My girls love getting ready for a road trip. They love to pack their suitcases & carefully choose what toys & activities they want to bring to stay entertained during the trip. They get their blankets & pillows ready and spend all kinds of time getting their "spots" in the car just right. When we left for our road trip to grandma & granddad's last Thursday night, the girls were seated in the car, ready to go, an hour before it was time to leave.
Oh what a difference a couple of hours makes . . . .
We had only been on the road for less than 2 hours (of our 7 hour trip) when all the entertainment was old, & everyone had some sort of ailment. "My head hurts," one would say. "My tummy hurts," said another. "Where are we?" asked the third. We had not even crossed the state border & Lacey had asked "Where are we?" no less than 10 times! [JUST LIKE THE LAST 9 TIMES YOU'VE ASKED - WE ARE IN THE DESERT & WE WILL BE FOR A WHILE!] Madi was ready to turn around & go home by this point, feeling claustrophobic, frustrated, tired, & reduced to tears! I thought about my parents who were traveling at the same time we were. "How quiet it must be in their car," I thought. Just the two of them traveling the open road - could be kind of fun . . .
Luckily, since we left later in the evening, it didn't take too much longer & all was quiet and four children were sleeping soundly. Ahhh - the peace & quiet! We reached grandma & granddad's at 2:00 am Utah time, but the early hour was worth the peace in the car.
So - we had a such a wonderful weekend visiting cousins, aunts & uncles & grandparents. Oh how we love our family! It is always hard to say goodbye, but we ended our little road trip with a return trip home last night. It all started innocently enough -
(this picture was taken in November 2006)We left, & then we came back 2 more times for things forgotten including daddy's sunglasses & hugs for grandma! ok - now we are really leaving . . .
Who would want to leave this?! Not my girls, that is for sure! To them, this is truly heaven on earth, & there are tears every time we leave. But we had to go, and so our return-home adventure began. Our trip home went something like this -
1 tearful daughter
1 diaper blowout (that took 45 minutes of Ben complaining & crying to finally convince mom & dad that there must really be something wrong & that he's not just bored - duh!)
1 fight with mom
hours of rain, snow, more rain, wind
6 roadside stops (note to self - do not buy Lacey a bottle of water & let her drink it in 20 minutes flat while traveling!)
and finally - 2 hours of quiet when all finally fell asleep!
Along the way, the girls watched movies, ate, & did homework -
The high points of our road trip home include the scenery around Fillmore, Utah as well as sisters who generally got a long. The scenery around Fillmore was so beautiful. It was green grass & hills for as far as the eye could see. Since it doesn't always look that way, it was quite a treat to see!
Yes, we have one more road trip under our belts and many more to experience in the future. And would I trade the time in my car for the time in my parents (aka peace & quiet) - maybe! But, as great as peace & quiet is, it can't compete with the feeling I get when I turn around from the front seat of my car & look at the four precious children that are mine & Brad's to raise. There's something about having them contained in one spot for an extended period of time that makes my heart feel full. My parents had their turn being where I am, and one day, I will have my turn to be where they are. So for now, I guess I will choose my noisy, somewhat chaotic, and only sometimes peaceful {ROAD TRIPS}!
7 comments:
Great post! I could totally relate. I really really miss having a little one. At first, on his 18th birthday I felt like I was FREE ..., but now, I wish I could have just one more day where I picked him up from school, fixed him dinner, got him bathed, cuddled for a story, and listened to his prayers.
How nice that you and Brad make the effort to travel and visit family. That's what time is for, right?
i remember those days...including the one time Dad turned around across the freeway median and SERIOUSLY threatened to go back home if the fighting in the back seats didn't stop! i can't say I miss THAT day, but now that i am in the "so many things are the last" mode, i still appreciate even the not so good days. we did a lot of road trips. and they were a lot of fun. thanks for sharing your always touching thoughts.--Linda
oh, yes. and that is SUCH a great picture of grandma judy and granddad. ilove it.
love the pics LaRae. I have to say that if your road trips don't include someone getting car sick you are doin real good!
when my kids were little and we went on long trips, I would pack 2 paper sacks (or some sort of bag) with some surprises for them. These were things they would not bring themselves or snacks they didn't expect. Then as we drove and they started getting bored, I would pull some surprise from the bag and it was like a miracle happened in the car and life was good again! This is a trick I learned from my mom...and I still do it now that they are older as it is a tradition.
Well, I must say I have had very similar road trips! There is something great about having them all contained for that ride. And, I often look forward to some day of "quiet road trips"!
dawnae - you are right, we are quite lucky & don't have too many "car sick" road trips. That would add yet another element of excitement. linda & judy - i can already feel my children slipping away from me, & ben is only 1. I know what you mean by that "so many things are the last mode". it's hard when they are little, but that time is so brief & before we know it, we miss that time we had. janet - i love your road trip idea - a fun tradition to carry on! your boys have a great mom!
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