Here Comes The Griswolds

Well I’ll tell you something. This is no longer a vacation. It’s a quest. It’s a quest for fun. I’m gonna have fun and you’re gonna have fun. We’re all gonna have so much freaking (edited) fun we’ll need plastic surgery to remove our gosh darn (again edited) smiles. You’ll be whistling ‘Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah’ out of your bottom (ok, so maybe this isn’t the best quote for a family friendly blog)! I gotta be crazy! 

But as we embarked on our Thanksgiving vacation, I can only think we must be crazy. When did a 15+ hour one way car adventure sound like a great way to spend the Thanksgiving holiday?

I flew out from a conference in Phoenix early Friday morning. I landed at 4 in the afternoon. Got home about an hour later. Spent about 15 minutes playing with Nolin and Grace and then had to sign some paperwork for Grace’s adoption and run to get it overnighted before 6:30. Got home and then we loaded up the kids and the car and started on our own Griswold vacation…an overnight trip from Florida to Virginia.

About 10 minutes after we got on the road, I looked to Jenn, and thought how was this ever a good idea. We had a car full (including a suitcase, cooler, backpack and other child travelling accessories on the front passenger seat).

When Jenn got into the backseat between the two car seats, her first comment was “looks like you’re driving the whole the way, because there is no way your hips are fitting back here!” Apparently if I had run a little more, I could have been rewarded with an opportunity to sleep. Maybe next year.

By 7:30, I was starving, but Grace was sleeping and we figured we would wait until she woke up screaming to pull over and feed her and ourselves. By 9:00, she was still sleeping peacefully, but my stomach took over and we pulled off the road. We ate, Grace ate and all was right with the world.

As soon as we got in the car, Grace went back to sleep. Shortly after, Nolin fell asleep too. This was too good to be true, but then we hit a predicament. We can drive through the night and try to make it the whole way, but if we can’t make it and we don’t stop before 2am, then the kids would wake up shortly after making the stop completely useless.

So we decided to pull off at about 2am. Every hotel was booked and then we came across a gem (notice the sarcasm), but at $38 it was a steal. Unfortunately Grace and Nolin did not appreciate being woken up to stay at our fine roadside resort.

As I was pulling all our valuables out of the car, I heard massive screaming coming from our room upstairs. I ran up quickly to find Jenn with a kid in each arm, both battling to see who could scream louder and she simply said “Never again“. But luckily this lasted for about 5 minutes and then both kids were sound asleep.

I guess the room wasn’t too bad though, it included one full size bed for Grace, Nolin, Jenn and I to sleep in…awesome. We found that Grace is an easy bed sharer…Nolin, not so much.

We had a quick feeding for Grace at 4:30 and then got to sleep in until 8:30…it was well worth the $38 and the possible bed bug infestation. We were on our way…Wally World here we come!

Day driving proved to be much easier and feeling a bit revived we were actually able to enjoy this leg of the trip. Both kids were absolutely amazing the first night and just as amazing during the day. We could not have asked for better from them during what turned out to be 15 hours in the car.

When the Griswold’s arrived at Wally World (my parent’s house), we found it was closed.

We didn’t expect to get there until about 4:30 or 5 in the afternoon, and my parents had gotten stuck in traffic for several hours due to an accident. This actually worked to our advantage because it gave Nolin a chance to run around and get settled into the surroundings, without having too much stimulation.

By the time they arrived, Nolin had gotten all of his post 15 hour car ride, seedy hotel East Coast adventure energy out and was beyond excited to see Ba, Pop and Aunt ELO. I have to admit, I don’t think there is any chance that the drive back can be as easy, but for now we will just enjoy our vacation.