My dear friends Nancy and Myron live in Pittsburgh, which happens to be 3,000 miles away from Seattle. This makes visiting hard. Before they had their daughter, they would drive 3 hours to visit us in Oberlin when we were visiting John's parents. Now, they have a 2.5 year old and extra car trips aren't on the agenda, extra plane trips, no. I've actually visited the family twice, but my kids had never met Peggy. So, we made it happen this summer.

I find making travel plans very complicated. It was a big deal to figure out the logistics, get a car, a hotel, a plan for what could amuse a toddler, a kid, and a teen, and work around time change/nap time issues. We all loved the Carnegie Museum. I was actually thrilled with how engaged the kids were with it. Of course, we spent an hour with the dinosaurs, but they also enjoyed the minerals, furniture, large statues, and some iridescent dead bugs. I am starting to imagine us traveling and visiting museums without constant whining. We also did well with parks.

At one point my kids went to the movies while Peggy refused to nap. Then we all went out to dinner. This was a real treat for me and John. We go out a lot, but rarely to dinner. We are struggling with David's limited palette, but hamburgers, hot dogs and fries are definitely on it, so he can eat out.

We got to have a little grown up conversation, a lot of happy toddler time, and then we drove to Oberlin.