Road trip!

Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go...

Sounds idyllic, right? Well, whoever wrote that song has obviously never been on a roadtrip with children. I have, though, and I know the truth.

It's supposed to be a three hour drive between my house and my parents' house. Doesn't sound so bad, but it's boring. We tried to play I Spy and it went something like this.

Aria: I spy with my little eye, sumfin.....that's green and on the ground and you walk on it.

Nathan: Grass!

Aria: Yes!

Nathan: I spy with my little eye, something that's....big and blue and has white fluffy things in it.

Dave: The sky!

Nathan: Yes!

Dave: I spy with my little eye, something that's black and really long and cars go on it.

Nathan: The road!

(you get the idea)....

So I Spy didn't last too long.

We tried to sing songs, but the kids would fight over the song that was chosen. They fought over the movie when we tried to watch one, Aria kept randomly screaming at the top of her lungs to see Gabe get startled. Then she'd laugh. I was trying to catch up on some sleep, but that was next to impossible with the "are we there yets" and Dave's neverending song. ("80 more miles and we will be there, 80 more miles and we will be there, 80 more miles and we will be there...." Sung for a mile at which point he'd drop his number. "79 more miles and we will be there, la la la!" Fun times, I tell ya.)

Then there are the potty breaks. Before we left, I said "who has to go potty?" and they responded "Not me!" I double and triple checked and pleaded with them to just try. Nothin' doin'. So we drove away. Not ten minutes later Aria yells "I have to go potty!" So we stop at a "potty station" (her words) and she takes care of business. While there, I ask Nathan about 6 times if he has to go. No, no, no. So Aria's taken care of and we leave. 10 minutes later....yup, you guessed it. Nathan has to go. So, we find a potty station for him and he goes. I check with Aria again. She says no.

Silly me for believing her. Maybe 30 minutes later she has to poo. I beg her to hold it in for a while because we're at that stretch of road with nothin' but sky, grass and pavement. She does and we finally find another potty station. She goes while I call work to let them know I'll probably be late (hence the reason I was trying to sleep...I had to stay up all night to work). We get moving again. I'm thinking that can't possible need to go again. We're an hour away. Everything will be fine.

Then... the silence is broken by the angry cry of a baby that clearly states "FEED ME!" So, we stopped again. I nursed Gabe and we resumed the drive.

I managed about 20 minutes of shut-eye and we were home and I left for work.

Over the river and through the woods, my foot. Pshaw.