Road Trip

First I'd like to say that I had this one ready to go yesterday, but somebody thought it was a bad idea.

Nice move, Google. Maintenance.

Yeah.

Sure.

After last week's gem, I thought I should chronicle my adventure this past weekend. We headed to the other side of our state for Carrie's friend's daughter's baptism. Carrie is the godmother, so her presence was essential. We all hopped into our new ride, and headed west.



Yeah, that's right. We got the minivan. It's a sweet ride. I don't feel nostalgic for the hybrid, until I fill up the gas tank. Then, I feel sick.

This will be the second or third time we've traveled across the state. The drive is usually about 2 hours, and the girls have always handled it well. At 4 & 2, they were good just listening to music and singing the entire ride there. We don't have the factory installed DVD system in the car, that most minivans come with. Not for any morale choice, but mainly for cost. It didn't seem worth it to have the "Entertainment Package" added for $1300! I'll hop on Amazon and get those back-of-the-headrest ones for about a tenth of the price.

Anyways, the drive was smooth, there & back. We were never really concerned about the drive. It was the hotel stay that concerned us.

We're in the process of moving the girls into one room, making space for the new baby. (3 weeks!) But this hotel stay would be the first for both of them sleeping together. Not only in the same room, but in the same bed!

When we rolled into town, we stopped at our hotel to check in first, before heading to Carrie's friend's house. We knew we had a two room suite, with a double bed & a sofa bed. The sofa bed was closer to the door, so that's where Carrie & I slept. The girls would take the double. After figuring out what we would put next to the bed so E doesn't fall out, we left to hang for a bit.

We got back a little late, but thought that would work in our favor. They're both tired, so they'll both go to sleep easily, right?

RIGHT?!?!?!


Not so. E had a tough time adjusting to a bed without prison bars. (That bodes well.) And since L's sleeping right next to her, she couldn't help but be concerned with every Ella movement.

From the other room:

"Dad! Mom! E's not sleeping!"

"Mom! Dad! E won't stop moving!"

"Dad! Mom! E isn't having sweet dreams!"

I think they finally fell asleep around midnight! What did it take? Mommy magic, of course. I had to run next door to the 24 hour supermarket, and when I came back, they were sleeping like two angels. At least for a few hours. I think E woke us up 2 or 3 times more. It was all a blur.

E slept a little later than the rest of us on Sunday morning. (I was very jealous.) But we got checked out of the hotel relatively early, and made it to the baptism right on time. And of course, everybody slept on the way home. Including myself. Cruise control really is like auto-pilot!

The whole trip was a good preview for our vacation later this year. We'll have another person waking us all up, instead of E. My first response to her waking up from the baby's cries:

"You just got E-ed! BAM!"

Dad of the year, right here, folks.



Still looking for a Wonder Woman figure for E. I'm watching some stuff on eBay, but nothing concrete yet. Any leads? Send them my way.