Aiden, and we consider that a victory to be sure.

It was a great trip, and when I say that, I'm including the traveling. We were blessed with safe driving and a great time with family. And now Aiden has been inducted into the tradition of the Groves Family road trip. There will be many more to come!