
Elodie follows her parents love of travel and has her first trip abroad to see the relatives in France. Being a long trip at almost 3 weeks, we travel by plane, train, and automobile, around the French countryside, stopping along at Patrick's brother's house, Bernard and Chantal, for the weekend. It was perfect timing because Patrick's sister, Vero, and her new fiance were there too, visiting from their own getaway. Elodie got to have kisses again from Aunt Vero and having the family there made the stay even better.
After our little fun weekend, we then the Dordonne area for 2 nights, seeing the Medieval village of Sarlat--beautiful! One night in Carcassonne to visit the Medieval castle there, then yummy lunch in Narbonne.
One night in Pepignan, then a day trip to Barcelona, then 1 night in Chateauneuf de Pape (famous wine region), and off to see Grandma (Patrick's mom) in Vermondans and celebrate Elodie's 7 month birthday.This was a really relaxing and a nice stay, plus, Elodie got to spend a little time with Aunt Vero again (and so did Mom with her "Sista" Vero and shopping 'partner in crime') ;o)
We also added 2 nights in Strasbourg in between.

We expected a lot of crying or fussiness, but she was such a good sport. We had a few restless moments where we were on a train with noisy passengers, or driving around to find a place, but overall, Elodie was really great.
She had a lot of energy while on the plane, but no ear aches, no crying hysterically. Just her being verbal with her new voice and words.
Some things I'd change or baby notes about this trip:
* Bring more onesies instead of dresses
* Bring a baby scarf
* Baby shoes are not necessary and take up space
* We brought our Baby Bjorn baby carrier, but ended up using our lightweight Combi travel stroller a lot more.
* Pacifier clip is essential
* My OneStepAhead diaper bag was AWESOME! very convenient and can hold so much.
* Sassy biodegradable bags for dirty diapers was nice..as so not to stink up hotel or relative's garbage cans.
* Our baby travel bed wasn't used as much as we hoped. It worked well for the beach, but Elodie needed to already be asleep before we could put her in the bed. Most of the time we just had her on the bed and surrounded by pillows, and then she would sleep in the bed with us as normal.
* Bringing our own car seat was a SUPER idea. She didn't have to use someone else's seat rental and possibly get exposed to any sickness, and we used it all the time at the restaurants, as most didn't have high chairs available. A car seat BAG as well was essential, and helped us stuff more items in there as well.
I also found some very cute items for Elodie. The French definitely have more baby style than in the U.S., and I've never seen so many stores marketed towards babies and kids.
It was a good trial run to see how it is to travel with a baby. It wasn't as bad as we expected and we'll be sure to do it again.
Thanks Elodie for being such a trooper!!