Road Trip

As you probably know by now, we went out of town this weekend for a family reunion. The family reunion part was good. It's the getting there and getting home part that needs a little work.

With no interruptions, it takes us about 5-5 1/2 hours to get out to Western Kansas. With two kids, stops for lunch, potty breaks, stops because Georgia managed to climb out of her car seat - it's pretty much an all day trip.

Eli has been on enough ca trips that he does very well. Unfortunately Georgia hates being confined.

I wanted to do a picture diary of the trip. When we left from Kansas City, everyone was happy and smily:

Note Georgia's hair. We stopped for doughnuts, and apparently she thought the frosting on her doughnut was mousse for her hair. That's why she looks like she just stepped out of There's Something About Mary.

We didn't get nearly as far as I thought we would before the mood plummeted. About an hour into our trip things had already deteriorated into this:

I don't think you all believe me when I tell you how loud this child screams. Maybe the fact that you can see her tonsils in this picture gives you some indication. It didn't help that I was snapping photos of her either. That really pissed her off.

Poor Eli is so used to the screaming. He just covers his ears:

When we finally got to the family reunion, I was more than exhausted. I had a Passion Party on Friday night, and didn't get to bed until 1:30 am. Then I got up at 6:30 am to drive to the family reunion. With very little sleep and the trying car ride, I was about ready to drop.

When we got back to the hotel Saturday night, the kids were wound up. They didn't go to sleep until after 11:30 pm. Unfortunately, we were in room 101, which was right across from the breakfast area. I was awoken at 6:00 am on Sunday morning by the beeping of the waffle maker.

At that point I thought I was going to kill someone. Thank God there was a Starbucks a few blocks from the hotel. I finally switched to iced coffee because I thought it would take longer to burn a hole in my stomach than hot coffee would. I know I have warped logic, but work with me.

The children were worn out on Sunday. We had to drive another 1 1/2 hours north to visit Eric's grandma. That was the one car ride that was actually peaceful:

The kids had a good time visiting their great grandmother and enjoyed playing with their cousin Emily:

After that, we took them back to the hotel and went swimming. I really thought we had worn them out enough so they would sleep on the way home on Monday. No such luck. They didn't sleep at all! And they were exhausted. Georgia couldn't say anything without screaming it, and by the time we hit Topeka, I had just about snapped. We had to stop just so I could get out of the car and take some deep breaths before continuing on home. I was going to take some more pictures, but I didn't have the energy, patience or desire to take any more pictures.

So, did we have a good time? Yes. Was I happy to get home? Yes. Do I have any desire to ever take the children on a road trip again? Hell no.