1. TV trumps the family. When we arrived at the hotel in Baker City, Oregon, Becca discovered pretty quickly that the TV had the Disney Channel. Needless to say, that was the last we heard from or saw her. She decided she'd rather watch her shows (Hannah Montana, etc.) than come swimming with the family. Hope those memories last her for years to come ....
2. McDonald's is the only way to go. Last night we made the mistake of trying to eat at Taco Bell. The kids promised they'd eat their tacos and were excited about the goofy glasses that came with the kids' meals. So, we sat down to eat and neither of the boys wanted to eat their tacos. So, we told them we couldn't leave until they had each eaten one. Tyler thought we were torturing him. He was crying and rubbing his tummy and going on and on about how he was already full and didn't want to eat the taco. I guess his act worked for others, because they were staring like we WERE torturing him. How did we react? We took pictures. :) This is Paul's favorite:
3. Denise doesn't handle road trips well. I'll admit it -- I get irritable and impatient. Probably enough said on that one ...
4. Your tallest finger is your middle finger. How cool is that? (This discovery was made by Tyler.)
5. Google Maps isn't the end-all. That's right. As much as I LOVE Google and all they do, their map led us astray. In fact, it created quite a "disturbance" between me and Paul in the front seat as we got lost and honked at. Afterwards I got reprimanded by my six-year-old.
6. Portable DVD players (especially with headsets) are the best thing since sliced bread! That and Baby Einstein. We plan to put on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on the drive home. Usually it seems a lot too long for us (the kids love it), but we think this long road trip may actually make it seem short, if that's possible. At the end of the first day I commended Tyler for being good in the car, to which he responded, "That's because I can watch movies."
7. Hotel rooms are not sound-proof. Our room in Wenatchee had a triple-whammy: parking lot on one side, stairs to the exit on one side, and vending machines outside the door. Fortunately the one room we shared a wall with was quiet.
8. Actually, make that a quadruple whammy. We discovered after leaving our stuff in the room for hours that the door didn't require a key to enter. Fortunately nobody else realized it, or if they did they realized we had nothing worth stealing.
9. Gas prices in Utah ain't so bad. We realized very quickly in Oregon that gas cost more there, and we figured it was because by law an employee has to pump it for you. (We always forget this and start pumping ourselves -- that gets them out the door in a heartbeat to come pump for you.) Anyway, when the guy handed me the bill I realized it was $3.09 per gallon. The other side of the freeway was $3.15, so we actually fared well. Apparently it isn't just that they have to pump it for you -- here in Wenatchee the gas is $3.19 per gallon, and of course we're on empty.
10. Prayers are answered. In addition to not killing any of our kids yet, we made it farther on a tank of gas than we probably should have. We saw signs saying there were a few cities between us and our destination, so we were in no hurry to get gas. However, these cities consisted of a few cows, from what we could see. One did have a gas station, but it was closed. (It also looked like it hadn't been updated since the early '70s.) In any case, we were watched over and got to Baker City without running out of gas, which we didn't think was possible.
11. Our family likes to have more than one room to sleep in. Shayla isn't used to having anyone in her room when she's going to sleep, so that's been an adjustment. She had just quieted down the first night when Zachary turned on the lights to fix his blanket exactly how he wanted. That was the first proof that Denise doesn't have patience on road trips.
12. Shayla can be quite cute in the middle of the night. As mentioned, she isn't used to having anyone in her room when she's sleeping. So, during the first night (I'm guessing somewhere between midnight and 2 a.m.) she woke up and saw either me or Tyler and started saying, "Peek-a-boo!" and "Boo!" It was really cute, but I kept my eyes closed to make her think she needed to go back to sleep. Then she grabbed my hand. It was hard not to give her a big kiss, but I just patted her hand and turned over. What a cutie!
13. Anniversaries are best when you are NOT on a road trip. Yup, yesterday was anniversary #7. Hooray. Seems like a lot longer, actually. :) Anyway, we did get to sleep in a hotel, we just shared the room with four kids ... not our best anniversary celebration, but at least we're enjoying each other's company.
14. Seeing Aunt Velda was as wonderful as we had hoped. Poor Velda is in so much pain with her cancer, but she is still a delight at the same time. We love her, and that made the drive worth it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment