Now, our second travel hurdle dealt with hotel accommodations. Miri's normal bedtime is 6:30 CST (7:30 "Ohio time"). Now, unless Jason and I wanted to also turn the lights off and go to sleep at that time OR just sit in the hallway of our hotel outside the room from Miri's bedtime until our bedtime, a typical hotel room was not going to work for us. So, Jason had done careful research of the local hotels to find one that had 2-room suites, so that we could watch TV and hang out in the "living room" while Miri slept in the "bedroom" on the other side of a closed door. Yeah, we are smart and think ahead about stuff like that. That's what happens when you become a parent-- you start thinking ahead about stuff. We carefully booked the Baymont Inn and Suites for just that reason. Well, we get there and when Jason checks in, the front desk guy informs him that oops... there are no two-room suites at this hotel. We had booked through the corporation booking site, instead of booking over the phone with the actual Concord Baymont... and evidently "Corporate" doesn't know what type rooms are actually present at any given location. Uh-oh! Fortunately, the front desk guy was kind enough to give us 2 standard connected rooms for the price we had booked our "suite" for. It worked out great, and we were very impressed with the hotel's front desk clerk and the excellent customer service he provided. Snafu avoided! Yay!
Now down to the fun part of the trip... our actual visit with the Bashaw/ Thompson family clans! We had a great visit! We got to meet our new niece/cousin Maggie Mae... what a sweet, snuggly little girl she is! Miriam was just so miserable for her first 10 weeks of life or so until she was on the right medication for her reflux... so I am always in awe of babies who don't scream for 6 hours straight. Because to me, that's what newborns do. I sometimes forget that's not normal because it's all I know. But not Maggie! This little lady barely ever cried in the 2 days we were there, and when she did, it was always for a good reason (hungry, wet, bored) and easily solved. What a good girl! Miriam was fairly interested in her new little cousin. She would point at Maggie and say "baby" (which is funny, because she also calls herself baby). Anyway, here is the newest member of the Thompson clan with her Uncle Jason...
and her Aunt Allison... 
We also got to be there for our nephew Desmond's 2nd birthday party! It's hard to believe little Des is TWO already! He is such a cutie patootie and so much fun. He was a very gracious host and let Miri play with his many cool toys. For being one and two, they did a very nice job of sharing and taking turns. Two great kiddos, that's for sure! It will be fun to see them interact more and more as they get older.
Happy birthday sweet Des-- we love you!!! 
Miri also loved spending time with her Gramma, G-pa, Aunt Robin, and Uncle Bobby. Here is some photographic evidence.
So, you can clearly see it was a fabulous trip!
Finally, here is a video that has nothing to do with our road trip... but it's AWFULLY cute! Gotta love my silly girl!
Ta ta for now!! And happy birthday 45 minutes early to my wonderful dad... we are all excited to celebrate with him tomorrow!!!
