Birdie's First Road Trip
On Monday, the three of us drove down to Columbus, or more accurately to the northern Columbus suburb that M's sister lives in, which is also adjacent to the suburb where M's parents still live in her childhood home. Our destination was a small Airbnb. With the Delta variant circulating and M's nephew L not being old enough to be vaccinated (among other reasons), M was not comfortable staying with her sister, and her parents house is very small and not air conditioned. The Airbnb was a compromise option that allowed us to all hang out together outside.
This was Birdie's single longest drive to date, sort of. When we went to Fremont for our first and second vaccination, we technically didn't drive as far as the two hours it takes to get from our house to Columbus, but we also turned around and came home almost immediately and Birdie never left the car, so the total time was more. Tomayto, tomahto.
Another fun trivia item was that the Airbnb was just the fourth building that Birdie has been in her nearly 7 months. Seriously, only four. Before the Airbnb there was the hospital where she was born, our house, and the pediatrician's office. Having a baby during a pandemic is weird.
In any event, on Monday night the three of us were joined by M's sister, nephew and parents. We got take out from Flyers Pizza, which is the first new restaurant I've eaten at since March 2020. M and I split a BBQ chicken pizza with a thin crust as well as some garlic boneless chicken wings. It was a pretty solid pizza made better by the novelty of eating anywhere new. We talked a lot and played some soccer (sorry, futbol) with L inside the small fenced yard. L also opened his (early) birthday presents from us, which he was thrilled by. He was very excited to meet Birdie, and enjoyed doing some little dances to try to hold her attention. She seemed appreciative.
Tuesday morning Birdie & I substituted our usual walk to the lake with a walk along a paved path ringing one of the Columbus Metro Parks that was a scant block or two from our house. It lacked the "destination" of the lake, but did go through some very nice fields with a lot of birds.
Early on Tuesday afternoon we met up with M's Kati. Kati lives very close to M's parents, but we opted to hang out in the their mutual friend Annie & Casey's backyard. M actually was Annie's roommate for a year on that very house ( Chucha used to play with her Great Dane Gilbert), and we went there because they have a very large stand alone screened porch with ceiling fans that they call "the bear cage". We hung out there for a few hours while Kati took a break from her (work from home) job. We also saw Casey briefly.
In the evening, we reconvened M's family at the Airbnb for dinner. This time we got take out from Saigon Asian Bistro, which I had been to before. This time I got Szechwan Chicken and some crab rangoons. It was the first restaurant Chinese food I'd had since Christmas 2019. It was delicious. More soccer was played. M's mother and sister gave Vivian a big pile of baby clothes.
Thursday morning rain was threatening so we skipped the walk. Naturally, it didn't rain at all, but whatever. We had to be out of the house by 11am, which ended up lining up perfectly with Birdie's schedule. She napped all the way home. We got back, unpacked and picked up groceries in the midst of a gigantic rainstorm that brought down powerlines and trees all over our side of town.
Thus ended my first real vacation of 2021. I'd taken a single day here and there, but this was my first extended time off since my parental leave in January. More critically, it was the first major travel we did with Birdie. We had to pack all sorts of baby things (pack & play, stroller, diaper bag, formula, bag of toys and a blanket) but it worked out ok. With proof of concept complete, we are now much more likely to visit other people (including most critically my parents) in easy driving range.
This was Birdie's single longest drive to date, sort of. When we went to Fremont for our first and second vaccination, we technically didn't drive as far as the two hours it takes to get from our house to Columbus, but we also turned around and came home almost immediately and Birdie never left the car, so the total time was more. Tomayto, tomahto.
Another fun trivia item was that the Airbnb was just the fourth building that Birdie has been in her nearly 7 months. Seriously, only four. Before the Airbnb there was the hospital where she was born, our house, and the pediatrician's office. Having a baby during a pandemic is weird.
In any event, on Monday night the three of us were joined by M's sister, nephew and parents. We got take out from Flyers Pizza, which is the first new restaurant I've eaten at since March 2020. M and I split a BBQ chicken pizza with a thin crust as well as some garlic boneless chicken wings. It was a pretty solid pizza made better by the novelty of eating anywhere new. We talked a lot and played some soccer (sorry, futbol) with L inside the small fenced yard. L also opened his (early) birthday presents from us, which he was thrilled by. He was very excited to meet Birdie, and enjoyed doing some little dances to try to hold her attention. She seemed appreciative.
Tuesday morning Birdie & I substituted our usual walk to the lake with a walk along a paved path ringing one of the Columbus Metro Parks that was a scant block or two from our house. It lacked the "destination" of the lake, but did go through some very nice fields with a lot of birds.
Early on Tuesday afternoon we met up with M's Kati. Kati lives very close to M's parents, but we opted to hang out in the their mutual friend Annie & Casey's backyard. M actually was Annie's roommate for a year on that very house ( Chucha used to play with her Great Dane Gilbert), and we went there because they have a very large stand alone screened porch with ceiling fans that they call "the bear cage". We hung out there for a few hours while Kati took a break from her (work from home) job. We also saw Casey briefly.
In the evening, we reconvened M's family at the Airbnb for dinner. This time we got take out from Saigon Asian Bistro, which I had been to before. This time I got Szechwan Chicken and some crab rangoons. It was the first restaurant Chinese food I'd had since Christmas 2019. It was delicious. More soccer was played. M's mother and sister gave Vivian a big pile of baby clothes.
Thursday morning rain was threatening so we skipped the walk. Naturally, it didn't rain at all, but whatever. We had to be out of the house by 11am, which ended up lining up perfectly with Birdie's schedule. She napped all the way home. We got back, unpacked and picked up groceries in the midst of a gigantic rainstorm that brought down powerlines and trees all over our side of town.
Thus ended my first real vacation of 2021. I'd taken a single day here and there, but this was my first extended time off since my parental leave in January. More critically, it was the first major travel we did with Birdie. We had to pack all sorts of baby things (pack & play, stroller, diaper bag, formula, bag of toys and a blanket) but it worked out ok. With proof of concept complete, we are now much more likely to visit other people (including most critically my parents) in easy driving range.