Our Car Trip

We got back today from a quick trip to Maryland.  It was a crazy weekend.  Mostly drively. My mother in law wanted the whole family to surprise his aunt for her 65th birthday.  My brother-in-law, his wife and two boys came in from Delaware.  She was very surprised!  It was nice to visit with them because we don't see them very often - only once or twice a year.  Laci loved playing with her cousins.  One is a year older and one is two years younger. 

The "big surprise".  Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the door and missed her reaction!

The kids and their cousins.  This may be the first shot of the 4 of them together.

It seems crazy to drive 9 hours each way for a long weekend.  But I have a small confession.  I love road trips.  The craziness, the chaos, the tears, the singing, the playing, the car snacks.  My memories of vacations as a child are mostly of the car and hotel - not the destination.  I love now sitting in the passenger seat directing the family and being "in charge".  When else are you stuck with your family in a small confined space!  We drove out there on Friday.  The kids did well.  We had a few extra potty stops than normal.  Charlie and I have a set pattern for our drives our East and it was nice to share with the kids, even if they didn't realize it.  Calvin went crazy the last hour but we had been in the car for almost 9 hours so I can't blame him.  We broke the trip home in two yesterday and today.  Laci went a little nuts near Wheeling so I am glad that we already planned to stop there. 

My "ordinary extraordinary" moment came yesterday.  I had been sitting backwards in the front seat reaching behind to give Calvin his bottle.  He refuses to hold it himself.  He's a bit spoiled.  I turned around to hear Laci and Charlie singing the alphabet in a rhyme and then we all played "school" in the car.  A little while later, Laci was playing with her crayons - not coloring, just playing with the crayons.  I loved that.  It made all the crying, screaming, whining (and there was plenty of that from all 4 of us) worth it.

I have good memories of the kids playing together and his aunt's surprised face and I am glad we went.  But my best memories of this trip came from the 20 hours we all spent in the car.

Look at this beautiful view! 

I tried getting a picture of the entire back of the van, including the back of Calvie's car seat and the mess, but she was insisting on sticking her figures up her nose and laughing.  It was hilarious in her mind.  Of course, this was after she was screaming for 20 minutes and for no reason at all, she started laughing and announced that we were having "laughing time".  I love our new "laughing" time.