I was
scrambling to finish packing on Saturday morning while my husband was having
new tires put on our minivan. Our mission was to use the kids’ week-long winter
break to visit our family in Florida. It is an 11 hour drive with three
children who don’t do so well in close quarters with each other. Is there an
upside to this equation?
We hadn't even made it ten minutes down the road when we heard the first, “Are we there yet?” I thought Miley
was joking, but by the time we hit Atlanta, she had asked 11 more times. She
was 4 years old when we left Georgia, and was extremely excited that she would
be turning 5 in Florida. My husband (Kerry) told her we would be stopping at a
hotel when the sun went down, and that would mean we were halfway there. I was
pretty darn impressed that he had quenched her questioning, until five minutes later we
heard, “How many more minutes until the sun goes down? This trip is taking like
100 days! I think I see the sun moving down. Do you see it? My eyes are really
special. They can see far away. They are magical eyes. How many minutes, mom? Are we there yet?”
We
stopped in Valdosta as the sun was setting. The hotel we had reserved contained
an indoor heated pool, and the kids were wild with anticipation over going for
a swim. My husband and I
“parented up” and jumped in with them. We wanted the kids to have as much fun
and make as many memories as possible on a trip that we weren’t able to take
often enough. The next morning we woke
refreshed and enjoyed our teenaged son Cameron’s favorite part of staying in a
hotel, “the glorious hot breakfast where you get to make your own Belgian
waffles.” They were delicious, if I do say so myself.
Soon
afterward, we loaded up and began the second leg of the trip. And it wasn’t long
before the squabbling began. “Mom, she isn’t sharing the crayons,” Madelyn whined.
“Well, she won’t stop staring at my snack!” Miley countered, followed by “And
she doesn’t believe that I have magical eyes!” And of course there were the
many, many cries of: “Mom, I have to go to the bathroom!” Kerry said
they each had a bladder “the size of an acorn, or maybe the size of an octogenarian,” and I laughed heartily in
agreement.
 |
| Is it a bunny? An angel? We passed a lot of time playing the cloud game. |
We made pit stops at gas stations at least
every hour and a half, and each time, the girls became better at bargaining.
They would run up to us with a “king-sized” candy bar, and when we shook our
heads “no,” they would take it back and return with the “regular-sized” option.
When we told them “no” again, they would return with a lowly lollipop. I
realized this technique was very effective when I was cleaning out their
seating area and retrieved a handful of sucker sticks.
When we
finally rolled onto my father-in-law’s street, cheers erupted from the kids,
and Kerry and I gave a sigh of relief.
After hours and hours of traveling, we had made it at last. Already we had some unforgettable memories, and
the week had only just begun. With Miley’s birthday coming up, and relatives to
visit, I knew we had only just scratched the surface of the adventures in store.
