Or I guess I should say the 11:00 pm drive. So here's how it all started. Like I said, Paul mentioned at 10 o'clock, when I was still packing up, that he wished we could just go ahead and leave. I looked at him half crazy, but then started to think about it. I have friends that do it all the time. They talk about how great it is because their kids sleep the whole time and the trip goes by faster. So we thought we'd give it a whirl. We knew we would be tired, but if we traded off driving, maybe it wouldn't be too bad. I told him I would need about another hour to finish packing and then we'd get the car totally loaded up and then put the kids in it. So right at 11pm we had the car totally loaded. I went up to get the girls first while Paul got Brandon. Brandon transferred no problem. Hardly woke up when we put him in his car seat and then got all snuggled into it (as much as one CAN get snuggled into a car seat) and fell right back to sleep. Leah came down pretty well, but Ashlyn, in her half alert state, was resisting. I sent her down with her blanket and pillow and all she kept saying is that it wasn't morning and she wanted to get back in her bed. I brought Carter down and he seemed to transfer pretty well and I thought once we got moving, that he'd fall asleep no problem.
Well, we got down to the car and realized Ashlyn had gone back up to her bed. HA! So Paul went back up to get her and I grabbed the last few items. All the sudden we hear Brandon screaming. I was like no, no, no. So I ran down to the car thinking he woke up and was freaking out about being in his car seat, but no, he was screaming because Carter had thrown up ALL over himself and his car seat. One might think, well, let's just bag it and put the kids back to bed and wait till morning. BUT being that he is the fourth kid, we just pulled him out of his seat, Paul took him to clean him up, and I cleaned up the car seat. By 11:28pm we were pulling out of the garage. And yes, our car smelled like throw up the whole way there.
The kids settled down and most fell asleep pretty well, except for Ashlyn who was now wide awake. I drove for the first couple hours or so and then traded off with Paul on a dark little exit where the kids would be less likely to wake up. I tried to sleep in the car, but it wasn't very comfy and I was worried about Paul (it was the dead of night by then). And every time I looked back at Ashlyn she was still awake. Paul drove until he just couldn't anymore (a few hours at least), so we got gas and a little while after, we traded back. I got out of the car to switch back and it was FREEZING! Like 9 degrees outside. We were DEFINITELY not in CA anymore. Haha... Anyway, Leah woke up from time to time and the boys made noises here and there, but for the most part they slept. Ashlyn....not so much. We were making great time though and after one more driving switch (I barely lasted an hour and a half that time) we were almost to my mom's house. It was only 8:00 in the morning by that time. The kids were all awake now, and so we stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and a bathroom break. Paul and I were completely exhausted. We pulled up to my mom's house just after 10 am, but with the time change it was only 9am so the whole trip took 9 1/2 hours. That's a new record for us for sure! But was it worth it....in the girls words, NO!
We hung out at my mom's house for a few hours, had lunch, tried to rest a little (didn't work so well) and went to our hotel to get cleaned up. We ended up staying at the hotel for longer than we thought we would because Carter fell asleep on the floor in the living room next to Paul (the hotel had no crib for us). We headed back to my mom's for dinner. Hung out for a bit and then went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. It wasn't until the next day that I felt like a normal human being again. I'm not sure we'll do that again. Although on the way home, when the kids kept asking how long before we got home, we thought well maybe the night driving wasn't so bad after all. Haha...but really I think next time we'll try leaving at like 5 in the evening, so that we get to my mom's by the middle of the night, transfer the kids to their sleeping places and then hopefully get a few hours of sleep before morning. We'll see. I have no immediate plans to go back as of right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment