Road Trip!

How to survive an 11-hour road trip with a two-year-old and a nine-month-old nursing baby and even have fun along the way:

I have no idea.

Ha ha - just kidding! :) No, I actually did just drive across the country a few days ago with my son (2) and daughter (9 months) - an 11-hour drive which turned into 16 hours (each way)! Your first question is probably, "Are you insane?" to which I would answer, "Maybe." But let me tell you WHY I drove to Iowa! My grandpa celebrated his 90th birthday last week! 90 years, wow! That means he was born in 1920 - isn't that just crazy to think about? And, as my uncle said, "I can't think of any present that he and Grandma would like more than to see their great-grandchildren." And seeing the look on Grandma and Grandpa's faces as Zachary (and then Natalie and I) walked into the room was priceless. And totally worth the craziness of the road trip!

(Zachary is behind the camera in the last picture). :)

On this 11-hour trip which took 16 hours, I learned that in the future I could probably stay patient with my kids for about a 9-hour drive. :) I did lose my patience at about nightfall both days - I just turned the music up, and drove the rest of the way, ignoring any noises that may have been coming from the backseat! :) But we made it, and the time with family and friends in Iowa was wonderful! We drove out on a Thursday, and stopped in Illinois at my hubby's aunt's house, where we have an annual 'Girls Weekend' with the ladies on Hubby's mom's side of the family - it was a wonderful, relaxing time of shopping & talking, and I was so encouraged by chatting with other young moms who are having the SAME struggles with discipline & parenting that I am - isn't it always such a blessing to know others have the same struggles as you???

Then on Saturday the kids and I drove a (relatively) quick 3 hours (which took 4, of course), up to my grandparents' apartment building, where we surprised them and my sister - I heard her voice first, exclaiming, "Are you kidding me?" from inside the apartment as Zachary walked in with my dad (who was in on it)! :) After the kids went to bed, we two sisters stayed up late chatting, which we don't often get to do anymore, so that was awesome, too! My grandparents were excited and very pleased and surprised, and they had a great time with the kids, as did my aunt & uncle & cousin from Kansas (all pictured above)!

On Sunday afternoon, we drove to my parents house (in another part of Iowa), where we stayed until Wednesday morning, when we took off early for home. Natalie was teething and didn't sleep well, and on Monday, I was just so tired from traveling and being up with her that I did not think I was going to be able to do the big road trip home - I was planning on coming home Tuesday, and I just knew I couldn't handle it, so I called my hubby & we talked about different options, but then Monday night I got a full night of sleep, and on Tuesday I felt much better and spent an extra day relaxing with my kids & my parents, and then we came home all the way on Wednesday.

Whew! It was quite the trip! It's especially crazy that I did this by myself with the kids, considering that I don't even like to go grocery shopping with the kids - our trips to town consistently end in tears (sometimes it's not just me crying, either!) So how did I do this?

First, I didn't go alone. "What? Were you lying to us earlier?", you might be asking. No, I was the only adult in the car, but I wasn't alone - I spent a lot of time before and during the trip praying over our trip, asking God to renew my patience (and even asking for His forgiveness a couple of times....). So no matter where you go, don't go alone!!!

Second, I planned ahead. I had a big bag full of individually baggied snacks handy next to me in the front seat, so whenever Zachary got hungry I could hand him a snack baggie. (snacks are your friend when you're traveling - I bought things I don't usually buy like the frosted animal crackers & Teddy Grahams & fruit snacks for special treats) I also had several sippy cups full of water, since he tends to drop or throw them, and then be thirsty a half hour later. :) We put Zachary's car seat in the middle seat in the back, and Natalie's behind the driver's seat. That way I could easily hand things to Zachary while driving. I had a separate bag full of toys that Natalie loves, so that if she started crying, I could hand a toy to Zachary and have him hand it to her. This worked pretty well, he was usually willing to hand the toys to her after a reasonable amount of time playing with it himself. :)

Third, we used a car DVD player! This was awesome - we watched a KidSongs video from the library about animals NINE times on the drive out - I pretty much have the words to "Jeepers Creepers" memorized now, thank you! :) KidSongs DVDs play over and over, which is really nice when you're traveling & can't press 'play' every time the 30-minute video ends - we'll definitely be renting these again (or buying some if we see them)! ;)

Fourth, if you have a non-walker (or a little walker who likes to get into everything), wear them! I wore my stretchy wrap all day in the car, and popped Natalie in it when we stopped to use the bathroom & get food - that way she didn't have to sit on any nasty bathroom floors or anything!

Fifth, if you'll be nursing on your trip, try to find a nice area for your toddler to play while you feed your baby instead of sitting in the car - those travel plazas/rest stops often have picnic areas, sometimes even little playgrounds where your toddler can run & climb on the picnic tables/chairs while your baby eats - this worked well for us, and God provided a nice (or nice enough) place each and every time Natalie had to eat.

Sixth, getting out of the car for meals may take longer, but it will give the kids a nice break from their car seats - we ate lunch & dinner each day in travel plazas or restaurants & the kids enjoyed it - we even stopped at a PlayPlace and let the kids run/crawl at suppertime around on the way out, which was fun but it did take a LOT of time, even though I let Z run around the whole time and then eat in the car after we left.

Finally, just plan to take forever. If you have a deadline that you HAVE to be there by, leave a couple of hours earlier than you think you'll need to, otherwise you will just get frustrated - I discovered that to get the kids out of their carseats, go to the bathroom, buy food, and get the kids buckled back in, food passed out, and a DVD started took me THIRTY minutes!!!! And a lunch stop where we got out of the car, changed diapers, used the bathroom (usually twice), ate lunch, and got the kids back in the car, took an hour! So, just plan to take a really really long time, and you'll be less frustrated with the fact that traveling with kids takes forever! :)

Although this wasn't an experience that I would readily repeat for little or no reason, I learned that with God's help, I can take even a long road trip with my kids! After getting home, I told my hubby's mom that trips to the grocery store didn't seem so daunting any more. Then I took the kids to the grocery store & we all ended up in tears again, so there goes that theory. :) But it really does SEEM less daunting, anyway. :)

How are you?

Oh, hi. You're still here? Thanks for still reading my blog. :) Sorry I've been so MIA lately...we had company, then went on vacation, then hubby came home and I stayed in IA, then drove out with his parents and they were here for a few days, and now they've gone, but the house is a disaster and I'm not quite done unpacking yet... so, whew! :) Plus the weather is gorgeous, so my boy and I have been spending every spare moment outside...so I'm sorry.

I had a great time on vacation, though - seeing our families, and watching them interact with the kids, was amazing. Our kids got to see all 4 of their grandparents, 4 of their great-grandparents, and almost 20 other assorted aunts/uncles/cousins/2nd cousins/etc while we were away! I wish our family could live closer together, but as my wise SIL says, 'this isn't Heaven yet!' I wish I could put up more pictures, but due to some internet issues with my computer, I have to use our desktop computer, and all the pics are on my laptop...

Anyway, please accept this lame post, and the following adorable picture as a token of my blogging, and a promise that I will blog again someday, after I find my floors... :)

Vacation Hilarity

Here are some of the ‘highlights’ of our family’s vacation earlier this month - we spent a week in VA at a condo, relaxing, and then two BUSY days in Washington, DC, seeing the sights. We had a great time, but it is very nice to be home as well.

On the way to our resort (about a 7-hour drive for a normal person…slightly longer with a 7-month pregnant woman and an antsy one-year-old), we had been driving for about 4 hours, Z was getting tired, and VERY bored of being in his car seat. We had been talking all weekend about ‘vacation’ and how exciting it was to go on ‘vacation’, and how we were driving all this way to go to ‘vacation’… Well, Z decided that he had had enough already, and let out a wail: “All done vacation!!!” Hubby and I have been laughing about it ever since. :)

The next morning, as we were eating breakfast, Z was ready to get down from the table, and he came up with even a new excuse to be done eating…a rather good one at that. “My belly SO full” he informed me, and then followed it up with a loud belch. So I assume he was telling the truth. :) But don’t believe that he won’t use THAT one again. :)

We went to a little ‘rescue zoo’ where they take in animals that are abandoned & then either keep them or give them to individuals who will keep them for life. They had all kinds of neat animals - lemurs, lots of snakes, wallabies, monkeys, and even a tiger! They had a petting zoo with goats, deer & a camel, and Z was excited about petting the goats…until one of them popped out from in between the fence slats & came to join us on our side of the fence- that was a little too scary for him! When I asked him later that day what his favorite thing was at the zoo, he said, “Man”. Apparently the zookeeper, who came and talked to us for a few minutes, was the highlight of his day. :) He did talk about the tiger again later, though.

Zachary made up a new word in the last week - “arounding”. It means turning around. When we’re going around a curve in the car, we’re ‘arounding’. When he’s running around in a circle, he announces that he’s ‘arounding’. It’s pretty funny, and it actually makes sense. :)

We have seen many deer wandering around on our resort, including several right off the back porch of our room. Zachary asks to go out on the porch all the time, saying, “Look for deer.” At some point, I must have exclaimed that it was ‘fun’ to see the deer right there, and so now he calls them ‘fun deer’.

Out of the 8 days that we were on vacation, we visited our favorite consumer wonderland, Wally World, at least 4 times. One trip was solely because our baby monitor broke, and we had to get a new one (which ended up working for approximately 24 hrs before petering out…don‘t get me started on that). Z always gets excited about shopping and enjoys riding in the cart. One day, as we were driving to the store, Z was talking in the backseat, and let out a contented, enraptured sigh: “Wal-mart…” We’re raising a future WM shopper. You’re welcome, Sam Walton! :)

We visited a small children’s museum in the area - Z’s first time at one of these, and we had a lot of fun there. I had a lot of fun watching Z enjoy it, and I think his favorite part was either the lawn tractor that you could sit on, or the little plastic slide…rather like the one he has at home… :)

After getting all relaxed for a week, we headed down to Washington, DC for a couple days. I will recommend to ALL pregnant women, if you’re going to see DC when you’re 7 months pregnant, DO NOT WALK IT. Your hips and back will hate you for days. Also, I can recommend many great public restroom stops around the city, as well as a comprehensive tour of each park bench in the vicinity. Take a tour bus between the sights or something - it would definitely be worth it.
Also, if you take a rather active toddler with you, who is unhappy being stuck in his stroller all day, your recounting of the trip may go something like this: Hubby taught Z to sing several fun silly songs while I toured the Holocaust museum. I sat with Z while he slept in the food court at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, then fed him lunch, and we walked through the room with the big ‘spaceships‘ and walked through an airplane exhibit twice. After torturing Z by making him sit in his stroller and sing silly songs while we waited in line & then toured the exhibit of the First Ladies’ dresses, Z & I played on a bench in the Smithsonian museum of US History, eating goldfish crackers and making friends with every person who came to sit on our bench. Disclaimer: My son is NOT shy. Especially if you have a phone. Or if you’re wearing a hat - he really likes hats, and will exclaim, “Man! Hat On!!” He went up to seriously every person, and one sweet foreign lady was even hugging him & cuddling him & he didn’t even mind.

I think Z would say his favorite part of Washington, DC was riding the ‘train’ (the metro/subway). Every time the door would open or close, the train would beep & announce, “Door opening” or “Door closing”, so Z started saying that, too.

All in all, we had a great time as a family. I remember when Hubby & I used to take vacations before we had kids, they mostly consisted of sleeping in late, lounging around, and then taking naps, and going out to eat. So last year when we went on our first family vacation WITH Z, it felt less vacation-y to me - since, you know, I still had to get up early, nurse & make baby food for him, and change diapers & all. This year, I adjusted my expectations and my goals for vacation, and Z pleasantly surprised me by sleeping in until 7:45 a few days, and Hubby watched him so I could take several naps. Our condo had a dishwasher, too (I’ve never had a dishwasher in any house we’ve lived in yet), so I took FULL advantage of that rare perk. Also, I took full advantage of the Jacuzzi tub - it was wonderful. :)

It’s always nice to be home, though, to our own beds, our own cozy home with fogged-up windows and falling leaves (and today, snow!) outside. Being away from home is nice for a few days, but it’s even nicer to be home again, and more appreciative of all we have here.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jog

We're home. Actually, we've been home for about, oh, a week now. And just today I feel like I'm getting caught up on life at home again! :) I guess this is the first 'normal' day we've had, though. :)

Hubby's mom was able to come out last Sunday, and we were all able to spend Monday with her- relaxing, trip to town, going over three pages of notes on how to take care of Z...

Then Tuesday morning, we got all packed up & all of us went to Bob Evans for breakfast. Z enjoyed his meal & coloring with the crayons. The rest of us enjoyed our BoBurritos, too- which, in retrospect, are probably pronounced Bob-burritos, and not BO-burritos...don't you think? ALSO. Bob Evans has this new caramel mocha...which is wonderfully delicious AND - there are free refills! I was rather excited, and drank either two or three of them, I can't remember right now.

When we left Bob's, Hubby & I got into our car....and Grandma and Z got into HER car...and headed in the opposite direction!!! Waaaaahhhh... I did cry a little bit, I'm not going to lie. Actually I was totally keyed up nervous about it, and between that & the excessive mochas, we ended up having to stop about 15 minutes down the road. :( I felt fine by the time we got to Buffalo, though, and we spent the afternoon shopping for couches at some fine furniture stores. We learned a lot about what we wanted, but we weren't sold on anything. So then we headed to Niagara Falls in Ontario, CA.

We spent the evening relaxing in our hotel, enjoying this view of the falls:

Isn't God's creation breathtaking???

Then we took a short (COLD) walk over to Zappi's pizza to get some dinner. We ate our delicious pizza while we watched American Idol.

The next morning, I SLEPT IN until about 8:30. Aaaahhhh. It was wonderful. That afternoon, we headed down to the 'tourist-y' Clifton Hill district of Niagara Falls and took in some sights, including Ripley's Believe it or Not (which we really enjoyed), a dorky wax museum (it was funny to try to figure out which celebrity they were supposed to be...), Galaxy Glow Golf (fun- we were the only ones there so we just acted stupid & goofed off & it was really fun), and the SkyWheel. Here's the best picture we managed to snap- sorry it's so dark!

We relaxed with American Idol again that evening, and slept in again the next morning...and then we got ready to come home. And, I'll tell you, it was wonderful. I loved just being with Hubby, and not having to warm up fish sticks for anyone or hunt for blocks under the couch or think about whether I had time to do something before it was anyone's snack time...but oh, I missed that boy!!! We used the rest of Thursday to finish our couch shopping in Buffalo on the way home, and we ended up finding some gorgeous chocolate brown couches on sale at La-Z-Boy...and...they'll be delivered in 5-7 weeks. So, anticlimactically, after all our shopping, we're still sitting on our decrepit old couches. After we finished our wheeling & dealing, we

C-R-A-W-L-E-D home to see our baby!!! Honestly, we could NOT drive fast enough!!! :) Here is a picture of me & baby being reunited!!!

And, finally, I leave you with a picture of our favorite souvenir from the trip. This also happens to be one of the most unique souvenirs I've seen...

This is a wax mold of Hubby's and my hands. Wish I could've gotten pictures of the proces...we held hands & dipped them first in COLD ice water- on a 0-degree day- fun! :) Then we put lotion on & dipped our hands in HOT paraffin wax. Then we dipped them in colored wax- we picked black- and then we had to remove our hands VERY carefully from the molded wax. And we had our names & the year painted on them & this is what we came home with:

Our Vacation- Part 2

Wow, we've been home from vacation for a week and a half now...it's hard to remember everything that happened! :) In my last post, I wrote about the camp conference, and driving down to Hubby's youngest brother's house in Chattanooga, TN, with Hubby's middle brother & his wife (A&A).

So we got to Chattanooga around 8:30, and Z had screamed for about an hour earlier in the evening while Hubby & brother were trying to have a conversation. Us lucky ladies got to ride in the screaming-free car. :) We met Hubby's youngest brother & wife (J&E) at BW3's (which, by the way, if anyone knows why it's nicknamed that, since there's only 2 W's in Wild Wings, I'd love to know), and we ordered some food, but Z was a little scared of Hubby's youngest brother, having not seen him for a while, and Z was tired & grouchy & wanted down...so us girls didn't stay too long, just long enough to eat, and then we headed to J&E's house.

Friday we all just hung out at the house, played games (typical for a family gathering), talked, played with Z. It was so fun & relaxing. On Saturday, J&E took us in to downtown Chattanooga - to the Art District, a cool coffeeshop, a walking bridge & to a cute carousel! Z rode the carousel & rode in the stroller & even took a nap while we walked around. It was so much fun, and such a cool downtown area! The weather was gorgeous- probably in the upper 50s or so- WONDERFUL considering it was probably snowing here at the time. :) When we got home that afternoon, I started feeling a little yucky, but sometimes I get nauseous headaches, so I attributed it to that...until I got sick. And I NEVER get sick like that. Even during my pregnancy, I never hurled. But I had the FLU. Yuck. Then, during the night, my SIL E got the flu...then in the early morning, A&A left for home, but only made it an hour down the road, and stopped at a hotel, because BIL A had the flu. I felt so yucky on Sunday, but we had to pack up & head to Nashville, because our reservation started that day...we managed, and actually by Sunday night I was feeling a lot better, and able to eat some crackers & soup. Thankfully it seems it was just a 24-hour bug, and I was back to about 90 percent by Monday! Hubby was only sick during one night, and a little nauseous the next day (Sun. nite & Mon.), so thankfully he didn't have it too bad!

Nashville was fun- someone had given us a week at a condo resort place, so our suite was really nice- Z had his own room, and we had a whirlpool tub in our master suite. Love it! :) I probably took 10 baths in the week we were there. :) We enjoyed relaxing as a family, taking Z to swim in the WARM pool, and playing on the resort playground- just swinging, mostly. One of the highlights of our Nashville trip was taking Z to his first zoo! He liked the animals that were active, like the meerkats & this one stork. But the animals that were just laying around, he wasn't really sure what he was supposed to be looking at, and it was kind of a cool, wet day, so some of the animals were kind of boring...but overall I think we had a good time. Hubby & I enjoyed the zoo, too, probably more than Z!

After a week in Nashville, we had to come home, and our trip home was NASTY. By the time we got to Cleveland, it was snowing, and it took us 4 hours to come the last 90 miles. Then, after we got our stuff unloaded into the house, and I was getting Z down to sleep, the power went out. And stayed out for half the night. And came back on. And went back off. Thankfully, our house didn't get too cold before it finally came on to stay around 4 am. But we were wishing we would've just stopped at a hotel, that's for sure. :)

It was fun to be gone on vacation, but nothing beats being home.

Our Vacation- Part 1

Our vacation started out with a 7-hour drive to Southern Ohio for a camp conference. We left after church on Sunday, and drove through the afternoon. With stops for the baby to stretch & eat & all, we got there around 8:15 that Sunday night. The conference was held at Scioto Hills Camp, where hubby & I worked for a couple of years, so it was neat to see the changes they had made, and see everybody we used to work with, too. Hubby's brother & wife work at a camp in Iowa that also attends this conference, and the thoughtful S.H. staff put them in the room RIGHT next to us! So that was a lot of fun.

On Monday morning, we got up and hopped on a tour bus headed to Cincinnatti. We were nervous about how Z would act on the bus, but he did fine- slept some, played some, wasn't too fussy, and NO screaming, thankfully. After about three hours, we finally arrived at the Creation Museum. First, we all had to get our tickets (since we had a group of about 80 people there), and then take a group picture. After that, we got to enjoy the museum. It was amazing. The indoor, walk-through part is so neat. If you're a person who really enjoys informational reading, there's plenty of signs to read, and if you're not, there's lots of visual displays, life-size animals, plants, a life-size Garden of Eden, life-size dinosaur models, even a life-size model of 1 percent of the ark. It was a great experience. And then we went outside- there are fun bouncy bridges to walk on, paths & trails with flowers all around, and a petting zoo with a camel, goats, a pig, llamas, donkeys, sheep, etc. Z was a little unsure of the llama, but liked the sheep & goats.


We returned to the camp that evening, and Z slept the WHOLE way back- three hours- on the bus- thankfully! Tuesday morning, the actual camping conference began- the camp held different workshops about camping, including a workshop that Hubby & I attended on the challenges and rewards of raising children at camp. Hosted by Roger Williams, who is the director of Mount Hermon Camp in California, AND the father of Joy Williams. Heard of her? I have! :) It was really cool to hear about raising camp kids from someone who has been there & raised kids who love the Lord & serve Him. The SH staff had thought through the childcare aspect of the conference really well, so everyone with children under 2 were in the same lodge, with the childcare held in the middle room of said lodge. So Z could take a nap even if I was in a workshop, and I ended up getting to go to all the sessions & workshops, so that was very nice.


Of course, the best part of the conference is getting to see all of our friends from other camps (Hubby has been to 6 of these, and this was my 4th conference). And going back to our old 'stomping-grounds' to see how they've updated & even remodeled parts of the camp was really neat, too.


The conference was supposed to end after an early lunch on Thursday so that everyone could get on the road. But the speaker, the afore-mentioned Roger, needed a ride to Cincinnatti to catch his plane, and had to leave at 11. We were originally planning to drive down to Hubby's youngest brother's house in TN with Hubby's middle brother, and I was pretty excited about driving down together... but Hubby wanted to help the speaker out, and it was only an hour or so out of our way, so we ended up volunteering to leave early and take him to Cincinnatti. I wasn't overly thrilled about missing out on the drive with his brother & his wife, but I reluctantly agreed when I heard that no one else had offered to take him. He and Hubby ended up having good conversation the whole way there. The kicker, though, was that when we arrived at the airport, Roger said, "Thank you for allowing me to borrow your husband for these couple of hours". I was like... "uh, yeah, no problem..." with my head down in shame...I can be so selfish sometimes!!! We ended up being able to meet up with Hubby's brother & his wife a couple hours down the road anyway, and I rode with my SIL, and we had a great time talking & LAUGHING after all. :)

Alright, I'm going to close this post here...and work on another one to tell you about the rest of our trip. It may be another week before I get around to it, though, I'm warning you... :) Have a great Thanksgiving, all!