Philip, Grandma and I returned from
Repacking?
Yes, repacking for the trip to southern
My parents recently purchased a vacation home down there and we have been anxiously awaiting a trip to see it. So, we decided to use some vacation and left last Friday afternoon. I got the car packed full of all the stuff that we might possibly need for the two day adventure, loaded the kids and Phil into the car and set out. We left a little before Natalie’s nap time, so we were hoping she would sleep in the car, and lucky for us, Philip was asleep when we left the house. We had to make a stop at Target to grab organic milk and some OJ and then stop by and pick up the Godfather so we could car pool. Natalie fell asleep as soon as we left Target and slept until we picked up Godfather, a total of about 7 minutes. Philip also woke up as soon as we stopped to pick up Godfather. So we left for St. George with two wide awake kids, three adults and a car load of stuff.
after one blue m&m
We hadn’t made this trip in a long time – the St. George trek – not since Natalie was a baby in fact, so we were all a little nervous about taking not one but two kids in the car for the 4+ hour drive. Natalie didn’t concern us as much as Philip. She doesn’t really mind being in the car and has always been very good about long drives, but she is now old enough to ask "Are we there yet" the entire way down and we all know or can imagine how annoying that can be. But, Philip, man oh man does he ever NOT like the car, not even a little bit, not for long drives, not for short drives, not for any drive at all. So, it was bound to be an adventure.
In an effort to keep Natalie entertained, Phil picked up a few DVDs from the library for Natalie to watch. So, we popped in Dora and crossed our fingers. She put on her headphones and happily ate some goldfish crackers and drank some orange juice for about the first hour of the drive. Philip is another animal all together. Luckily I was sitting in the back seat and for the most part was able to "shssh" him to sleep, so after playing for the first 45 minutes of the drive, I got him to sleep for about another 30-45 minutes, then he woke up and played a little more. That awake, asleep plan got us to the small town of
Now, Natalie, to her credit had been wonderful. Played with a few toys, drank some drink, spilled some gold fish, watched some Dora, but she hadn't had a nap – except for those 7 minutes – and she was tired of being in the car, so she started asking, "mommy are we to ‘George yet?" I would say, "not yet, but soon" and she would reply, "Why Mommy?" so I would explain that it was a very long trip and that if she would just take a nap that we would be there when she woke up and it would make the last hour of the drive go very very quickly, to which she would reply, "No nap mommy, it sunny outside not dark." You can try and argue with that logic, but you won’t win.Now, Philip, again, is a different animal. At the hour-to-destination mark he started to let us all know, loudly, that he was done being in the car. D.O.N.E. He wasn't going to sit by and just let us drive on our merry way; no, he was going to cry. And cry he did, until I couldn't take it any more and told Phil to pull off the side of the freeway. I promptly pulled him out of his chair and tried to calm him down; but, it wasn't until we got out of the car that he finally stopped crying and calmed down. We all took a few deep breaths, Phil volunteered to get into the back seat and I took over driving.
That last 45 minutes of the drive were the longest of the entire five-and-a-half- hour trip. But it was all worth it once we got to the house.
The house is great and surpassed our expectations. When they first started looking, my mom wanted to buy a double wide trailer, so when we pulled up and saw a brand new three bedroom house in a new development community, we were very surprised. In fact, when my mom sent us the photos we didn't exactly believe our eyes. Now we believe.
View from the patio
We spent Friday night hanging out at the house, Natalie played in the blow up pool out back, and after dinner Phil, Godfather and Natalie walked to the local Walmart, which happens to be just down the street. They came back with a bunch of little purchases and a movie to watch. We were finally able to get the kids to sleep, on their own...which meant that I was able to pee and brush my teeth before bed, with the lights on and while not holding Philip. I was also able to sit with the other adults at the house and chat before Philip woke up and needed me to hold him so he could sleep.
We don't have a TV hook up, so here I am trying to get the antenna to work so Phil could watch the hockey game. It didn't work...
This is Natalie after no nap on the ride down
Saturday the boys went golfing and the rest of us stayed home. There was coffee drinking, pool playing, donut eating, and all around good fun. The boys came home and we drove to Costco for lunch and to buy Godfather a bed, then home to eat and try and get Natalie to take a nap. She, Phil and Godfather all ended up taking naps while Philip, Grandma and I went to Walmart. We browsed the aisles and eventually made our way back to the house just in time to welcome guests for cocktail hour. We spent a few hours with friends, then snacked on left-overs for dinner.
After dinner, we decided we should add a bunch of hot water to the blow up pool in the back yard, which was full of cold water, so we could all get in and relax a little. Our make shift hot tub... After filling up many, many, many, buckets of hot water and pouring it into the pool, it was still pretty cold, but we had gone to so much work we decided to get in any way. Grandpa and Godfather were the first in, followed by Natalie. By the time I had passed off Philip and changed into my swim suit, Natalie was shivering, but was game to stay in the pool a little longer. We sat in the water about 15 minutes before getting out. Once we were out and changed into bed clothes, we got everyone down for an early night.
Sunday the boys golfed again and Natalie and I made waffles. Then we packed our stuff up and decided to leave shortly after the boys got home. The trip home was pretty similar to the ride down, except that Philip only cried a few times and slept more. We made two stops along the way to feed and change Philip and get snacks for everyone else. We stopped to drop of Godfather and stayed and played for a while before going home. Got home, watered the plants and ate pizza and salad for dinner, followed promptly by bed!
It was a wonderful trip and the experience taught us a few things. One, don’t try to add hot water to an ice cold pool of water expecting it to be warm after the addition. First empty the cold water out COMPLETELY and then add the warm water. Two, we need to either bring the extra bed in our basement or not expect the best night of sleep on air mattresses. And three, taking Philip in the car for over 4 hours is not the best plan one can have, so we will be flying down for our next trip…
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