I spent the last couple of weeks in California, visiting family.
It was great. I have tons of pictures, got lots of time on horseback, and had a wonderful time.
Do you know what was not great?
The drive.
Specifically, the drive back.
I tried to split it up, but the second day still ended up being 15 hours.
Fifteen hours.
One Honda Civic.
Too much stuff.
A four year old who can’t sleep in the car. He did manage to nod off for about 45 minutes once, but for the most part, when he gets sleepy, he just cries. He has a legitimate cough right now, so I even tried drugging him with Dimetapp (don’t call CPS! He actually needed it for the cough.)
No, he didn’t go to sleep. He just got really sleepy, and then cried about feeling sleepy.
Add to the mix a two year old who has learned how to get out of his carseat harness.
Do you know what’s tons of fun? Going 73 mph down the highway and looking in the rearview mirror and seeing your kid unbuckled and twisting out of his carseat. No amount of talking, cajoling, yelling, or spanking managed to keep him in, either. I cinched him down tight enough it should have been physically impossible for him to have circulation in his limbs, let alone wiggle out, but he still managed.
Next time I’m bringing duct tape and zip ties.
Also, we musn’t forget the 60 pound six month old puppy in the backseat. She was the best behaved one of the bunch, but she ate something weird the night before, and had gas.
Horrible gas.
The kind of gas that eats at your nostrils and sears itself into your brain while simultaneously melting paint off the wall.
Since driving 750 miles in one day with all of that wasn’t nearly enough of a challenge for me, I decided to add something interesting to the mix.
See the zebra striped lunch bag?
This is what was inside:
Because, honestly. Who can say no to that face?
So, yeah. 750 miles, two kids, a puppy, two kittens that had to be bottle fed and cleaned every two hours, and 15 hours straight in the car.
Roadtrips aren’t quite as much fun as they used to be.