We might not drive a big ole truck with our granny sitting in a rocking chair on the back knitting, but our family is much like the Beverly Hillbillies. We made our presence known on this trip in grand style. I'm pretty sure there are people sitting in their kitchens right now talking to their own families about "those people we saw while we were traveling".
For those of you who don't know, David just took a new job. He is required to be gone for extended periods of time which leaves the boys and I alone to survive on our own A LOT! It is a great opportunity for him and got him out of a difficult situation at his former job. It is a sacrifice we were all very willing to make but I have had to be creative in keeping the boys occupied while daddy is gone. In my attempts to help the boys deal with daddy going away this first time I decided that we would take a trip to Kentucky to help make it seem less dramatic when daddy exited. I thought I had everything well planned out but I guess along the way life decided to make things humorous.
Our traveling adventure started after spending a few days with my parents getting things ready for our trip. Mom, the boys and I packed up the car and off we went up I 75 on our amazing journey. I had packed a bag of things for the boys to do while in the car as I knew that this would probably be a slightly painful trip considering the hours they would be couped up in their seats. I had coloring books, reading books, books on CD and stickers galore. I was ready. Much to my surprise our first day of travel was amazing! I needed NOTHING for either boy to keep them happy in the car. They both just enjoyed taking short naps, looking at the construction trucks on the road and watching for "big trucks" as we drove along. If this was a sign of how our vacation was going to go then this was going to be an awesome 2 weeks. Or at least I thought.....
We were driving in GA when it happened, our first sign of trouble. Jeffrey started to yell, "I'M TUCK I'M TUCK!!!" from the back seat. I looked back to find my 3 year old plastered to the back of his car seat as if someone had taken duct tape and stuck him permanently to the car. I asked what was wrong and he said, "SEAT BELT HUTING ME!!!!" I knew that we didn't have an exit in our near future so I pulled the car over on the side of the busy interstate and rushed to his assistance. Sure enough, the seat belt had tightened and trapped him to the back of his seat. In an effort not to laugh at his dramatic flailing of the arms and panic in his voice, I quickly unbuckled the belt and fixed the issue. I returned to the driver's seat and off we went on our way once again. I had only driven for about 30 min when again from the back seat I hear, "TUCK MOMMY, TUCK!!!" I looked back and sure enough, there he was plastered to his seat again. Ughh, this is going to be a long trip. After 6 stops to fix the seat belt we decided to call it a day. 12 hours in the car with two kiddos, one seat belt that had a mind of it's own and two adults who were getting restless we were ready for a great hotel AND FAST!
I found a Holiday Inn Express that was close to the interstate, clean and had open rooms. Pretty much my only requirements. I booked the room, unpacked our luggage and moved everyone into our home for the night. Upon entering the room Jeffrey began to yell, "MINE CARS!!! MINE CARS!!!" I attempted to negotiate with him in an effort not to bring in all of our Hot Wheels but at that point who wanted to argue? I took the car keys and walked out to the car to retrieve the bag. On my way back into the hotel I passed the front desk and the little shelf of drinks they offered for purchase. I was standing looking at the selection when I hear a familiar voice, "Where's mommy?" I looked around and didn't see anyone I knew, only a few travelers booking rooms for the night. I decided that I was hearing things and turned back to the cooler of drinks. Once again I heard, "Where's mommy BA?" OK, now I know it isn't another kid cause who else calls their grandma BA? I looked around and once again I didn't see anything. I decided to go look around the corner where our room was located to see if Jeffrey was out in the hall. Sure enough, as I rounded the corner there stood two little men wearing only diapers and my mother in her pj's. I asked, "what's wrong?" Mom said, "well, Bubba opened the door and ran down the hallway. I told Jeffrey to hold the door open while I went to get Bubba but he decided that he wanted to get Bubba and asked me to hold the door. Unfortunately, when he asked me to hold the door it had already closed shut. So we are standing out here waiting for you to come open the door." Ummm, that's great except that I didn't bring a door key with me. I only brought the car keys cause I left 3 people in the room. No problem, I will just go to the desk and ask for another key. I returned to the desk and waited in line patiently until I realized that my naked crew was trying to escape from grandma again. Without any warning, Jeffrey broke loose and came into the lobby saying, "Hey Mommy, you get us nother key yet?" The people in line in front of me all turned to see my diaper only child standing there with his hands on his hips as if he were scolding me. At that point everyone began to chuckle to themselves and look at my bright red face. The lady behind the desk politely said, "did you guys get locked out?" I answered and without request she quickly made us another key. I returned to our room and breathed a sigh of relief that we were done with adventures for the day.
At this point it was nearing 10 pm. I figured the boys would need a little time to relieve energy but didn't realize how long that would take. As if a switch were turned on the two little energizer bunnies began running laps back and forth from the door to the window. Thank goodness we were on the first floor! Mom and I just looked at each other and pulled our feet up so we would be out of the way. After 30 min of running they both began to wear down. I took this Que and began the bed routine. It wasn't long before they were both snoring and dreaming of chocolate cookies and milk. While the day offered us some laughter, it was a good day and we made it past Atlanta so we knew our next day of travel would be shorter and more bearable. Thank you God for protecting us and getting us where we needed to go. Help us in the days that follow.
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