The hubby and I (along with our half pint!) are packing up the car and hittin’ the road for a border crossing adventure! I’m so excited for the trip for a number of reasons. We’ll take two days to drive up to Norwich, Vermont, home to the King Arthur Baking Center, so I can attend a two-day baking class with Cathy Barrow, author of Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry and the fantastic blog, mrswheelbarrow.com. I’m so excited for this course as I’ve loved her amazing book since Toby got it for me for Christmas and I’ve followed her recipes for several years in the Washington Post Food section. Our fabulous friend Natashe will be joining me at the course, while Toby gets some bonding time with our little man. I’m hoping to pick up some good preserving tips and ways to use them in baked goods, which I can then make for our upcoming Harvest Party. I’ll report back on what is sure to be a yummy and educational event!

After the course, we’ll head north to cross the Canadian border to visit Toby’s parents in Montreal, where we’ll get delicious homemade Chinese food and lots of grandparent bonding time for Oliver. His mom is a great cook and Toby will get his fill of comfort food during the week, in addition to eating out for dim sum, which we don’t do often enough at home. In the middle of the week, the grandparent’s are kind enough to watch Oliver so Toby and I can sneak away for a two-day getaway to Quebec City – our first night away since our little man was born 20 months ago! I’m excited about having some time to ourselves to explore the old city and dress up and eat some amazing food, but I’m sure I’ll miss that cute boy!

We relied heavily on Anthony Bourdain’s restaurant experiences after re-watching old No Reservations episodes from his Quebec trip to make our own reservations, which we hope will highlight the best French cuisine Quebec has to offer and I can’t wait to report back here for a Quebec City travelogue post.

Finally, can I just marvel for a moment at how is it that someone so small can literally take up 80% of the car with stuff?! Between his car seat, stroller, pack and play, books, toys, sippy cups, clothes and snacks, Toby and I are practically relegated to an overnight bag in our Prius for our 9 day trip. #lifewithtoddler