Our Jones Family Experience

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

March Madness

No, I’m not talking about basketball. I’m talking about spring break and traveling half way across the country with a two year old and seven month old. For Gideon’s spring break we decided to visit my sister Suzanne and her son Keagan (unfortunately for us her husband was in China for business) in Milwaukee.

The journey started at 4:30AM and the drive to Burlington. Malia quickly fell back to sleep in the car, but Hadley was too excited and would not sleep again until that night. After Gideon got some action with the TSA agent through security, we were off to Philadelphia. We were delayed 40 minutes, so I had little hope of making our connection with our 60 minute layover.

We discovered that Philadelphia has a nice USO as we did indeed miss our flight and was put on stand-by for the 1:35 flight and reserved on the 7:55 flight. Luckily, we did make the stand-by and the rest of our trip to Milwaukee was uneventful.

Hadley and Keagan quickly reconnected and had a lot of fun playing together, aggravating us parents, and feeding off of each other’s moods, good and bad. We were all thrilled with the 50 and 60 degree weather as it felt like a heat wave to us.


Hadley and Keagan our first night there (Keagan is 6 months younger than Hadley)

The weather was so nice that we visited the Milwaukee County Zoo. The animals weren’t as happy to see us as we were to see them, but it was still nice to be outside and feel actual sunshine.


Hadley, Gideon, Keagan, and Suzanne

Looking at the zebras

Exhausted at the zoo

Leaving the zoo

Tired but happy after the zoo

We also visited the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, which Hadley and Keagan loved. To put it kindly, the children’s museums in our area don’t hold a candle to the Betty Brinn.


Trying to eat the flower

Construction worker at Betty Brinn

Love that smile

Hard at work at the sand table

In the pre-walkers area

The rest of our time was spent relaxing, reconnecting with family, and watching the kids play together. Malia even let Suzanne hold her, which I was wondering since she is having a lot of separation and stranger anxiety. A large portion of our time was also spent eating. We enjoyed all of the delicious foods that we can’t get in Vermont, including Dairy Queen, authentic Chinese and Mexican food, and good burgers.


Sleeping on Aunt Suzanne

Too soon it was time to say good bye and start our return adventure. Flight time from Milwaukee to Chicago is 17 minutes, yet we sat on the plane for over 2.5 hours. Hadley visited the flight deck and got to push a few test buttons. Fortunately, I had gone with the three hour layover so we did make our second flight.


Flying the plane

It was definitely trying at times, but I am so glad we went. We had a lot of fun and I didn’t feel like I needed a vacation after my vacation as is often the case. I’m looking forward to seeing them again and hope we won’t have to go as long as last time between visits.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Malia is 7 Months Old

Dear Malia


I’m not sure why, but 7 months sounds so much older than 6 months to me. Maybe it is because you are more than half way to your first birthday. I love watching you develop and reach new milestones, but it seems like every time I blink you are doing something new.

This month alone you have learned to army crawl and are quickly learning how to crawl with your belly off of the floor. You can crawl about half way across the room before your little arms can’t support all of your adorable chub.

You also discovered how to pull yourself up to a standing position. Walking will be here sooner than I know, as you are already taking several steps while I hold your hands.

You continue to be a great eater and have discovered the joys of finger foods. To go along with all of your eating, you learned how to use a sippy cup. You rolled across the room, found Hadley’s sippy cup and quickly figured out just what to do.

This month you got another tooth, and I love the goofy two-tooth grin you give me. I see your smile a lot because you continue to be very calm and easy going. Most of the time you hardly make any noise, even though you have started humming and learned to scream from your sister.

A lot of people have told me that this age is their favorite stage, but I haven’t found a stage that I don’t love. Watching you grow and develop is amazing and I look forward to what you are going to do next.