Road Warriors

Spending 6 weeks vacationing around the south, west and southwest meant a bit of time on the road.

This little guy was such a trooper. Due to luggage overload and seat configuration Graham was placed in the very back of the minivan all by his lonesome. We never heard a peep from him unless, he was hungry or very mad that we all had DQ ice cream and no one could reach back to share. He would sleep intermittently and wake up looking a bit frazzled. Occasionally we would throw back a straw or plastic spoon to play with. This illicited very joyous squeals and then he would immediately throw it down on the floor and zone out again. After Christmas we set aside some of his toys to keep him busy....again after 5 minutes they too were wedged in a small slot between the car seat and side.

This child, we discovered, has a bladder the size of a walnut. He became very proficient at peeing in empty water bottles, from the ledge of the car, and in all types of terrain from the steep slopes of Colorado to the hypodermic needle like thorny bushed Texas roadside.

We took him at every rest stop, gas stop, and in between and guess what.... he hardly ever drinks anything. It just didn't make sense. He also needed a snack about every 10-15 minutes. It was crazy! Driving for 8-10 hour stretches he was burning seriously no calories. It must take a lot out of a 4 year old to blink while watching movie after movie.

This particular stop was for Zach who rarely wanted to stop even after CHUGGING bottles of Crystal Light. So Ethan decided to chase Zach down the hill (as semi trucks zoomed past) then as Z was mid stream E decided to try and pee on him. This caused Z to try and run backwards with his pants around his ankles causing him to fall bare bummed into the grass. This is E very disappointed that Dad intervened allowing Z to escape.

He was so ticked he did not want to continue the journey and Chris had to carry him back to the car.

Thanks to modern technology we were only plagued with hitting, fighting and arguing during movie intermission........intermissions were very short. It was not a time for deep conversation with our small children. At times they did ask insightful questions but it would quickly be followed up by E asking the never ending why.......after very in depth responses to the original question.

I don't know how my parents endured yearly cross country road trips with 6 children. I guess what got us through was: no seat belts so we could stretch out and my dad is a maniac and needs no sleep and drives day and night with hardly any breaks.

We were blessed with excellent weather 90% of the time. There was only one night of super icy roads and it was touch and go for several hours. We did have one tragedy on the drive back from CA to TX. We lost a dear friend. Somewhere along the way at one of the numerous potty stops Ethan's dear friend Jack (his stuffed dog he's had since birth) hopped out of the car unnoticed and was left behind. At first we thought he was just buried beneath all the filth, crumbs, and snack wrappers in the Ethan zone of the car. Ethan fell asleep in the car the night he disappeared but asked as he was carried up to his bed in the hotel that Dad please search for him and put him in his arms when found. Chris and I both searched the car, then we checked all our receipts from the day and called all the places to see if he'd been found. Neither of us wanted to break the news to E in the morning as we knew with his personality it would be devastating.

Sure enough first thing in the morning our usual early risers first question was, "Where's Jack?" As I explained to him how hard we'd looked and that he was gone, Ethan totally surprised us and handled the news......EXTREMELY WELL! He said we could replace him with an identical Jack, he would sleep with Graham's new monkey the rest of the trip, and when home would just use one of his other friends until a new Jack was found.

Although at times 6 weeks seemed to be a long time on the road we so enjoyed the time with family and friends and loved being back in THE USA were dinning options are plentiful and drivers are law abiding and courteous......yes courteous (for the most part.)