Visit with Gramma Sue and Grampa Joe in NY

This past week we were able to take a trip up to the Adirondack Mountains in NY to visit Joe's family! Joseph and I flew and Joe drove and towed the waverunner. Joe left early enough that he could pick us up at the Albany airport when our flight arrived and it worked out just great! Joseph was very busy on the first flight from Norfolk to Baltimore. He didn't want to sit in my lap, but was more interested in playing down by my feet and hanging out in the aisle. He also learned how to turn the knob for the tray table that was on the seat in front of us and that kept him occupied for atleast 30 minutes. The tray never fell down, but he continued to turn the knob to the side and then back up and down again, and again, and again. I'm sure the man in front of us was less than impressed with this new skill that Joseph seemed to love as he once turned around and gave us a not so pleasant look. Hey, it was better than a screaming one year old right?! Joseph slept in my arms for about an hour on the second flight from Baltimore to Albany so that was great. Once Joe picked us up in Albany, we drove and found a grassy spot to lay Joseph's big yard blanket on so he could crawl around for a while and play. After that we had about a 3 hour drive to Gramma and Grampa's house in Saranac Lake so we kept handing Joseph multiple toys until he threw them all down. At that point we'd stop to collect all the toys and hand them to him one at a time all over again. We arrived at their house Joe's mom, dad, grandmother, and uncle were all there to greet us. Little Joseph was ready for his bath and was so tired so he didn't get to do much hanging out the first night.

3 of the 4 Joseph John Capalbos!

Fun boat ride!

During our stay we enjoyed good company, great meals thanks to Gramma Sue, playing in the lake, riding in the boat (Joseph loved the boat rides and Joe went wakeboarding and skiing), kayaking, and canoeing. Unfortunately something was wrong with the waverunner so it wouldn't run properly so we didn't play on it. The water temp was pretty chilly for me, but I did manage to make myself get all the way in the lake and go under the water once before we headed home! I must say that I was pretty proud of myself for experiencing these outdoors activities as I tend to be a little more of the indoor type!

Joseph had some trouble sleeping in his pack n play at night on our trip. The first night we were all exhausted from the long day of traveling and Joseph woke up at midnight screaming and wanted to drink milk and play until 3:30am. Yuck! Joe and I took turns with him that night! The following nights were a better, but he continued waking and crying for milk in the night. Thankfully he napped great in the pack n play during the day (he’s still napping twice a day), so I think he was just scared to be in a new place in the dark. I was nervous about having to “retrain” him again to sleep through the night, but since we’ve been home, he’s been sleeping great (and ALL night too) so no need for that training after all!

Joseph loving his gramma!

Having tons of fun with grampa!

Joe showing off his excellent wakeboarding skills!



Grampa Joe's turn!

Our trip home was not exactly what we had planned. We left for the airport a little after 11am and arrived at the Albany airport around 2pm. My flight was schedule to depart at 3:40pm so Joe dropped us off and he headed to Connecticut in the car to visit one of his college roommates for the weekend. By about 3:20pm they delayed my flight an hour. At that point I was already nervous about Joseph not having enough milk to make it to our Baltimore connection. I found a coffee shop in the airport and was thankfully able to buy some milk for J. So we boarded to plane around 4:30pm and sat on the plane until around 5pm (when they told us the weather was too bad and that we all needed to get off the plane). Joseph was beyond cranky at this point (he didn’t get his afternoon nap) and now my stroller was under the plane since I checked it at the gate. What a mess. Finally I asked if I could get my stroller back (hoping that J would nap in the stroller) and they were kind enough to get it off the plane for me. J did NOT nap in his stroller, but only screamed louder. Yikes! At 5:30pm they boarded us again and the same thing happened. We sat there/they told us to get off. To make a long story somewhere short….we boarded the plane 4 different times and were told to get off 4 times too. Poor little Joseph was so very tired that he was fighting sleep and just having complete meltdowns. By 8:30pm they promised us that they would have the wheels up in the air within the next half hour.

At this point (after calling Joe for the 100th time crying myself while holding Joseph who was also crying…down to 3 diapers and no milk) we decided it would be best to find a nice hotel and hopefully get some sleep (so glad I did this b/c they boarded the plane for the 5th time and when I was downstairs picking up my bags and getting a new flight for the next day, the ticket agents said they made the passengers get off the plane again). I called the Hilton to make a reservation (at this point I needed a NICE hotel room) and a shuttle came to pick us up at the airport around 9:30pm. We got to the hotel and I went to check in and they told me they had no reservation for me and they were all booked. They then called the Hilton that was 20 minutes down the road to see if I made reservations there and sure enough, it was 9:30pm and here I was standing with my screaming baby in the wrong hotel. I was beginning to wonder what else could possibly go wrong that night. Thankfully they sent a different shuttle to this hotel to pick me up and take me to the right hotel. I had asked them if they could get a crib all set up in our room and they did that for me so that was nice. I gave Joseph a quick bath and layed him right down in his sleepsack with his bun bun and he slept all night until 6:30am. Joe got to the hotel around 11pm.

The next morning we ate at the buffet at the hotel and then decided to drive home to Va Beach from Albany. My new flight was leaving at the same time that day 3:40pm and we realized that we could almost be home by that time if we just drove (unfortunately Joe didn’t end up getting to hang out with his friend very long before driving back to meet me). Again, glad we made that choice b/c that flight ended up being delayed also due to weather! Joseph was a wonderful traveler on the way home. He napped for 2 hours in the morning and then 3 hours in the afternoon. He also took 2 different 30 min naps! We started driving at 8:30am and finally got home by 7:30pm. We stopped frequently to let Joseph crawl around and play at various rest areas. He was such a good baby on the drive home and didn’t cry even once!

Overall we had a very nice visit with Gramma Sue and Grampa Joe! We will see them again in October when they come here to watch Joe fly in his final airshow here at Oceana!

Check out my slideshow of all the pics from our NY trip by clicking on the "NY July 2009" link on the right side of this screen under "Photo Albums".

Here is Joseph in the hotel the morning we drove home.