Friday, August 12, 2011

...to have a peaceful day of travel

...it was too much to ask.

I have a conference in Pittsburgh this weekend and Mark's parents agreed to babysit spend quality time with the kids while I worked.  The trip was supposed to take us about 5 hours of driving time so I assumed, after a few stops, it would be closer to 6 1/2 or so.

This was not my first rodeo.  All summer we have been rock star travelers.  Snacks, short stops, water bottles, and a potty seat.  Efficient although disheveled at the end of our travels.  Today, would have described us as broken.  The problems:

*Remember the pact I made the other day with myself about NOT going to the grocery store this week.  Well, consequently I didn't have a single raisin to give to any one person in my crew.  And the scene had been set...They were REQUIRING their snack bags right at the start of the trip.

*They didn't start out with their own color-coded water bottles.  This would make any person's day off to a bad start right?  We couldn't even find all four of them as we were scrambling out of the house this morning.

*I should have known it was going to be rough, when Audrey started repeating the phrase, "I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home" ten minutes into the trip.

*I had a show-down with Abigail right in the middle of Dunkin Donuts.  If you were to ask the patrons there who had won...they would have said her.  Wow.  That fit of hers was remarkable.  Unfortunately, I told her since her behavior was so poor she did not get to eat the donut she had picked out.  I stuck to my guns.  But she made us all want to jump out throw her out the car window.

Unfortunately for all of us, Audrey kept reminding Abigail, "Abbey, you no have good 'havior.  You no get to eat your donut."

We had traffic jams and arguments between the big kids, extra potty stops, and more traffic jams.  We have made it to Pittsburgh.  A little scarred and definitely weary.  Ready to pack in one final summer trip.

Check out the view (from the Duqesne Incline) ...it was worth it.


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