Boston AKA Graham’s first flight (9 months, 6 days old – 9 months, 11 days old)

Graham (and his parents) have successfully survived his first flight and we also had a wonderful visit with Nick’s brother’s family (Uncle Tim, Aunt Mary, and 19 month old Cousin Stella). 

Our flight left Santa Barbara at 6am, so we were worried about how Graham would handle the early wake up.  We had everything packed and loaded and were able to pick him up and put him in his car seat without even waking him up.  At the airport, Graham quietly watched what was going on, but was too tired to make much noise himself.  The first leg of our journey was from Santa Barbara to Denver.  I fed Graham a bottle during takeoff, which put him to sleep and he slept the entire rest of the flight:

Feeling refreshed from his nap, Graham decided to sit at the table with us as we caught a quick bite to eat between flights:

Then he went for a ride with Daddy (check out Graham's grip):

Graham was high energy during the leg from Denver to Boston.  Nick played with Graham the entire time, which was good because I got some rest, but bad because it left me terrified for the flight back when I would be all by myself with Graham (not to mention the fact that it would be a longer flight from Boston to LA).  Our biggest accomplishment was successfully changing Graham's diaper in the airplane bathroom!:

When we finally arrived and got our luggage, Graham was still in a good mood, but feeling a little tired and shell shocked from the day:

He went right to sleep as soon as we got to Tim and Mary’s house:

We had such a lovely visit with the Boston family.  Tim and Mary have very busy work schedules, but we were able to share dinner most evenings.
Inspired by Stella’s chewing abilities, I thought Graham could handle his own fortune cookie.  When he started to choke, Uncle Tim (that is Doctor Uncle Tim) sprang to action and had Graham’s airway cleared before he even knew that he was in danger.

On our second night, we were lucky enough to have Nick’s cousin Jilly visit.  You can’t tell from his blurry face, but Graham loves Jilly:

One day, Graham and I set off on an adventure to walk the Head of the Charles rowing course.  I raced out of both MIT and Harvard’s boathouses on different years, so I thought it would be nice to walk from one boathouse to the other and point out bridges along the way to baby Graham. 
Here we are outside the gates of MIT’s boathouse:

Minutes after the picture was taken, it started pouring with rain, so we only made it another few blocks before taking shelter in a hotel and getting rescued by Mary!

Graham and Stella spent hours playing in her playroom.  Stella was very generous with her toys and seemed to enjoy telling me every minute or two that she had discovered a baby crawling around in the room:

Graham and Stella got a bedtime story treat from Stella’s babysitter:

They also enjoyed rough-housing with Uncle Tim:

Over the weekend, we took a trip to the aquarium.  Nick had as much fun outside as everyone else had inside:

Graham enjoyed all the sea animals, but his favorite parts were the toys in the kids’ play area and gift shop:

We also managed to visit the State Fair!  Graham was antsy, so the joy of seeing sheep, goats, cows, and a duck race were lost on him, but he did enjoy getting very dirty in the hay at the Kid Korner Play Zone.  I had some fried dough and a corndog – to get into the fair spirit of course. 

Our whirlwind trip came to an end too quickly and we were off to the airport for the return flight.  After some tense moments when we realized we did not have directions to the airport, we got back on track and made it in time.  I noticed that everything took longer with a baby, but people were also accommodating and willing to help. 
The people in my row on the airplane were really nice.  I was thankful for the guy who gave up his aisle seat so I could get up with Graham throughout the flight and both people in my row didn’t get up once during the flight so I wouldn’t need to move Graham when he was sleeping or content.  I was greeted with looks of shock, horror, and amusement as I let Graham crawl up and down the aisle of the plane:

At times he played nicely in his seat and other times he was a little mischievous:

Graham managed to charm a pilot and flight attendant and received two sets of flying wings.  When we made it to LA, he was ready to play in the terminal instead of riding in his stroller:

He slept during the entire final flight to Santa Barbara, so we ended the trip with everyone happy.  Jet lag was a non-issue, so all in all, our baby passed with flying colors (no pun intended) and is already asking where Mommy and Daddy are going to take him next!