Joseph's first kayak demos

This weekend I drove to St. Louis to help with a couple of kayak demos the store had scheduled. My parents are currently out of the country sailing, and didn't have enough people left behind to work the demo and keep the store open, so I figured I'd help. That meant another trip to St. Louis for Joseph too. I was a little anxious about the whole weekend, especially since he finally started sleeping really well (he slept over 8 hours straight Thursday night!) and I didn't want to mess that up.

My sister Jennifer graciously agreed to come along to the demos to babysit and play with Joseph. Saturday we started early, leaving the house at 7:45am so that we could pick up another helper and head to Carlyle Lake, which is in southern Illinois, about 60 miles east of St. Louis. The weather was beautiful - sunny, warm, a little breeze. Keeping Joseph out of the sun but not overheated was a little challenging as we didn't have a place to keep him inside. After taking a few shorter naps, we decided it was time to focus on getting him down for a nap in the shade, and he finally gave in...

Gotta love the makeshift canopy out of the bundleme! The day wrapped up at about 4pm, and then we had another 1 1/2 hr drive back home. All that fresh air must have worn him out - he slept the whole way back, ate at 6pm, went back down for another nap (this nap usually lasts 30-45minutes), and slept until 8:45pm, when I had to wake him up! He wasn't too happy about getting his bath, gulped his bedtime bottle down, and crashed at 9:15pm... and stayed asleep until 4am! Woo hoo! (I never thought I'd be excited about waking at 4, but I was.)

Sunday we were able to sleep in a little, as the demo was from 12-4 and only took an hour to get to the location. I know, next time, they need to be much closer! (Apparently, the customers agreed, as neither event was well attended). This location invited us to demo at one of the resort's open houses, which luckily was finished and had air conditioning, so Jen stayed inside with Joseph through the demo. It was a much shadier location, but he made an appearance toward the end of the day to check out the lake and the kayaks.

At the end of the demo, we filled up the car (which was almost completely out of gas!) and headed straight for home, hoping to make it in time to see Nana and Papa (Jill and Gary were in town visiting Grandma Gillespie). We got home just in time for a little play time, bath, and Nana got to give Joseph his bottle before bed. And while he woke a little earlier than normal (3:30am), things still seem to be going well at nightime. Guess that rice cereal and sleep training really does the trick!