June 2, 2012

24 Hour Road Trip!

Two nights ago, I had an idea. Luke was about to leave town and head to Grand Junction for work. Usually we can't go because of school, MOPS, etc, but I had no plans for Friday. So we left the dishes on the table, food out for the dog, stuck the kids in their pajamas, loaded up the car, and headed out for the open road!

Lets first discuss assumptions. We thought the kids would conk out around Frisco (about 1 1/2 hours in). That would be a BAD assumption. Sam was awake until 8:30 (not the worst thing in the world), Caroline, on the other hand, was awake until 10 (cue the ominous music). Next assumption was that, due to the lateness of their falling asleep, they would sleep in....maybe even until 8! Again, a BAD assumption. We all slept in the same hotel room. Caroline in a pack n play, Sam in a bed, Luke and I in a bed. Six a.m. rolls around (note: on a normal day, my kids don't wake up until 730), and Caroline is literally SCREAMING she is so excited that she has awakened to this wonderful scene! All of her favorite people in ONE ROOM! EEEEEEK!

At this point, we begin to pray: "dear Lord, please..." and that's all we can get out because they are hungry. Our sweet Jesus must have known what we needed because things turned around! We ate a great breakfast with a side of heavy whining, but we got through it. Then we went to the hot springs across the street. Glenwood Springs has the largest hot springs in the country? NAY, the WORLD!!! We swam, we said hi to all the old folks and we headed to Grand Junction.

Things went pretty smoothly for the rest of our time on the western slope. We played at a playground, at lunch and headed back to Denver around nap time. Surely after almost no sleep the night before, they would sleep until...lets say Frisco, right? WRONG PEOPLE! WRONG! Sam began whining while Caroline did her best to remind us that "I may be the second child, but I'm first when it comes to screaming and making you believe that I very well could be dying back here!" HOWEVER, they did not know what I had in my arsenal...classical music. HA! We played Cannon in D 5 times in a row and sweet Caroline was no match. She slept until Glenwood Springs (which was about 90 minutes into a 5 hour drive...sigh.)

We did finally stop for some frozen yogurt in Frisco. It was the most disappointing thing I've ever experienced. The workers were so excited to tell me that it was "gluten free, sugar free, lactose free, dairy free, fat free." And I wondered why they even called it yogurt. To make matters worse all of the toppings were sugar free and the "chocolate" toppings were made from carob. CAROB! The look of absolute disdain I gave them was not enough to communicate that the ice cream treat stop was supposed to turn this trip happy again. And now we have CAROB! FANTASTIC!

You should have seen us all by the end. It was basically a mutiny. I actually "pulled the car over" and made empty threats (which I almost never do) which turned into pleading for everyone to hold it together! By the time we got home, we were all falling apart and to make matters worse there wasn't a drop of wine in the whole house. NO WINE!

After the kids were in bed, cooler heads prevailed (funny how bed time has that affect). We concluded that the trip was ok minus the last few hours and we would wait a few years to try a 5 hour road trip in 24 hours again. And we certainly were NOT going to stop in Frisco for ice cream.

Peace Out,

Michele

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