Day 2 or I’m a sucky parent
so today we drove memphis to chicago. it was even easier than yestrday. the kids were sooooo easy and low maintenance with the exception of the last half hour when Addy and Noah hit their limit. there was only one tiny issue….addy would not nap. this was an issue because tony had plans tonight to meet up with his brother and best friend in chicago. she finally passed out at 4:30pm and slept for an hour and a half. Needless to say now its her normal bedtime and he’s been working on getting her to sleep for over an hour and I finally just kicked him out to go meet his peeps because the baby is wide awake. right now she’s pretending to be asleep and i’m pretending i’m not blogging and we agree not to rat each other out. he may just come home at 2am and she’ll still be kickin’!!!
I am such a bad mom because I just lack patience and creativity entirely when it comes to road trips. I am soooo not the type, like my super-creative and fun step-Mom, who comes up with 200 different creative car games to keep the kids engaged and happy. When they get bored and start to whine, I tell them to go to sleep. When they get hungry, I tell them to go to sleep. When they ask how much longer I suggest they go to sleep and not wake up till we get there. see a pattern?
So its always humorous to me to listen in as they make up their own games.
yesterday teegan bet Noah and Dalton that they could not keep from blinking more than three times during the 10 hour bet and of course they took that bet. Dalton, upon his last blink, decided the best strategy would be to just keep his eyes SHUT for the remaining 9 hours and 57 minutes. This worked real well when it came time for him to help Addison turn on DVDs or get some snacks.
fun times, fun times.
in order to keep the kids happy i kept buying sugar in the form of suckers. First the ring pops, then the baby bottle pops. The second was not so smart namely because we handed them out at a time when addy should have been napping. ya think that’s why she took 3 extra hours to fall asleep today?! ha. Also when we took her out of the car she was covered hair to toe in candy powder. that was fun.
We’ve been staying at Hyatt Place hotels every night since we went to Lucy’s birthday and they are all identical right down to the green apples in the basket at the entrance. I’m sure Addy is totally confused about why it is that we drive and drive all day only to end up in the same place every night! Bwahahah.
At the hotel tonight I knew she needed her hair washed to remove all the built-up sucker gunk but there was no time a bath and we have to leave pretty early tomorrow. so I told her we’d wash her hair in the sink and I stood her up on the counter. I was still trying to figure out exactly the logistics of how that was going to best be accomplished. She’s a girl who hates showers and does not like having her hair washed in the bath either. I turned on the sink water and was about to lay her down on her back like at the salon when she bent over at the waist and threw her hair into the sink and started giggling hysterically. I washed her whole head of hair that way and she just laughed the whole time. She thought that was so funny. Its the first and only time I’ve had a non-traumatic hair washing experience with her - go figure! Dalton said “obviously its because she was in control, Mom”. he’s going to be such a good parent 
well addy is done pretending to sleep now and she is pinching my arm randomly and saying “Is that owie?” and sometimes throwing her foot on the laptop screen in an effort to convey the “do a better job pretending not to blog, mom” message. A few times she’s said “Do you need help typin’, Mama?” and just now she said “You sleepin’, mama?” and I said yes and she said “I’m sleepin’ too”. mmm-hmmm. Its going to be a looooong night.
tomorrow we go to my Mom’s house in Michigan. We’ll stay there through the weekend. But first we plan to stop by Ann Arbor for a lunch date that I made and hopefully a visit for Dalton & Teegan with their Dad who they haven’t seen since several months before we moved to Texas. it should be a short driving day and then we can stay put for a few days. I can’t wait! We are already loving that awesome midwestern grass (and by grass I mean the kind that grows on lawns). Is that weird?
August 1st, 2008 at 5:42 am
Hey! Have a good parent visit. Sounds like a great road trip. If you’re going to be in Brigton even for 5 min, let me know. I won’t be here on the 9th.
Kim
August 1st, 2008 at 6:39 am
Sounds like tons of fun!! I also am not so creative in the car and also like the ok then fall asleep method!
August 1st, 2008 at 7:24 am
You and your kids crack me up. I think you’ve got to work a whole lot harder to get the sucky parent award (I can email you some tips! :)), cause aren’t you really just fostering the creativity in your kids by making them figure out how to entertain themselves? They’re dang bright kids, shouldn’t be too hard! You’re bringing back memories of the horror we had of Atlanta to Minnesota drives when I was young - we drove our parents NUTS. Hope you got some sleep and have a fun weekend!
August 1st, 2008 at 7:29 am
Thanks for the “blow-by-blow” of your trip. I can actually enjoy the experience with you instead of worrying (which moms never seem to stop doing). I can’t wait to see you all!!!
August 1st, 2008 at 7:39 am
I’m no good at coming up with a million car games either. Our strategy is movies (why oh why didn’t they invent dvd players when I was a kid), snacks, and drive as fast as we can with as few stops as possible so that we can end the car torture at the first possible second. When I read about your trips where you make a million stops to see things I think, “How do they DO that?” Sure, when we had no kids . . .
NICKI reply on August 1st, 2008 10:32 am:
This is my strategy exactly now! I just had to learn the hard way! LOL
August 1st, 2008 at 8:59 am
I’m with you on creativity. No car games here… That’s why we are driving to PA next week at night! LOLOL I’m hoping they just sleeeeep!
August 1st, 2008 at 9:30 am
This is so funny. I love how she was pinching you and asking if it was an owie! Hysterical. Don’t worry about not being good at car games. Not many people are. That is a very very special talent. Glad the kids are doing so well. That is awesome.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:34 am
Feh you are a better mom than me because I wouldnt even attempt such a trip LOL. And when I have done it? My voice gets hoarse from saying “go to sleep and leave your brother/sister alone”. Over and over….
Have a good visit. Tell MI I said Hi
August 1st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I am a lurking fan of your blog and had to tell you, I laughed outloud at this post- the pretending to sleep, and pretending not to blog! Safe travels! we head out for vacation Wednesday- 10+ hours of airport layovers or flight times…. with a 1 year old… i feel your pain and am looking for any tips!
August 1st, 2008 at 3:03 pm
It’s not bad mothering, you’ve got the wrong take on it. You are fostering their own creativity to come up with original games of their own.
August 1st, 2008 at 5:27 pm
My mom was QUEEN of cheesy car games on road trips. A fly on the wall would’ve shot himself a few hours into the driving because we were constantly belting “on top of old smokey,” or “going on a bear hunt,” or some other equally annoying sing-a-long all the way there. One time it was all the way from FL to Maine and back!! Trav and I were in the car for 30 minutes the other day and talking about how we should get ourselves ear plugs. And THIS (and so many other reasons) is why I’ll never compare to my mom!
I hope your boys have a good visit with their dad. Enjoy Michigan and that lovely, soft, green grass:)
August 1st, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Apparently Laurie and I have the same mother. My mom never ran out of cheesy songs…and we happily drove my father crazy for thousands of miles, each way. My motto is usually “don’t bother me!”…okay, a little nicer than that, but that is the gist of it. Glad you have had a good trip so far…have fun with your little live wire!
August 1st, 2008 at 5:54 pm
I so hear ya on the real grass. I miss it! When M. was a toddler we went to Kentucy, and poor thing was scared to step on the grass. We had to convince her they didn’t have awful fire ants and it would be OK.
I agree with whoever said it is good for the kids to entertain themselves–I feel bad now for dreading our upcoming 6 hr. drive to Charlotte–you are a trooper!
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:06 am
You are a brave soul. I dread drives to Michigan and its only 3 hours…..LOL I’m driving to Ky Wednesday to meet my mil half way. She is taking Brenden for a week and I’m not looking forward to that drive either and its only about 4 hours……….