Road Trip to Grandma’s

The kids and I planned a visit to Grandma’s house for a few days. I decided the best time to travel was early morning. Hopefully the kids would be asleep or would fall back to sleep quickly then I could have a couple hours before they woke up. My goal was to leave at 4am. When I went to bed after 10:30pm I realized a 4am departure was not going to work. Instead, I woke up at 4am, got dressed, loaded a few last minute things in the car, fixed my coffee then woke Byron to help load the kids. Ella woke up as he made the tiniest sound in her room. Not what I wanted, but I was able to put a dry diaper on her. Byron took her to the car while I got Vance. I soon discovered he was soaking wet!!!! This never happens. I changed his diaper and took him to the car. My efforts of making sure the path to the car was pitch black so neither kid would wake up was wasted time. But they were both dry which could alleviate a stop on the way and they were quietly sitting in their car seats until….
We were driving down our street and I hear, “I want my daddy. I want my daddy.” I reassured her it was okay and that we would see him soon. Then I hear, “mmm, eeee.” Followed by a 2 year old much louder version of “mmm, eee.” Next I hear, “What happened?” after I touched something in the car that made a sound. Then I heard, “too bright” as we approached some street lights. Then there were giggles followed by a few more statements from Ella. Finally silence. It was over an hour before Vance finally gave in and went back to sleep but my sweet Ella stayed awake for the entire trip.
My goal was to get half way, stop at a Cracker Barrel (something about those places makes me feel safe) & give them their breakfast I prepared before I left. I would go through a drive-thru for myself then we would be on our way. I was not planning on getting out of the car. That was before I had to use the restroom. I kept telling myself I could hold it till I got to my mom’s. But the closer we got to our stopping spot I had to GO! This wasn’t going to be easy with a 2 year old & a 1 year old but I had to find a way to make it work. To further complicate things it started raining, heavy rain. Stopping at Cracker Barrel didn’t work the parking spots were too far away (both kids were in their pjs & Ella’s shoes were in the suitcase). I pulled up to the front door of Burger King. Unbuckled Ella & put her in the front seat. Jumped out, unbuckled Vance then grabbed Ella and we ran to the door. I set her down once in the store but now we had to go to the bathroom. All I could think was, “Unclean, unclean!” I stood them both in the bathroom stall and strongly instructed not to touch a thing. Within seconds Vance sits on the floor then the hands head that way. I stopped him & managed to keep from any further germ disaster. After much hand washing we made our way back out to the van. With one kid on each hip I got us quickly to the car. They both cooperated beautifully as I put them back in their seats. Of course, they both knew breakfast was coming. I put the plastic bibs on them & filled the pocket with pieces of bacon & pancakes. They were happy. I was no longer in pain and ready to fill my tummy with breakfast as well.
After that the only drama on the road was the unbelievable amount of rain falling from the sky. We made it safely to Grandma & PaPaw’s house. The kids were so happy to see them. They played, ate, took naps and then at 4pm when Vance was about to eat supper he started vomiting! No kidding! He was pitiful. He vomited up all of lunch (broccoli & cauliflower). He continued to vomit off & on the next hour or so. Then after he was asleep he woke up vomiting. Ella fought sleep for a while. Finally at 10pm both kids were sound asleep & I crawled into bed. At 1pm I woke up to discover that Ella had vomited in her bed, in Grandma’s bed & then all over herself. My sweet mom had cleaned up everything & changed her pajamas. Her only concern was whether or not Ella had a fever. I decided it was best to sleep with Ella on a twin bed & Mom slept on the bed in Vance’s room. Ella tossed & turned till 3am and then finally settled down. We were able to sleep soundly till 6am.
That wasn’t quite the first day experience I was going for with Grandma. I will say that today has been better. No vomiting! They drank Pedialyte and kept down small amounts of food. Unfortunately they both had fevers today but took very LONG naps. Vance was in bed by 7pm & Ella was sound asleep at 7:22. Grandma & PaPaw were in bed a little after 8pm. I’m heading to bed now but I just had to share these experiences with you before doing so. I am hoping for an uninterrupted LONG night of sleep and some happy adventures to share with you this weekend.