Summary of a Road Trip

In one of my last posts, I talked about the end of summer road trip to my mom's house.

Once again, my kids completely surprised me.  They were AWESOME!  

I picked up the kids from pre-school after lunch (but before naptime) and we drove to my sister's house to meet her and my niece & nephew.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn the mini van we rented was completely tricked out.  It was nice!  I was expecting something low-end but we got a Chrysler Town & Country with dual DVD system, leather seats, automatic doors and hatch, Sirius radio. 

Yes, I know.  Do you remember this post?

Uh huh.  The mini van crush is back. 

We got on the road a little later than we wanted (by noon) and made our way south to pick up Highway 95.  We purposely picked up the kids before naptime hoping they would all sleep in the car and allow us to make some good headway.  As soon as we got on the ramp to the highway, traffic was stopped.  And, it stayed stop and go for the next 20 miles.  Thank God I packed every Barney and kids video we owned because we needed them!   The 4 kids did nap for about 45 minutes but that was it.

I quickly learned that my niece and nephew are much more high maintenance than my kids.  My sister drove the first leg of the trip so I was the gopher for anything the kids wanted (snacks, drinks, toys).  And, of course, her kids were sitting in the very back.  So, every time they needed something, it was like a big game of Twister trying to climb back to give it to them.

We stopped for an early dinner around 4:00 pm and took about an hour break.  We still had another 2 hours in front of us.  This time, I jumped in the driver's seat and we kicked ass.  We finally got to my mom's at 7:00 pm.  

The kids all slept great and woke up pretty consistently around 6:30-6:45 am every morning.  When we woke up Saturday, it was overcast and they were calling for showers so we decided to drive an hour to Roanoke Island and go to the aquarium.  It's small but they have fish, snakes, alligators and a huge shark tank.

Surprisingly, we were all ready and out the door by 9:00 am and we arrived at the aquarium at 10:00 am.  We weren't sure if it would be crowded because of the weather so we were pleasantly surprised to see just a handful of cars in the parking lot.  We almost had the whole place to ourselves so that made it easier to keep track of the kids. 

The Three Muskateers

We decided to stay there for lunch and had a picnic lunch down by the sound.  It gave the kids a chance to run around before we got back in the car to head home.  After naps, we spent some time in my mom's pool.

I was so happy to see my kids active and unafraid of the water again. They loved it as much as they did at the beach house last month.  Chris was running and jumping off the edge by himself and submerging completely underwater.  I'm still not sure that he completely understands how to hold his breath and I know he took in some water a few times.  Again, Kendall would jump in but I had to hold her hands. 

Sunday, we got up early and packed up for the beach.  We got down there by 9:00 am and spent about 2 hours.  Chris was thrilled to be back in the waves and he played with Pop Pop for a long time.  It was good to see my stepfather interacting with him.  I think he really had a good time playing with Chris at the beach.  They were laughing and sharing that experience together. 

BFFs Forever

Playing with Pop Pop

Kendall still wouldn't put her feet in the water but she had a blast as long as I held her

After lunch, it started to rain so we were stuck inside for the rest of the day.  We tried our hardest to keep the kids entertained with baking cookies, coloring, movies and anything else we could find.  The adults kept themselves entertained with delicious Mudslides whipped up by my stepfather.


We packed up and headed home on Monday morning.  I volunteered to do the driving this time and the trip was much better traffic-wise.  We only stopped once for lunch and made good time. 
I'm a little embarrassed that I was so leary about the trip.  And, I didn't give my mom or stepfather enough credit.  It really was an enjoyable trip. 

A good end of summer ending.