murphy (summer vacation part 1)

We took a marathon three-week trip up the east coast this July-August, covering over 2900 miles, so we could take the boys to visit all of their grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Obviously this trip will take several posts to detail, so stay tuned for more! We made two important purchases before we left, this being one of them:
The second was a portable DVD player. Believe me, a steady stream of Curious George and Little Einsteins is a good antidote to looks like this (which are often accompanied by pleas of "OUT!")
Benjamin, fortunately, slept during a large portion of the driving, although only occasionally did he fall asleep with his fingers in the rings hanging from his carseat. Mike and I both became pros at reaching behind us to blindly replace the pacifier in his mouth. Really, though, they were both great travelers.
We began with a stop to visit our friends Holly and David and their adorable boys Matthew and Ethan in Winston-Salem. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take any pictures during our overnight stay! We did have a great time visiting with them, and Benjamin had probably his best night of sleep to date while borrowing Ethan's pack-n-play (I threatened to move in).

From there, we moved on to Raleigh where Mike was attending a conference. Not too many pictures from that part of the trip, but I did capture one of this notable first in Daniel's life - in our hotel in Raleigh, he got to sleep in a Murphy bed! Really, how many 2-year-olds can say they've done that?