Rocky Mountain High

Tomorrow morning DH and I are getting on a plane with Baby L and heading to Denver!  This trip marks a lot of firsts:

1.  My first vacation during the summer ever in my entire working-adult life!  I have worked for the same company since 1992.  Until this year, my job was very spring and summer-intensive, forcing me to take all of my vacation time in the fall or winter every year.  Now I have a new position, and I plan to take as much of my vacation time as possible between now and the end of August.  First Denver, then Virginia in late July, then various trips to the beach in Maine and Connecticut.

2.  My first time packing for an airplane trip that includes a baby!  I traveled so much for work over the past decade and a half that I became very good at and in fact complacent about packing half-assed at the last possible minute.  I prided myself on this.  This time it’s a whole new ballgame.  I have lists.  I have piles.  I have back-up lists and back-up piles.  I have 3 suitcases lined up and ready to be filled.  I have the third load of laundry of the day so far in the dryer.  Phew.

3.  My first time flying with a baby!  This worries me not.  If all of Baby L’s other life experiences so far in her short 10 months on the planet are a good predictor of what’s to come, she’ll be a happy, cheerful kid on the plane.  If not…  oh, well.  I’ve had my fair share of long flights next to or near an unhappy, unpleasant baby, and I figure the universe owes me some payback, in the unlikely event of my daughter having a meltdown.

Now, I am under no illusions that I will be able to get any knitting or reading done on the plane, even if Baby L is a dream-come-true.  But, just in case, I am bringing something to knit:

And something to read:

Although, more likely I’ll be reading this instead, over and over again:

 

Happy 4th of July!