New Jersey Bound

Last weekend, we made our first official roadtrip as a family of five. It was quite an adventure. Here is the recap.

Friday:
By 9:30am, we got everything ready to go and were about to leave when we realized that our car DVD player was missing. Now, my old, pre-kid self would have been embarrassed that we even own a car DVD player because of course, at the time, my unborn children would be so precious that they'd be able to entertain themselves without watching TV for four hours. Reality, of course, is quite different. We practically cried when we noticed the missing DVD player. Our best guess is that it was stolen but maybe it will turn up someday.

Anyway, after packing the kids and car up, we made a quick emergency stop at Target for a new DVD player. And, thank goodness we did. What was supposed to be a 4-hour drive turned into a 7+ hour nightmare on the NJ Turnpike. Between Piper screaming and traffic not moving in a 13-mile backup, I didn't think we'd ever get there. But, alas we did get there. After checking into the hotel, Eric and I got all gussied up and dashed off to my cousin Scott's wedding. I would have liked to have more pictures but since we were moving at lightning speed, there wasn't time.

The wedding was beautiful, and it was so nice to see my family. We hadn't seen them in probably five years, and I loved catching up with everyone. It was also great for Eric and me to have an evening out with dinner and dancing.

After the wedding, we got back to the hotel, and the kids were tucked nicely into their bed and Deacon was in his crib, and they slept the night away.

Saturday:
The highlight of Saturday was going to my Aunt Elba and Uncle Michael's house for breakfast to get all the kids together. I loved that Piper, Fletch, and Deacon got to meet and play with their cousins. All of us have certainly been busy the past few years.

Eric, Brian, and Bruce took the kids on a hike and for a rousing game of Red Rover.

 

I love this picture from the hike.

 

Four three year olds on a couch.

We're so lucky to have such a wonderful family with so many young cousins for Piper, Fletch, and Deacon to get to know.

After leaving breakfast, we headed back to the hotel for naps. While Piper and Fletch were okay with sleeping in the regular beds the night before, they didn't want to nap. Sleeping in big kid beds for the first time was just too exciting. It took almost two hours for me to get them to sleep. While I tried to get them to sleep, Eric had a little photo shoot with Deacon.

Once the kids finally fell asleep, Eric and I made a fatal parenting mistake--we let Piper and Fletch nap until 5:30pm. OMG, we paid for that mistake. After dinner, Fletch said he was tired around 8pm. However, the joke was on us, because he wasn't sleepy at all. He didn't fall asleep until 2am. And that was after numerous rounds of timeout, every bed configuration possible, running around the room, keeping everyone awake, and general misery for all of us. And then, of course, 30 minutes after falling asleep, Piper and Fletch woke up feeling under the weather. I think we all got about 2 hours or less of sleep.

Sunday:
With Piper, Fletch, and now me all feeling pretty sick with a cold by Sunday morning, we were anxious to get on the road. We ate breakfast in the room and then packed up. Here's how the room looked during that process.

Finally, around 9am, we started our trip back, with Piper, Fletch, and I making up the sick ward in the back seat, in our PJs and everything.

We made the trip back in about 4.5 hours, which was much more manageable. Overall, we had a great time, and while it was hard, it did prove that we can start traveling again. Of course, it helps that Deacon is world's best baby and just goes with the flow. He's a great little traveler, and I can't wait for our next family adventure.