Family Vacation 2015 - Days 10 & 11 - Home at Last

Finally! We're home. Not that I wanted to be home instead of vacation in Florida. It's more like, after 17 hours of being in a car with a 2 year and 2 month old, I'm so happy I'm home. 

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... 

This was the only day that we were ALL out at the beach at the same time :)

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

Family Vacation 2015 - Day 4 - Finally There!!!

We made it!! Finally!!! 

Today we started our vacation. Yes, we technically started on Wednesday night, but that was all just the journey to get to the vacation. Now we are here and we can start relaxing, as much as young parents can. But first, let's take a quick look at our day...

We woke up and got our free breakfast again and left the hotel. I never know if the breakfast is free or the hotel is free with a really expensive breakfast. Hmm. I guess we'll never know. 

Anyway, we were on our way to Hunting Island Beach. It's a State Park, which basically means it's a park that you have to pay to go in. But, this one did have a beach, so it was worth it. The drive to the beach area was beautiful. I don't know if they planned it to be this way or not, but the road makes you wind around trees and bushes like you're navigating through a dense jungle. 

The beach was pretty nice too. Very wide and flat and you could see how far the water had come up at high tide, and it was almost the whole way to the beach access. Me and Rylynn played in the water while Melody and Denver sweated together in a chair. 

She was having a great time, but Melody and her sweaty sidekick were ready to go. We packed back up and got to the car around lunch time and tried to decide where to go while Melody nursed Denver. 

We ended up at the Smoking Planks in Port Royal. We had tried to go there the night before, but they were closed. We both got pulled pork and Rylynn got some mac and cheese. Mine was actually a pulled pork Reuben, and it was quite good. Especially dipped with their BBQ sauces :) 

Back in the car we went to head to our final destination. We loaded the baby up with milk in hopes that we could tackle the last 3 hr 20 min leg of the course in one fell swoop. HA! The kids must've read all the good things I said about them yesterday and decided that shouldn't happen again. It was a headache for sure. I didn't count, but I'm pretty sure I heard the word "momma" a bazillion times, give or take. We had to stop half way though because we only had "cookies" and not "snacks" so Rylynn wasn't happy, which woke up Denver, who wasn't happy, which made mommy and daddy not happy. 

We exited the highway and found an abandoned gas station to pull into and feed Denver. Melody sat in the back seat to nurse him, and, to give her more room, I took the infant carrier out and put it on the ground outside the car, then grabbed Rylynn and we went for a walk to stretch. We ran around a little bit and then got back in the car because we were boiling to death. Melody wasn't done feeding Denver, so I thought we could just drive to the quick mart right across the road and grab some snacks, and use the bathroom, and change Rylynns diaper. We proceeded across the parking lot, crossed the road, and parked in the next parking lot, all while Melody nursed. No big deal though. I don't think we even went 3 mph. I took Rylynn in and into to the bathroom to change her. 

Grossest. 

Bathroom. 

Ever. 

It was terrible. We walked out and I was just gonna have to change her in the car. But, I was surprised on my walk back to the car by a stranger in a red car who pulled up to me. 

"Excuse me" he said. 

"Yes?" I responded with confusion.

"I think you left your car seat in the parking lot"

Then it hit me... I had never put Denver's car seat back in the car after taking it out for Melody. Somehow, this guy had seen that I had taken it out, left it there, and then tracked me down at the next place to let me know I forgot it. I mean, we would've found out soon enough, but I thought that was pretty awesome that guy took the time. That guy is awesome! And I'm forgetful! 

After that it went okay. Melody stayed in the back with the kids and entertained Rylynn til we finally got to the house. My parents, my sister Mollie and her husband Ryan were already there and my other brother, Matt, and his wife, Erin, and their two girls, Jordyn and Maddie, arrived shortly after. We all got settled in, went swimming while we waited an hour and ten minutes for our pizza to be ready, ate, and then hung out a bit. It's so great to be with family. We are so blessed to be in such a great family that we can all laugh and have a good time together, and our kids just LOVE to play together. It was truly a great time. Although, I did leave out that Denver nursed 3 times in that short amount of time. We call it his evening feeding frenzy. Usually between 7-9 pm he doesn't want to stop eating. Ever. 

By this time I was already pretty worn out from the day, but we still had to get groceries. I went to the store and my parents came too. I got my stuff, took it out to the car and waited for them. While I was waiting, my faith in human kind dropped significantly. I watch a lady load up her car and then take her cart across the parking lot and ram it into a curb directly behind another parked vehicle, causing it to be in the way of that vehicle. The worst part is, if she would've walked that same distance in a different direction, she would have been at the cart parking place!! I don't understand people like this! How can you just push a shopping cart to block a car from pulling out of a parking space and just leave? I don't understand. But, the cart wrangler came around and grabbed it eventually. And then my parents came. Then we went home and I got waaay too out of breath carrying groceries up two flights of steps :/ But, melody had already put the kids to bed, so I gave her a kiss and went to get in bed with this bed hog... 

She makes up for it with her cuteness, so it's all good. 

My thoughts on the day- I'm so tired. Goodnight.