Roadtrip Memories

Our first long roadtrip is over and went MUCH better than expected.  We didn't even turn on our (admittedly somewhat unreliable) DVD player!

Here are memories from the road for those of you not chatting with us or following along on Twitter.

To STL:

• One hour into road trip, M has unpacked her entire car bag and most of B's. So far quiet, if messy.
• Second hour in:  We stopped to bring the Chrissie and Donovan lunch & muslin, meet the lil' guy and play for an hour.  Other than dumping pasta on myself, it went really well.  The kids loved getting to play with all her toys and the parents liked getting to chat with Chrissie.  Great stop and we made it back to the car within the hour!
• Fourth hour:  So far, so strangely good on the road trip. Kids aren't sleeping, but no one is crying or screaming either. Pleasantly surprised.

• See what a happy camper she was? This was almost three hours past Tulsa (4.5 hours of driving total at this point!)
• Fifth hour: Stopped to take B to the bathroom at Massie's Super Stop!  Which we found on the ipad map-- sounds big, right? It turned out to be a tiny, filthy, old hole in the wall gas station ---- located next to a larger and more prominently advertised adult video store...
• Sixth hour: Loopiness appeared to be setting in....
• Seventh hour: Kids began playing together and randomly high fiving and shouting hooray!
• Eighth hour - With about 45 minutes to go, they both, finally, fell asleep.... obviously....

To OKC:

• We left later after a full morning hoping for naps.... M did nap, a little, maybe an hour or so.  Time seemed to move much more slowly on the return trip as it so often does.
• Third hour: stopped for gas and caffeine. Tried a few new tricks without much success.  (There was a dinner nearby entitled "Good Enough"  -- we were not tempted).
• Fifth hour: M was getting shrieky... which is no good.  And repeating things over and over, as she is want to do.
• Sixth hour: or so - we stopped at the World's Largest McDonald's in Vinita.  It was SO hot and kinda dirty.  M kept bolting off and crashing on the tile. I still am not a McDonalds fan, but kids did get some enjoyment out of the new toys.  Back to the much cooler car and space ice-cream!
• At seven hours - Several hillarious things started happening.  
• First, M spotted the tylenol and with a HUGE grin on her face kept saying "I want medicine. I sick."  She clearly was not, but kept this up for some time. 
• Next, she asked for animal crackers. I pulled out a bag that I thought was animal crackers.  She said "no." I informed her that these were animal crackers and if she wanted some this was it.... only to discover it was not a bag of animal crackers... Clearly my sanity was fading.  (Brent noticed mid-speech that it was something else, but thought intervening was a bad idea-possibly right).
• Shortly after dumping most of the crackers on the floor.  She began demanding "Princess Cinderella "right now!"  (Think this referenced her new doll).
• Moments later- was asking to have her seat leaned back (at least as far as we could tell) which is totally not an option in car seat land.... looney.
• By the Eighth hour we were home and the kids proceeded to chase each other around in circles for awhile before being put to bed way past their bedtimes.

What worked:

• Having some "surprise" new toys to pull out when things started to turn a bit.
• Sneaking a big book of stickers into Brendan's door.  He quietly moved the Lego mini-fig stickers around for HOURS.  Also had stickers for M on the return trip and they were a big hit.
• Leapster - he loves it and got a new game for the trip which kept him engaged.
• A variety of snacks so people had choices. The Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Balls  were, by far, the favorite.
• Bags full of things that might interest one or both.  Each found things in the other's bag that was cool.
• They got new squishy balls that were very popular and had lots of different uses.
• Having two kids that are very good at adapting, entertaining themselves, helping and playing with each other!

What didn't:

• Attempting to make our favored trail mix with Rice Kripsies and Granola when I discovered we were somehow out of Cheerios.  Not a hit and we have TONS of it.
• Stopping at the World's largest McDonalds in Vinitia, on the way back.  It was incredibly hot, not too clean, McDonalds and mostly M kept running away and crashing into things.  Yes, stopping was good, just kinda wished it was cooler, cleaner, or there was something for them to play on.
• Not loading up the iPad with books for me before we left as was randomly surfing for some on the way back which did make it feel longer.
• Not packing nearly enough drinks really in either direction.
• All attempts and scheduling to encourage naps were a bust.  B slept not at all and M slept very little.

Over all, it went phenomenally well and I was so pleased.  Consensus is we will do it again!