We made it!

On Friday night, the kids and I loaded up the car to head down to the Houston area to begin "wedding week." My sister Megan is getting married next weekend! Unfortunately, my husband didn't have the vacation time to take off this whole week until the wedding. But I decided to just stay through the week as driving 4 1/2 hours back home and then 4 1/2 hours back down next weekend for the wedding sounded neither fun nor economical. SO, that set me up for a long car trip by myself with the kids. That's always a little scary, especially with unpredictable little ones. So to make the trip easier on myself, I set the following in place:

• Plan to leave Dallas right after Gabriella's last feeding around 6:30pm so there would be (hopefully) no need to stop for her
  
• Pray that she falls asleep quickly and stays that way
• Bring the DVD player for Oliver just in case
• But hope and pray that he falls asleep as well... though acknowledging that he would probably be awake for a while since his normal bedtime isn't until around 8pm
• Bring a book on CD for me - Corrie TenBoom's The Hiding Place
• Intake all of the liquid I can up until the "Liquid Cut-off Point" 2 1/2 hours before leaving Dallas... including a Diet Dr. Pepper to keep me awake late into the night!
• As we head out the door, go to the bathroom for the last time until I hit my parent's house 4 1/2 hours later!! The thought of waking up two sleeping kids somewhere in po-dunk Texas late at night to drag them in to a dirty gas station so I can go to the bathroom did not sound appealing to me in the least!

So how did it all turn out. Well some things as planned, some not. Gabriella fell asleep before we left Plano which was awesome. Oliver and I talked for a while as we drove out of Dallas which was so sweet and such a special time. It is so fun that he is able to carry on a conversation of sorts these days. What a cutie!

As we got South of Dallas, I thought I would try listening to my book, hoping the rhythm of the voices would put Oliver to sleep. However, the road noise from the highway coupled with Oliver's desire to let out a little yell every few seconds for fun did not make listening to my book feasible. One plan bites the dust. Another plan quickly follows suit as Oliver's yells have now awoken Gabriella! Uh oh! Fortunately, the 45 minute nap she had put her in great spirits and she happily stared out the window and played with her brother for the next few hours until she fell asleep again. The sun setting is what eventually got things calmed down enough for them to fall asleep. Unfortunately, at this point in the summer, the sun does not completely set until between 8:45 and 9pm. However, the kids really were in good spirits (Oliver mostly because he knew we were on our way to Meme and PeePee's house). But I was just worried about what the later bedtimes would do to me the next day! But thankfully, they both eventually dosed off and it looked like smooth sailing from there.

There was a bottle of water sitting in my cup holder taunting me to drink it. However, I kept up my will power and abstained until we got about 15 minutes from my parents house in fear of the last bullet point mentioned above. I don't think I was ever really THAT thirsty, it was just the fact that I KNEW I couldn't have the water that made it so enticing. Funny how that works! But thankfully we made it fine (with no bathroom stops needed) at around 11:15pm and I did beat my best time one-way from our door to their's by 5 minutes. Four hours and 25 minutes! Woo hoo!

Since it was a special night, Oliver got to play for a while after we got there even though it was nearing midnight. He was so happy to be to the destination he'd been asking about daily since my Dad told him on the phone what was coming a week before we left. I have learned that a week is too long for a toddler to comprehend and therefore results in constant appeals for the promised activity. However, Grandpa "Peepee" couldn't stand to wait! So Oliver and I were both thrilled when the day came and I could finally say "YES" today's the day my boy!

Fortunately, Matt will be joining us on Friday in time for the wedding and will be our traveling companion as we make our way back to Dallas after the wedding. Yay!! Love you hon! We miss you and look forward to having you back with us again soon!