Our Big Adventure

Here's some of those goody Chiodo stories....We got home yesterday from a long week of traveling to Colorado and Oklahoma for my brother's wedding. Let's just say the week was a big adventure, and we'll leave it at that. We survived Delta losing our bag with ALL of our toiletries in it (hello...wedding). We survived driving all night long through boring ol' Kansas in an all night long pouring rainstorm to get to Oklahoma. And we survived sleeping with Abby who thinks the entire bed is just for her. And we survived the lack of naps that Abby (didn't) have.
We finally got our bag back from Delta...way after the wedding was over. Thank goodness for the bounty of Walmart Supercenters in Colorado.
And I proved I'm much better at driving all night than my husband is. Maybe it was the years of working nights as a nurse?!? I would drive for about 3 hours and finally say, "Honey, I really need a break." Jason would get behind the wheel while I slept. After 45 minutes, he would say, "Honey, I'm exhausted. I really need a break." Seriously?!? Yes, that was our night. Me-driving 3-4 hours. Jason-a whole 45 minutes. And then we would start all over again. I chomped on so much ice that night that I think even my teeth were frozen. I love that man, but I think roadtrips in the future will be taken under serious consideration.
And we are now home and so thankful that Abigail has her own bed. You know, she never sleeps sideways in her bed. Just when the two of us have to bunk down with her. One of us gets the butting head in our back; the other gets the kicking feet. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Night after night.
Our schedule of naps got a bit off course too. Why is it that when you desperately want your toddler to nap before a big fancy wedding that they absolutely refuse to do it? We thankfully saw the signs coming and left the wedding about 15 minutes before not one, but two kiddos had meltdowns. So after the wedding we get back to our hotel and want them to rest before we get some dinner for the night. Jason and Abby are in one bed, Ben and I in the other. And we had about a 2 hour 3 ring circus. Ben would fall asleep only to wake up to Abby having a hissy fit. Then we would finally get Abby to calm down just to have Ben make a fuss. We went around and around for 2 hours. Finally we said, "Let's load them up and get dinner anyway." Of course they both were knocked out before we even drove out of the hotel parking lot. So our dinner that night consisted of us sitting in the McDonald's parking lot eating a chicken sandwich and a salad. With a vanilla ice cream cone afterwards just cause we needed it. But we had two sleeping beauties and that was all that mattered. Oh-and then Abby peed all over Jason while he carried the sleeping girl back into the hotel later. See? A big adventure.
And yes, we have some more stories of our big adventure. But that is for another day. I will say for the most part that my children were wonderful travelers. I love getting the compliments after a flight from people telling us our children were "amazing" on the plane. Except for that one flight home yesterday where Abby screamed in my face, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" while kicking and hitting me. She wasn't happy that we had to turn off Dora on the Ipod (a real treat) for takeoff. Needless to say, I gritted my teeth so hard I thought I would chip one. And as soon as that seatbelt sign went off, I hauled her butt into that tiny bathroom and gave her a good ol' spanking. But it worked and she was a dream the rest of the way home...even with no Dora to watch due to her earlier behavior.