The weekend right after the 4th of July, we packed up the Kia and headed to New Jersey to visit our good friends the Littins. Caroline’s last four hour roadtrip was when she was 6 months old and we drove to Brooklyn, so Mike and I were a bit apprehensive about how our walking, busy, curious 16-month old would do in the car for 4 hours. We shouldn’t have been so worried–she did great. And in true Caroline fashion, she maintained her solid track record of extremely exciting diapers while traveling.

We left around 4 pm and took the scenic route through the countryside to get to NJ. En route, we caught this gorgeous sunset:

I sat in the backseat with our little gem while she tried to take her shoes on and off, read through books, and snuggled with her little animal friends.

We got to our friends’ house after her bedtime, but she crashed in the pack n play with no issues while Mike and I caught up with our friends over a late dinner. The next morning, we all headed to breakfast and these two cuties took good care of our little Sugar Bear:

We strolled through a Farmers Market, played basketball in the backyard, and grilled out. The next day, when it was 100 degrees, we headed to a fun “Christmas in July” event in the little town over and got to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus:

We headed back home shortly after meeting St. Nick. The drive home took much longer, but it was worth it. What a great weekend with great friends!