The trip home

Being New Year's DAY, I was a bit nervous about the drive home. I knew we would be fine until we hit Vegas, but after that I wasn't so sure. So we tried to get off as early as we could. That ended up being 7:45 am. Not as early as I hoped, but it ended up being just fine in the end. Traffic was good to us and if it wasn't for that darn agricultural stop you have to make coming in to CA, we wouldn't have hardly hit a speck of traffic. Curse that agricultural spot. I'm not even sure what the point of it is. "No sir, I have no fresh fruit or live plants". "Ok, go on through"???? Pointless. The last couple times we've been waved right through. Seriously...such a waste of time.

Anyway, we got off pretty well. The car was packed to the brim, but honestly the kids were excited for it to be daylight and not the middle of the night. At least the girls were anyway. We made a stop mid morning to go to the bathroom and get a snack. I asked Brandon if he wanted anything. He said, no. We left. As we are getting back on the freeway he begins to FREAK out that we didn't get him any cheetos. And then proceeded to throw a fit for the next 15 minutes or so. I first tried to reason with him and when they didn't work, I just gave up while he continued to scream. Paul being the nice Dad he is, had pity on him and the fact that he's only three and stuck in a car all day. See the bag of cheetos in his lap. I'm still not sure he deserved them, but after eating a few he fell asleep for about two hours, so I guess it was worth it. At least for my sanity anyway. 

The girls were great. In an effort to ward off the constant "are we there yet", we told them to watch the sun and when it went from one side of the car to the other, that we would be home. It only mildly helped, but we made a big joke out of it and so at least they were laughing. 

Carter was as good as to be expected of a 14 month old. He slept on and off for a bit, ate pretty well and went through just about every toy, and halfway playable with object, in the car. We did have to make an extra stop because he had just had it with his car seat. I don't blame him. Poor little guy can barely move in the thing. I'd be freaking out if I was strapped down by a five point harness too.

Over all, he was a trooper!

We made it home in good time (by about 6 pm). Had a little time to relax, get the car unloaded and start on the mountains of laundry. Over all, a very successful trip. We may even be tempted to try it again.