Many of our Chicago based friends go to GenCon every year but this year I decided that Maeve and I would tag along and make a family vacation of it. It was mine and Maeve’s first trip to Indianapolis and GenCon. By the time we rolled up at the hubster’s aunts house where we’d be staying it was 2am. Oof. Maeve of course woke up and we were all up chatting (and chasing the cat in Maeve’s case) until almost 4am!
Day one: I don’t know how many of you have been to conventions and I never really thought I’d take my baby to one but here we were at one of the largest conventions in North America. yikes! I decided to pop Maeve in her stroller rather than carry her all day but this actually ended up being more frustrating for me. I felt cumbersome and clunky and awkward. When Lewis went into his tournament I thought we’d explore the dealers room but as soon as we stepped inside with the stroller I started to feel claustrophobic so I decided to take Maeve out of the con and go for a walk around down town. [Note to self: get an umbrella stroller with a smaller footprint ASAP!]
We walked down to the White River State Park so Maeve could run around and explore, but there weren’t any playgrounds that I found and trees were kind of sparse on this hot day. She had fun, but I worried about her getting too much sun. After a while I put her back in the stroller and we followed the cultural trail through town to look at monuments and historical buildings and stopped for frozen yoghurt. I really liked the decorative paving on the sidewalk and roads to guide you.
Day two: We woke up just before 5am and dressed quickly before bundling a sleepy Maeve into the car and driving to the park again for the Orc Stomp 5k. We had trouble finding parking and thought we were cutting it close arriving with 5 minutes to spare, but then the race didn’t actually start until 6:30am so we had plenty of time to warm up and chat with some other runners. I was one of only 2 people running with a stroller and the other lady hadn’t been planning on doing the run with her baby so her stroller wasn’t a jogging stroller. Apparently her husband had woken up and muttered “take her with you” when she was getting ready 
Lewis ran with me and Maeve and offered to push for some of it, but I wanted to complete the whole 5k with the stroller and I managed to do it in 33m04s which I was very happy with. That’s almost as good as any race I’ve run without the added resistance. It was a very pretty run through the park and past the zoo, and when you crossed the bridge and turned the corner to head back toward the city it was lovely to see the sun rise over the cityscape.
After the frustrations with the stroller on day one I spent the rest of the weekend wearing Maeve in the Moby wrap. We found the kiddie area for little ones to run free and visited there for some time every day. Maeve was by far the youngest kid running around but I’d rather have her run the risk of getting accidentally knocked down by a rambunctious 4yr old than playing on the sidelines and stick craft beads or small game pieces in her mouth. The area was carpeted and the kids were playing with foam pool noodles so they weren’t going to do too much damage. And there were other chaperones there too to remind them to watch out for the baby. Perhaps I got a few shocked/judgmental looks for letting Maeve dive into the fray, but I was there and I trust her. There were 2 older teen kids who were very good about protecting her and calming down the wilder kids.
Day 3: We got to the parking lot with minutes to spare for Lewis’s event so he gave us the car keys and ran off while we sorted ourselves out slowly and took our time getting to the con. While walking past the mall, Maeve pointed at the door so we took a detour and did a lap of the mall. Then when we were approaching the con I heard an English accent and looked to my left only to see Peter Davidson! I was good and respected his privacy (I know the rules about not stopping the guests in the street, only getting official photo’s etc) but I did fall back so I could get a few back of the head shots 😛
Most of the weekend was spent killing time between Lewis’s events and various meals. Maeve and I would wander through the dealer’s room, stroll around the corridors and spy all the costumed characters, stop and enjoy the busker’s, or go to the kiddies play area. We tried food from the various food trucks most days rather than going to a proper restaurant. Maeve and I tried a jackalope sausage, some Cajun bourbon chicken and a scrumptious ham sandwich on a pretzel bun, and Maeve had her first corn dog 🙂
All in all I’d say Maeve was a real trooper all weekend. She had to deal with being stuck in a carseat/stroller/moby wrap/high chair for far longer than she likes, she had to put up with noisy crowds and diaper changes in public restrooms and staying up late and getting up early and meals being at random times. She did get cranky and fussy, but it could have been far worse and we had a key to our friends hotel room so we could escape there for quiet time/naps if needed.
I’d like to go to GenCon again but I think next time I’ll let Maeve have her own vacation with Nana & Papa so I can join in some of the gaming fun with out having to worry about nap times and meals and diaper changes 😉
Chasing The Stormbringer 