Thanks, Earl.

We left last Sunday for our last vacation of the year.  I was really looking forward to this one because DH was going to be with us all week.

We had absolutely gorgeous weather Monday-Wednesday.  And, then we got evacuated Thursday because of stupid Hurricane Earl.  The weather reports were so conflicting and at first, it looked like it wasn't going to be that bad.  We were in Corolla, NC and there's only one road (Rt 12) that is situated between the ocean and sound. It floods during a regular old thunderstorm so I was most worried about the road flooding and not being able to get out.  Our house was about 2 blocks from the ocean and the beach had a pretty substantial dune barrier.  But, still.  Better to be safe than sorry.

If we didn't have the kids, DH & I probably would have stayed.  One of my co-workers was staying in a house a few streets up from us and he did stay.  He told me yesterday that it was the most boring hurricane - just rain and wind.  No damage, no flooding.

So, now I'm mad because we cut our vacation short by 3 days for nothing.  AND, I haven't even mentioned the traffic to get home. The drive normally takes 5 hours from my house.  Factor in the kids and we can do it in 6.

They announced the mandatory evacuation for our area at 8:30 am and we left Corolla at 10:45 am.  It took us 3 hours to go 6 miles... and that was just to get down Rt 12 to the main road out of the Outer Banks.  We would creep forward a few inches and then stop for 20-30 minutes.  Dead stopped.

I have to tell you, though.  I was a machine in the car!  DH has an F150 pick-up truck and I can sit fairly comfortably in the back seat between the car seats.  We did bottles, lunch (baby food) and diaper changes in the car!  (Disclaimer - I normally would not take the kids out of their seats for a diaper change while driving but we were stopped and going nowhere).   I had stations set up in the back seat - bag of toys, diaper bag, bowls, spoons, bibs, wipes, blankets. 

Once we finally got going, we hit an 8 mile back-up outside of VA Beach so that added another 2 hours.

So, the 6 hour drive turned into 11 hours.  The poor kids.  We stopped twice to get out and stretch our legs.  Poor Christopher hated his car seat - he would cry every time we tried to put him back in the car.

I should have known that vacation was going to be out of the ordinary from the events of the first night.  We got checked into the house and chose a downstairs bedroom that had a Jack 'n Jill bath.  We set up the kids cribs in the connected bedroom.

We started our normal evening routine.  Feed the kids dinner at 6, pjs at 7 and then start bedtime bottles between 7 & 7:30.  Both kids were so obviously tired - crying and rubbing their eyes.

We took them down to their cribs and I fully expected them to fuss for a few minutes (as normal) and then conk out.

Um, no.  They cried uncontrollably every time we left them alone in the room.  They just could not get settled.  We tried everything.  Finally, at midnight, DH suggested we take them for a drive to see if we could get them to fall to sleep.  So, we jumped in the truck and drove up and down Rt 12. 

We came upon several police cars with their lights flashing.  It was clearly a checkpoint of some sort. 

Of course, DH had 3 beers that night between 6 pm and 10:00 pm.  My first thought? 

Shit.

The officer told us to stop and said they were conducting a drivers license check.  (psst... that's code for DUI checkpoint).

He asked where we were coming from and DH said we were just driving around trying to get our kids to sleep.  The officer shined his flashlight in the back seat (thanks for blinding my kids) and then asked for DH's license.  He walked to the back of the truck - I guess to check the license against our license plates?  Then, he came back and asked "How much have you had to drink tonight"? 

DH immediately told him 3 beers and that the last one was 2 hours ago.  He looked at me and asked if I had anything and I said, "No, not a drop".  He asked me to get in the drivers seat.

Since it was midnight, I was in my pajamas when we left the house.  Yes, my pink and white striped pajamas with "PINK" written across the butt.

I'm sure the officer and all of the cars stopped behind us really appreciated seeing that.

I got in the drivers seat and he asked us to turn down a side street where they were conducting a field sobriety test on another driver.

Now, I knew DH wouldn't have driven if he didn't think he could but the fact that he had something to drink still scared me.

They asked DH to get out of the car and they performed the breathalizer test on him.  The whole time, I'm watching in the side mirror to see if I could tell what the outsome was.

I saw him blow in the machine and then the officer gave him back his license and he was free to leave.  He blew 0.00.   Phew!

And, after all of that?  The kids were still awake when we got back home.  They didn't go down until 4 am.  I can honestly say that was THE longest night ever.

At least it will be a family vacation that I'll never forget!