A 22 Hour Road Trip

Silas and Eli have been geared up to go to Mamaw and Papaw's house for quite some time now. The kicker was that we were not flying - but driving. Silas was fascinated at this when we told him and after thinking about it for a minute he proclaimed, "Wow! That will be so amazing!" To be honest, I hadn't been looking forward to the drive. You might could even say I was dreading it. So, how did 22 + hours in the car with a 4 year old and 2 year old go? Well, of course I can give you a play by play. So, here goes...

2:36 p.m. PT - The car was packed, Silas had his very own little spot in the back of the Mazda complete with pillows, blankets and a cup holder right next to him. We turned the section of the middle seat down that was right in front of him so he had plenty of legroom, which also meant I had plenty of room to lay my seat all the way backwards when needed. Eli was situated in his normal spot all ready to go. We had a bag full of snacks, a cooler full of drinks, and our iPad loaded up with plenty of episodes of Diego. We prayed and were off. Oh wait, first we needed to stop by Walmart to get a power converter so we could charge the laptop, iPhones and iPad simultaneously. We drove to Walmart and Silas was confused why we were stopping. "But momma, I want to go to Mamaw and Papaw's house!"

2:55 p.m. PT - Silas asked, "Momma, are we in Texas yet?" I reminded him, "No, Silas. It's a long drive. We have to drive all night and tomorrow morning, but we will get there."

3:02 p.m. PT - We officially began our journey, getting on the 8E - our first freeway.

3:15 p.m. PT - Both boys had already fallen asleep, exhausted since I had intentionally kept them from napping earlier in the day.

4:13 p.m. PT - Silas woke up asking, "Are we in Texas yet?" I think he was way too excited to sleep and obviously super anxious to get there. I again reminded him it was a very long drive.

5:26 p.m. PT - We stopped for our first food and potty break at McDonald's. We didn't even sit down to eat, but figured we could eat in the car since we had just started on our journey. I made sure Silas went to the potty. I really don't have to worry all that much about Eli since he's not potty trained, but Dusty and I certainly didn't want to have to stop a million times for Silas to go potty. We were also keeping his drinks to a minimum to avoid this.

5:36 p.m. PT - About two minutes after we got back on the freeway, I heard a loud scream from the back, "Momma, I have to go poo poo!" Silas looked like he was in misery and wasn't going to make it long. I wasn't sure we would be able to make it anywhere without an accident, but we pulled off the first chance we got. Luckily, we did make it.

5:45 p.m. - 8:45 p.m. MT - We had a time change at some point during this time. The boys were entertained by watching Diego. They were both singing and dancing, and interacting with the show. If you've ever seen Dora or Diego, they're so interactive and the kid's absolutely love them! Both shows really keep their attention because of this.

8:45 p.m. MT - We turned off the iPad so the boys would hopefully go to sleep for the night. I also attempted to get some rest, knowing that Dusty and I would switch drivers around 1:00 a.m.

1:30 a.m. MT - Dusty stopped to fill up on gas and to switch drivers.

1:40 a.m. MT - I was driving and Silas was wide awake. He informed me, "Momma, there was a BIG storm and I told daddy it was too scary for me. It was too loud. I didn't like it." Dusty did confirm that had been raining, thundering and lightning a good bit. This is not anything my little San Diegan boy is used to.

1:50 a.m. MT - After smelling a terrible odor coming from outside, Silas told me, "Momma, I smell a stinker. I think Eli poo pooed." I told him, "No, Si - the smell is coming from outside." Silas asked, "Why, momma?" Umm, not quite sure how to explain that one. "Silas, it just is. I don't know."

2:05 a.m. MT - We officially crossed the Texas state line. We still were only halfway there, but at least I could inform Silas that we really were in Texas.

6:30 a.m. CT - I stopped at McDonald's, after finishing my driving shift. We took the boys inside and sat for just a bit. They didn't want to eat, but Dusty got breakfast while they sat there acting goofy. They were a little delirious and still very excited. They began chanting, "Mamaw, Papaw! Mamaw, Papaw!" Eli finally decided he would try a hash brown so I got him some ketchup. He said, "ohhhhhhh" when I put the ketchup in front of him. Rather than eating the hash brown, he dipped it in the ketchup and licked it. Then, he repeated this process about 20 times while we laughed at him.

7:00 a.m. CT - Back to the car - I took a cat nap.

8:30 a.m. CT - Dusty woke me up and asked if I could drive. He was having a hard time staying awake, so we pulled over and I took over.

10:45 a.m. CT - We made our last gas stop and switched drivers again. I gave the boys a snack and turned Diego back on. Silas was getting more excited by the minute.

1:00 p.m. CT - Eli decided he was d.o.n.e. He was crying, "OUT, Momma! Ouuuuuuut!" I kept telling him, "5 more minutes, 5 more minutes." We tell him this all the time because it distracts him. He is satisfied with this response as it diverts his attention and he asks, "5 more minutes?"

2:00 p.m. CT - Silas asked me, "Momma, are we at the bottom of the earth yet?" I laughed and told him, "Silas, we are almost there! It really is only a few more minutes, I promise!"

2:15 p.m. CT - "Mamaw and Papaw's House!!! We are here!!!"

So - that's it. Really, I thought there'd be much more to share. But, the boys were so amazingly well behaved. There wasn't an ounce of whining or crying until the last hour. Literally. Of course, since I had been dreading it for weeks, the boys proved me wrong once again. They really are so good! I was shocked at how little Silas slept. The sweet boy was so excited to get here, he barely slept at all. He was obviously awake during the storm while Dusty was driving and was awake for my entire night shift. He never took a nap after that. Needless to say, when he finally went to bed last night, he crashed. And now, both boys are having an amazing time at Mamaw and Papaw's house, happy as pie!

Woohoo!! We're here!