Tour Del Sur: The Beginning...

As deep as my love is for our Chicago home, this summer's weather has been far from summery. As of July 7th, there had only been one week of hot, sunny weather. The rest had either been cold, cool, cloudy, rainy, or all of those.

Back in January, we made the 10-hour drive to Alabama to visit the Henriksen Compound (6 cousins their 10 children, grandma, grandpa, aunt and uncle all in one county) as well as to escape the -30* winter chill. I never thought 6 months later, I would find myself heading back down to Alabama to again to escape the cold.

In addition to being annoyed with the weather, I've been feeling a little anxious lately to take advantage of our current family state. Cade and Savannah can both communicate using words (not always a good thing, but it does help to hear requests spoken in the English language rather than the pre-talking moany whine), can walk, feed themselves, and use a toilet. I am not puking my guts out, feeling sea sick, or using the restroom 54 times a day (which would be commonplace if I was expecting). As such, I planned trips to Alabama and Virginia this month looking forward to enjoying them with the luxuries of good health and relatively independent children.

Taking trips (and trips they are. I was corrected by a friend when I initially referred to them as vacations that these were NOT vacations. Vacations are when it's the entire family or just husband and wife. When it is the children and one parent, it is a trip!) during the summer also come at a cost. While it is fun to get away and see friends and family, it is also not easy, because Kyle is not able to come with. Back before our plumbing fun, driving the 10 hours alone with the kids was not even an option. I was set on flying to Bama and renting a car once I got there. After shelling out the equivalent of the plane tickets and a rental car on a single piece of plumbing, I decided if I wanted to come to Alabama, I needed to bite the bullet and make the drive.

I admit, many days I reconsidered this. Heavens, my children cannot even last a 7 minute car ride without muderous screams and fights. I could not picture myself handling 10 hours of them in the car on my own.

I finally figured out that if I left early evening just after feeding the kids dinner, and put them in their jammies, I could do the majority of the drive then, while it was bedtime, when they are generally better-behaved, and I am the most alert. I could stop at a hotel when I was tired, and finish the remaining few hours the next day.

So, the target-time on Tuesday was 5pm. I realized this had to be a flexible time. A, because this is me we are talking about. I need flexibility! B. When children are involved, anything can happen. C. Our GPS broke and UPS was delivering a new one sometime on Tuesday. I didn't want to leave without it.

This was my plan:
At 2pm I would put Savannah down for a nap. During this time I had mentally scheduled to do all the packing and straightening up of the house. Then, when she woke up, I'd feed the kids dinner. While they ate, I would load up the car and finish odds and ends. We'd pull out of the driveway at about 5:30. The kids would talk and be excited for the first hour about the idea of taking a trip. They would read, play with toys, chill in their seat until about 8, at which point they would both fall asleep and I could drive in peace and quiet for another 5 hours or so. I'd check in at a hotel sometime around 1am. The kids would ease back to sleep and I'd get a good 7 hours before they arose. We'd have breakfast Wednesday morning and then be on our way. We'd arrive in Huntsville just in time to check into the hotel and for Savannah to have her afternoon nap. We'd meet up with the family for dinner and I'd put the kids down for bed at 8.

Doable, right?

This it what really happened:

At 2:15 pm after putting Savvy down, I suddenly (funny how that happens) realized that I was feeling rather tired myself. It was quickly decided it was important for me to drive well-rested. So I took a nap.

Savannah woke up an hour later. I panicked realizing not only how much I had to do, but how much I had to do with both my children awake.

I began the packing/cleaning/making dinner craze while the kids vegged in front of Barb's big screen (I canot lie. Having her TV to use has certainly had its benefits. When we move, I will miss it.).

Also, Kyle's GPS still had not come.

The kids ate around 5:30, then I bathed them. They were put back in front of the big screen. I packed. The neighbor kids came over to say goodbye and helped me load the car around 6:30. Kyle told me the GPS wouldn't be delivered until the next day. {mini-panic session. I didn't have a map. I'd have to rely on lame yahoo directions which are never good.} I then began straightening things up, putting laundry away, and doing other miscellaneousthings I wanted to be done with before I left.

I put the kids in the car at 8:30. Kyle came home at 9pm, to find me still running around the house putting things away and making last minute preparations. Oh don't worry dear, the kids have only been waiting in the car for 30 minutes, I reassured him. He laughed. Only 30 minutes? At 9pm I dropped by our old house across the street to give the new owner another key I found. I've been dying to see the inside (heard she put in some new tile) but haven't been brave enough to knock on her door. She was having a bonfire with some friends in the backyard so I didn't even have a chance to glance in the doorway. Bummer.

Finally at 9:30 I was pulling out of the driveway. I decided to check my voicemail a few miles into the trip. My mom had left a message telling me that we were going to do family pictures in Alabama and that we were all going to wear white shirts. I debated for a few minutes, and finally decided to turn around and get the shirts. Kyle had another good laugh that I was back. At 10pm we were on the road, for real.

So I thought.

At a stop light just before getting on the freeway, a man motioned to me something. Nervously I rolled down the window, half expecting to be hi-jacked for doing so. The man kindly said, "Ma'am, your back lights aren't working."

At all? I asked.

"not at all ma'am. No rear lights working at all"

The light turned green. I called Kyle, feeling totally defeated, positive I was going to have to turn around and just sleep in my own bed for the night.

He told me to pull over and explained how to put the right fuse back in its slot to make the lights come back on.

Easy as pie. At 10:15, I really, really was on the road.

FIVE hours past target time.

The kids fell asleep around 11, but didn't stay asleep long. I stopped in Franklin, Indiana at 3am, with both kids wide awake. We got to the hotel room and Savannah was thrilled, jumping on the beds. Cade, on the otherhand was coughing so hard he began throwing up.

We all finally fell asleep at 4:15am.

The kids were up at 8:45, so as such, I was, too. We ate breakfast, bathed, and packed up. I was moving very slowly.

We checked out at noon, trying to be ready for a full day of driving ahead of us.

I fed the kids lunch while gassing up (love go-gurts) and thought it would be cool if we could drive the next 6 hours without stopping once. !?!?

1 hour later Cade had to go to the bathroom.

3 hours later I got lost going through Nashville and wasted 45 minutes trying to get on the right highway again. It's embarrassing how badly I need a GPS to navigate for me.

With 20 miles to go, I made a wrong turn and added another hour to our trip. Cade heard me tell him "Don't worry, hon! We'll be there in about 20 minuntes" three times. I was serious all three times.

We finally pulled into the hotel parking lot at about 7:50pm.

Needing the kids to burn some energy we went to the pool. What happened there really melted all the day's woes. More on that later.

Pizza was delivered to our room at 11pm. The kids were finally put to bed at midnight.

Moral of the story:
Bad idea: target times. I'll feel like a failure quite nearly every hour of the day because I won't make them.
Good idea: trips. They force schedules out the window and me to deal with life with a "go with the flow" mentality, which does not come by me naturally. At all.