Today's post is not about really about crafting. But I need to tell a story that I am now, finally starting to find amusing. As a Mother, it's important to look back on these memories and try to find the humour, or else we will all go insane. I wrote this story out for my other blog, Sandra's Savvy Teaching Tips, and I found it so cathartic, that I'd like to share it with my crafting friends as well. So here it is.
We're back from our vacation. I was a crazy lady and decided to travel to California with my 2 kids WITHOUT my hubby. My parents are down in Palm Springs for the winter, and usually we fly down to be with them. But due to our house flood and Brad's job of refinishing the basement, we decided that he needed to stay home and work on finishing up the suite. (which he did and it looks fabulous!)
I bought the tickets at the last moment - (2 weeks before the trip, and the day before we were told we would be losing 3 days pay due to the strike) I got a great deal on the tickets. 3 of us, flying to California for $550 TOTAL. fantastic right? BUT the flight left from Seattle. So crazy little me decided to drive down to Seattle with the kids for the flight. I needed to park the car down there for a week, but luckily there are tons of hotels around the airport that will give you a week of free parking if you stay one night at the hotel. Our flight left at 7 am, so we stayed a night at the hotel before we left. Super cheap - but a total dump of a hotel.
Anyway, so last Monday we pile in the car to go to Seattle. As we live in Canada, first we had to drive 1 hour to get to the border crossing. 30 minutes in line, to talk to the customs officials and then off to Seattle right???
NOPE
- Mommy I need to pee!!!
Bathroom break #1.
Hop back in the car and drive for 15 minutes
- I'm hungry Mommy.
No Snacks in the car - I forgot - drat!
Stop at first fast food place I find - Burger King to the rescue.
Two Child's meals and a sandwich for Mommy later, and we're back on the road. Bathroom break #2 part of this stop.
Hop back in the car and start driving.
Torrential rain storm begins. The water is literally bouncing a foot or two off the ground after it lands. There is so much water flying off the wheels of other cars and trucks that it's like driving in the fog.
And the whining begins...
Out come the games they got in the child's meal from Burger King.
- Give it BACK!!!! Connor stole my game!!!!!!!!! STOP it Connor!!!!!!
Strange crazy animal sounds coming out of my son's voice a la typical 5 year old boy 'aaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhrhhrhrhrh'
'Connor - STOP that'
Evil smile from 5 year old boy.
More strange crazy animal sounds.
I turn up the stereo and continue to drive.
Evil smile on my son's face
- This is MY game
- No it's MINE! Connor give it BACK!
Driving and trying not to run over little white bumpy things on Interstate which mean I've drifted over the line. BBBRRUUUMMP!
Get car back in between the lines.
Turn down the stereo.
- Connor, where is Teagan's game???
- I dunno.
- Connor, where is Teagan's game????
- I dunno.
- Connor, WHERE is Teagan's game????
- I DON'T KNOW!!
Let's try a different tactic here, I'm thinking, and BBBRRUUUMMMMPPP - driving over white bumpy things. Straighten out car between lines, someone's driving on my tail, can't pull over due to large semi trailer truck beside me which is causing me to squint to see through the haze of water coming off it's tires.
- Connor, where is your game???
- Ummmm, I dunno.
- Connor, whose game are you holding???
- I dunno.
- Connor, do I need to pull over and get out of the car? You know if I do that I will be pretty upset. do you want that??
- Ummm No!
Deep Breath Mommy
- So WHOSE game are you holding.
- silence
- CONNOR
- um, Teagan's??
- WHAT!!!
Keep car on road Sandra (I'm thinking) Finally past the semi-trailer, time to change lanes and let the idiot on my bumper pass by. BBBRRUUUMMMPPPP - whew made it.
Deep breath Mommy
- Give the game back to Teagan.
- but...
-NOW!
Evil smile, and he throws the game at his sister. Game hits her in the face and falls on the floor where she can't reach it.
- OOOOWWW! Co-nnerrrrrrrrr!
and the crying starts.
Where can I pull over??? Road signs are hard to read in the haze.
Whoah - am I really driving 120 km/ hour? These MPH signs are hard to interpret with my Canadian kilomtres spedometer. Slow down. No - wait, I think I'm allowed to drive 70mph, which is 120 kmph...60 is 100 right??? BBBRRRRUUUUUMMMMPPPP!
Get car back between the lines.
Crying in back seat is now wailing...
Pass tissue back to crying child. Trying to stay in straight line on highway, slowing down to 50mph, BBBRRUUUMMPPP - oh, phew, back between the lines. Child in back seat has tissue, Wait - I think I see a pull out for a gas station coming up...Ow, the headlights of the car behind me are really close,
back up buddy,
Oh, I'm going 50kmph, not 50 mph.
Speed up a bit.
DRAT - missed the exit.
and on it went...
Ever have a day like that??? How about a week??
The swimming pool in California was the godsend. The kids swam every day, several times a day. They had fun, they got more confident in the water, they got tired. Seeing that excitement on their faces every day, made the craziness of getting down here worth it
Kinda worth it, I mean. I got home and slept in 3 days in a row - Brad can get up early now that we're back.
So that's the start of our trip, and the end of my story for now. I've just started scrapping some of the photos and they should show up in my posts over the next month.
We're back from our vacation. I was a crazy lady and decided to travel to California with my 2 kids WITHOUT my hubby. My parents are down in Palm Springs for the winter, and usually we fly down to be with them. But due to our house flood and Brad's job of refinishing the basement, we decided that he needed to stay home and work on finishing up the suite. (which he did and it looks fabulous!)
I bought the tickets at the last moment - (2 weeks before the trip, and the day before we were told we would be losing 3 days pay due to the strike) I got a great deal on the tickets. 3 of us, flying to California for $550 TOTAL. fantastic right? BUT the flight left from Seattle. So crazy little me decided to drive down to Seattle with the kids for the flight. I needed to park the car down there for a week, but luckily there are tons of hotels around the airport that will give you a week of free parking if you stay one night at the hotel. Our flight left at 7 am, so we stayed a night at the hotel before we left. Super cheap - but a total dump of a hotel.
Anyway, so last Monday we pile in the car to go to Seattle. As we live in Canada, first we had to drive 1 hour to get to the border crossing. 30 minutes in line, to talk to the customs officials and then off to Seattle right???
NOPE
- Mommy I need to pee!!!
Bathroom break #1.
Hop back in the car and drive for 15 minutes
- I'm hungry Mommy.
No Snacks in the car - I forgot - drat!
Stop at first fast food place I find - Burger King to the rescue.
Two Child's meals and a sandwich for Mommy later, and we're back on the road. Bathroom break #2 part of this stop.
Hop back in the car and start driving.
Torrential rain storm begins. The water is literally bouncing a foot or two off the ground after it lands. There is so much water flying off the wheels of other cars and trucks that it's like driving in the fog.
And the whining begins...
Out come the games they got in the child's meal from Burger King.
- Give it BACK!!!! Connor stole my game!!!!!!!!! STOP it Connor!!!!!!
Strange crazy animal sounds coming out of my son's voice a la typical 5 year old boy 'aaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhrhhrhrhrh'
'Connor - STOP that'
Evil smile from 5 year old boy.
More strange crazy animal sounds.
I turn up the stereo and continue to drive.
Evil smile on my son's face
- This is MY game
- No it's MINE! Connor give it BACK!
Driving and trying not to run over little white bumpy things on Interstate which mean I've drifted over the line. BBBRRUUUMMP!
Get car back in between the lines.
Turn down the stereo.
- Connor, where is Teagan's game???
- I dunno.
- Connor, where is Teagan's game????
- I dunno.
- Connor, WHERE is Teagan's game????
- I DON'T KNOW!!
Let's try a different tactic here, I'm thinking, and BBBRRUUUMMMMPPP - driving over white bumpy things. Straighten out car between lines, someone's driving on my tail, can't pull over due to large semi trailer truck beside me which is causing me to squint to see through the haze of water coming off it's tires.
- Connor, where is your game???
- Ummmm, I dunno.
- Connor, whose game are you holding???
- I dunno.
- Connor, do I need to pull over and get out of the car? You know if I do that I will be pretty upset. do you want that??
- Ummm No!
Deep Breath Mommy
- So WHOSE game are you holding.
- silence
- CONNOR
- um, Teagan's??
- WHAT!!!
Keep car on road Sandra (I'm thinking) Finally past the semi-trailer, time to change lanes and let the idiot on my bumper pass by. BBBRRUUUMMMPPPP - whew made it.
Deep breath Mommy
- Give the game back to Teagan.
- but...
-NOW!
Evil smile, and he throws the game at his sister. Game hits her in the face and falls on the floor where she can't reach it.
- OOOOWWW! Co-nnerrrrrrrrr!
and the crying starts.
Where can I pull over??? Road signs are hard to read in the haze.
Whoah - am I really driving 120 km/ hour? These MPH signs are hard to interpret with my Canadian kilomtres spedometer. Slow down. No - wait, I think I'm allowed to drive 70mph, which is 120 kmph...60 is 100 right??? BBBRRRRUUUUUMMMMPPPP!
Get car back between the lines.
Crying in back seat is now wailing...
Pass tissue back to crying child. Trying to stay in straight line on highway, slowing down to 50mph, BBBRRUUUMMPPP - oh, phew, back between the lines. Child in back seat has tissue, Wait - I think I see a pull out for a gas station coming up...Ow, the headlights of the car behind me are really close,
back up buddy,
Oh, I'm going 50kmph, not 50 mph.
Speed up a bit.
DRAT - missed the exit.
and on it went...
Ever have a day like that??? How about a week??
The swimming pool in California was the godsend. The kids swam every day, several times a day. They had fun, they got more confident in the water, they got tired. Seeing that excitement on their faces every day, made the craziness of getting down here worth it
Kinda worth it, I mean. I got home and slept in 3 days in a row - Brad can get up early now that we're back.
So that's the start of our trip, and the end of my story for now. I've just started scrapping some of the photos and they should show up in my posts over the next month.
1 comment:
I smiled all the way through this post - been there! I just returned from FL visiting my mother - we drove - 2 days down and 2 days back - me, my son (who is 30) and his girlfriend and my daughter (34) who is pregnant. I worried it was going to be crazy but it wasn't - we actually had fun in the car! My son was amazingly stellar - you don't want to know how many pit stops we had to make! It will get better - in about 20 years :)
Post a Comment