Overall it wasn't a terrible experience. I'll start at Friday morning. Early Friday morning. Around 2:00 am to be exact. That's the time when me and Melody woke up to a screaming toddler. Every once in a while Rylynn will start yelling and is completely inconsolable, yet not fully awake. We can only assume that she is having night terrors, and we are told she will grow out of them. Until then, we have to try and calm her while she cries and screams and refuses to listen to us or calm down. Mostly because we didn't want her to wake up Denver, I took her upstairs to watch some TV hoping that would distract her and she would calm down. She fell asleep quickly after that and we just slept there.
We got up around 8:00, then got our breakfast, and headed out to the beach.
Rylynn had a great time smashing sand castles and finding shells and running away from the waves. Also, Denver made it out to the beach for the first time! You can tell how excited he was...
Melody and I aren't huge beach people, but when you see how much fun your kids are having, it makes it hard to leave. You can't just say "Okay, we have to go back for lunch". That means nothing to them. They could play at the beach for days without eating. It forces you to be more creative. Bribing them with things like "We can go swimming in the pool" seem to be more affective, even though you're already at the ocean.
We headed back for lunch and naps, but Rylynn decided she didn't want to take a nap. I did though. I was going to have to drive through the night, so I NEEDED a nap. I slept for about 2 hours, which probably was not enough, but I was happy to get that much.
For dinner we had mashed potatoes, stuffing and turkey casserole, and AMAZING apple and peach pies! Rylynn decided she would take her nap while we ate and fell asleep in her high chair. After she finally woke up at about 7:45, she played hide and seek with Mollie, Erin, and my mom. While they played that, Matt, Ryan, Dad and I played a game where we try and bounce coins off the counter into a cup... About 8 feet away. It's amazing how a simple game can entertain us for so long. We were playing for a while and none of us had got one in. After a while my dad put a dollar on the counter and said "First one to get it gets the dollar". Now it was serious!( not really) But about 10 minutes later I got it in the cup and won the big prize :)
It was about 9:00 pm by now and after Melody nursed Denver we were ready to head out on our 13 hour drive home. We got the car packed up, said our goodbyes, fueled up, and we were on or way around 10:00 pm.
The trip started pretty good. When we fueling up I knew that I would be driving through the night so I would need caffeine, so I got two Monster drinks. Melody sat in the back in between the kiddlings and tried to help Rylynn fall asleep. Finally, at about 1:00 am, Rylynn fell asleep and I had consumed both my Monster Energy drinks. Trying to load up on liquid caffeine may not have been the best idea, since now we had to stop about every 45 minutes so that I could go to the bathroom. But, both kids stayed asleep until about 3 am when we had to stop for gas and Denver woke up. Melody fed Denver while me and Rylynn went inside the travel plaza so I could use the bathroom, of course, and change Rylynns pee-soaked clothes. I grabbed some coffee since the affects of the Monster drinks were wearing off and, once Denver was done, we headed back out. Rylynn and Denver fell right back asleep and Melody got to sleep a little too. At about 7 am we stopped to feed Denver again and I was feeling pretty tired by that time. We decided to switch and Melody would drive so that I could sleep. When we were on the road about a half hour I woke up to rumble strips. I looked at Melody and she said we better stop and both get some sleep. We stopped at the next rest stop to get some shuteye, but the kiddos had other plans. When we stopped both kids woke up. So we ended up feeding Denver again and switching back so that Melody could sit with the kids and entertain Rylynn.
We were hoping to not have to entertain Rylynn too much. In preparation for our long Journey we had purchased some movies and tv shows on the iPad to keep Rylynn occupied. That was money very well wasted. Her short attention span ended up just causing Melody to have to change the movie or game or show about every 15 minutes.
Eventually we made it to Virginia and stopped to feed Denver at get breakfast from Chic-fil-A. After breakfast we got stuck in terrible traffic on 95. Once we got through THAT traffic we hit more traffic around the DC area. By this time Rylynn was tired of being in her car seat and Melody was trying to sleep but Rylynn wouldn't let her, and I was just trying to stay awake. It felt like we were never going to get home. After all the traffic we stopped at one last rest stop to use the bathroom and change Rylynn out of more wet clothes. We were only about an hour and a half away from home and the finish was in sight.
We ALMOST made it home when Denver went from sleeping to screaming in .3 seconds flat. We pulled into a bank parking lot, fed Denver and started back on the road in hopes that we would make it home at last.
And we did. At about 3:00 pm we finally made it home. After a 13 hour trip turned into a 17 hour trip, we were finally home. We unloaded the car and at about 4:00 laid down for some much needed rest.
Melody woke me up at about 7:00. But, instead of feeling well rested, I felt worse than I had before. My throat was sore, my nose was running, and my head throbbed. It probably had something to do with driving 17 hours and only get 5 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours. But, we got some dinner, relaxed, watched part of a movie, and finally passed out around 9:30 pm in our own beds.
Thoughts on the last two days- It went a lot better than it could have, but I don't think I'll be attempting a drive like that again with a toddler and a newborn.
Thoughts on the trip- there was a lot of reasons not to go on this trip. It was too far. Our kids are too small. It's too much stress and hassle. But, in the end, it was all totally worth it. Creating countless memories and spending time with family. There were times of extreme stress and exhaustion, but spending time with family highly outweighs all that. Also, it's easier to be inconvenienced a little when you see the joy on your child's face. But, maybe next time we won't have to drive so far to see that joy :)
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read these posts. I hope you enjoyed taking a peek into our lives, our joys, and our difficulties of parenting. We had a great vacation and I was happy to share that with you :) Thank you to our family and friends for the continued support in raising for and caring for our children :) Most of all, thank you Melody for being an amazing mother and partner in this journey :)
Love you all,
Ryan
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