I’d been feeling a little cabin fever not going anywhere than the grocery store for the past month. Silly me.
Saturday was student move-in day at Penn State, so we decided to skip town and meet Derek’s parents in Ohio, where they were going to visit Great-Grandma Tony at the island. Derek assured me it was just 4.5 hours each way, so we could easily leave at 6 am, drive there, hang out for several hours, and get home late that evening–just an easy day trip. Tommy’s been up at 4:45-5 am every morning for the past several days, so we knew we’d be up early, anyway.
Good thing we set the alarm clock just in case–both kids were still sound asleep at 6 when we had the car loaded and ready to go. (We could have slept in!!!!) The drive there was fine. It was kindof rainy all day, so we didn’t get to take the kids swimming or fishing or anything, but we had a nice time with the fam. We left at 6 pm, expecting to pick up a quick bite to eat on the road and be home in under 5 hours.
Well, the rain got worse and worse, and after dark we decided pull off and just find a hotel because visibility was dangerously nonexistent. The hotel off the highway was full, however–apparently there was a state fair or something, and the clerk told me that he knew the hotel at the next exit was full, as well, and there wasn’t anything else for another hour. We weren’t willing to hydroplane for another hour with sleeping kids in the car, so we searched on our GPS and ended up further off the highway at a sketchy motel with just one king-sized nonsmoking room left.
Amazingly, we’d brought the pack n play for Elizabeth to nap at Grandma’s, and the kids transferred fairly easily inside. Derek braved the elements to the gas station to pick us up a toothbrush and milk (we literally had nothing because it was supposed to be a day trip!). The bed…well, to be fair, I HAVE slept on less comfortable beds…campground bunks, pull-out couches…but my back still hasn’t quite recovered. And of course Tommy woke up at 4:45 again, ready to take on the day. We tried to keep him quiet, but the excitement of waking up in bed with Mommy and Daddy in a hotel room when he’d fallen asleep in his carseat and expected to be at home in his own bed was just too much. We were on our way by 5:30 am. We got home at 8, so we had plenty of time to shower and bathe before church. But the overnight “day trip” had messed with everyone’s schedule, and none of us were exactly in a great mood for the rest of the day. The kids are still a bit crabby today–here’s what my sweet girl looked like all morning:
No more out-of-state “day trips” for us again any time soon! Or if we go, I’ve learned to bring an overnight bag just in case!
That picture is definitely worth a thousand words. It explains your story quite well.
So sorry your trip home was soooo bad!! We did love seeing you though!! 🙂 Just glad you made it back safely.
The island part was nice–I just wish we could teleport for our visits!=)