My family spent every Spring Break (5th grade-12th grade) in Gulf Shores, AL. After Adam and I got married, we joined my parents there a few more times. We hadn't been there since I was pregnant with the twins, but this year we were invited to join my parents, my aunt and uncle with their three teenage kids, and three of my other teenage cousins in a beautiful beach house.
We hesitated at first, mostly because of the drive (approximately 18 hours.) But in the end decided that we wanted to try it. We did a lot of thinking about how the make the drive go well...We got new books, took crayons and coloring books, the kids toy computers, looked up some in-car crafts, and bought some new sticker books. We also bought dual screen portable DVD players and stocked up on new Veggie Tales and various other toddler favorites.
On the ride down, we left at 11am and drove until about 11pm, where we stayed in a hotel for the night. We were nervous about how the kids would do during the drive, but the DVD players were pretty much all we needed. The kids barely touched any of the other goodies, they were just so excited to get to sit and watch so much TV. Eden and Sebastien didn't nap. And actually, Violet didn't either. She blew through her afternoon nap, and started to get really pretty cranky after dinner time. She finally fell asleep around 6:00, but only slept about 45 minutes before she woke up, upset and hungry. The twins did fine having not slept... at least until about 10:00pm, when they were just done. Neither could get comfortable enough to sleep deeply, but luckily we were only about a half-hour from the hotel when this started to be a problem. At least, it was supposed to be just a half-hour...until we hit the traffic jam.
We arrived at the hotel around 11:15, and this of course, gave all 3 kids a surge of energy, as they'd never stayed in a hotel before. Plus, Eden got to sleep with Daddy and Sebastien with Mommy, and they were very excited about this. Violey ate a little (more for soothing and relaxing than for hunger) and then settled right into her Pack N Play and fell asleep. Sebastien and Eden rolled around and giggled and talked for about a half-hour before exhaustion set in.
Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and got right on the road. We had about 5-6 hours of driving ahead of us, so we let the other two cars go on without us so that we could take longer stops when needed. Violet took a good morning nap in the car. Sebastien and Eden were doing fine for the first couple hours. But then Sebastien started getting hot. Really hot, really uncomfortable, and sort of just whimpered on and off. At one stop I let him out of his seat and he was just roasting. He curled up in my lap and just cried. He barely ate. And really, Eden didn't eat much either. These should have been clues to me, but I just kept thinking that they were sleep deprived and tired of driving.
By the time we got to Gulf Shores, both kids were restless and uncomfortable. They were real troopers, but at this point, they were sort of just done. We got out of the car, explored the house, got on some sunscreen and bathing suits and headed to the beach. It was soon after this that we discovered that both kids had rashes and fevers; they were also developing nasty coughs, and the congestion that we thought we had kicked just in time for our trip was back with a vengeance. But more about that later. This post, after all, is about the travel portion.
Fast forward one week, and it's time to go back. Fevers and rashes are gone, but cough and congestion remain. Moods and energy have improved greatly, however, and we were optimistic about the drive home. We tilted the car seats back for the big kids, something we had not done on the way south.
We left at 4:00am, and of course all kids woke up when we put them in the car. But by 5:30am, they were all sleeping again. Eden struggled to fall asleep in particular, she kept telling me, "Mommy, I'm stuck in my seat." I think she wanted to roll over to get more comfortable. They slept until about 7:30am.
The morning went well. Violet took a great nap, the twins watched their shows and read books. I read the last of the Hunger Games series with little interruption. :) The kids ate lunch in the car, and then I declared it nap time. We put on nappy music, read some books, sang songs, and tucked in just like we would at home. They were both asleep within a few minutes. Unfortunately, this "successful" nap only lasted about a half-hour. I'm still glad they slept.
The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully. It was about 5:30 when things started to fall apart. And really, just for Eden. It started with some unconvincing "Waaah's," a cry she does when she is pretending to be a baby while we are playing. But the frequency and intensity of these cries both increased, turning into full on crying within about 20 minutes. She could not be consoled, and even when promised that we were about to stop for dinner, her only responses were "I don't like food," and "I just want to drive for a while!" Poor girl.
We stopped for dinner, and she ate some. Sebastien and Violet had a nice stop, stretched their legs, visited with our traveling companions. But Eden just was too upset. At this point, we decided it would be best for daddy to join us in the car. (He was needed in other vehicles to provide breaks for other drivers. The kids rode with Grandma, Grandpa and me for most of the trip.) Having daddy in the van helped, since Eden is primarily a Daddy's girl.
She was alright for a bit, but then around 7:00, she started to fall apart again. We felt so bad for her, it was a long trip and she was just done. Adam had just given Violet her bottle, and she drifted off to sleep. Adam and I switched so that he was up front while my mom drove, and I took the child-care seat. By 7:30, after many complaints that she was stuck in her seat, and after I found her huge comforter from her bed and tucked her in with that instead of the small travel blankets, she fell asleep. It was fairly fitful sleep, but it was sleep.
Sebastien also fell asleep at about 8:30 and Violet stayed sleeping until we got closer to home. We arrived home just after 10:00.
Sebastien got right in his bed, and he sat there giggling. This indicating to us that he was glad to be home. Eden got right in bed and went right to sleep. Violet ate a little (again more for comfort) and then went right to sleep too. Adam and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Not too bad for an 18 hour trip with 3 under 3.
3 comments:
You guys are amazing!! All 5 of you!
I feel so bad for Eden when she is all upset, but I still think she comes up with the funniest things when she is-- so dramatic! Anyway, I'm glad the fussy-kids parts were just the notable incidents within the trip, and not the entire 18 hours both ways. :)
take it from a fellow traveler, these kids did great!
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