Maxwell takes flight...

We went to Philadelphia back in May for a long weekend. My cousin Maria graduated college and we went to join family and friends to help her celebrate.

I wasn't too nervous about traveling with Maxwell because he is such a chill baby. However, our flight left really early so I was a bit nervous about the logistics including feeding him. I had to wake him up at 4:30 am so I left him in his pjs thinking I could go from crib to car and keep him asleep. Not so much. Once he woke up he was wide awake. We got to the airport and were shocked to see how busy it was at 5:30 am. We got in line for security and had him in the car seat/stroller frame. Just as it was our turn he fell asleep so we had to wake him to go through metal detectors. I always thought going through security was a pain in the butt, however, you can multiply that by ten when doing it with a kid. And you can probably multiply it by ten, each time you add a kid or subtract a husband to help!

We get on the plane and settle in. Maxwell is wide awake but I have plans to feed him as soon as we take off. He eats and then he sleeps. He wakes up a bit and plays and then falls asleep again. It was a pretty easy ride!

Flight to Philly

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. I really hadn't thought of where Maxwell would sleep but we brought our monitor and planned to stay across the hall from my mom to have additional help. I figured it would work out. Well, work out it did! We got upgraded to a suite! I have now been spoiled on having a suite with a kid and will never go back! Our suite included two rooms, one with the bed and the other with a couch, kitchenette and small table. We also got Maxwell a crib. At night we could put Maxwell to bed in one room and still visit with family in the other! It could not have worked out more perfectly!

The weekend festivities included some touring fun in Philly on Friday. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross House, and more!

We enjoyed a family dinner on Friday night at a yummy pizza place!

On Saturday morning we went to Maria's business school graduation. Unfortunately, the weather that day did not cooperate so we ended up going back to the area with our hotel for lunch and a nap. That evening Maria and her roommates hosted a pig roast at their house. It was so fun to see all of Maria's friends and their families celebrate! We also got to spend time with my Uncle Chris and Cousin Lily who drove in from Rhode Island just to meet Maxwell!

The hardest thing about the trip was the fact that Maxwell goes to sleep very early (between 6 and 6:30). With all the activity of traveling and being on the constant go, he was a pretty exhausted baby for most of the trip. Oh yeah and he had just cut his first tooth the day before we left. Because of all this, he looks sleepy in most of the pictures!

We had so much fun and really enjoyed seeing grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends!

Click here to see all of the pictures from the trip. The first few photos in the album are animated - Google Picasa has a cool feature now which creates animation from 5 or more photos.