Road Trip to Carbondale, IL

This past weekend we packed up the car and headed North to Carbondale, IL to see my brother, Kyle, play baseball for Northern Illinois University. The total drive time was about 6 hours and 30 minutes ... which means anywhere from 8 to 12 hours with a baby. We left Birmingham in the late afternoon, so after stopping at Cracker Barrel for dinner AnnaBelle feel asleep for the night (or so we thought), and the drive went by quickly. Upon arriving at the hotel we quickly unpacked the car and set up the Pack 'N Play in the room to put AnnaBelle back down. Luckily our AMAZING baby monitor still worked in the lobby down the hall, so we left AnnaBelle in the room to cry herself back to sleep, which did not take long. However, after returning to the room, AnnaBelle quickly stood up and said "hi" as soon as she heard us come in. She thought it was morning time and was awake as can be at 12:30 A.M. She eventually cried herself back to sleep, but she woke up several times throughout the night, stood up and shouted "hi." Needless to say, the next day we set up the Pack 'N Play in the bathroom and that completely solved the problem.

On Friday afternoon we got to see NIU play U of I. This was one of the most exciting and eventful baseball games I've gotten to see. There were big hits, great pitching, errors, stealing baseballs, and great fielding. We did not go into the weekend thinking we would get to see Kyle play. He is a closing pitching and they only use him in situations where he can "save" the game in the last inner or two. This game was close, and in the 8th inning with 2 outs and 2 men on base Kyle came in to close. NIU was up 15 to 14. It was nerve racking, but Kyle pitched perfectly and got the "save" for the game. AnnaBelle didn't do much game watching, she wanted to ran around and talk to everyone. JohnMark and I switched off baby duty each inning. That evening my parents arrived and we got to go to dinner with them and Kyle as well. It was very nice to spend to weekend catching up with them. We ate good food, swam in the pool, and enjoyed two more baseball games. Kyle got to pitch again on Saturday and got another "save." It was a wonderful weekend, and we are hoping to make it to the Mac tournament to see NIU play again!