Road Trippin’

What a whirlwind two days we just had. I. Am. Tired.

Tired, yet attempting a recap. I’m so zoned that I can barely form complete sentences. Nothing new, I guess. Here goes.

We left Friday morning. The van was packed with kids and crap and off we went to the Coast to see Matthew’s side of the family. His Mom’s brother and his family live in San Diego and come up almost every summer for a vacation. We missed them one summer and they didn’t come the next, so they hadn’t met either Nathan or Emily. Time for a reunion.

We stopped halfway for lunch and a stretch. Miss Emily was bored sitting all by her lonesome in the second row, so we found a solution that made everyone happy:

I almost didn’t post these pictures for fear of any comments about the forward facing seat. It’s the only thing that worked, and the seat is much more secure this way. Positive comments only, please, or I will cry. I’m that tired.

We made it there safe and sound and had a great visit with the outlaws and Matthew’s brother and his family. I even rocked their baby Daniel to sleep. I’ve still got the newborn sway down pat. I felt like Monica off of that Friends episode.

I would love to regale you with the stories of all of the screaming and whining and horrible-ness of traveling with three kids. Except I have come to realize that my kids are the best three kids on the planet. Just so you know. They are far from perfect, but they could be so much worse. I’m sure they’ll turf their halos in the teenage years, so I’ll take the goodness while I can get it.

Saturday morning we put Emily down for a nap, left the boys to play with Grandma and Grandpa and then Matthew and I headed to Old Navy.

Me + A daughter + Old Navy Summer Sale = Danger! Danger!

Onwards.

After lunch we packed up and loaded the car. We pulled out and started toward the highway. Then something happened that strikes fear in the hearts of traveling parents everywhere. Our DVD player kicked it. Luckily, we were but fifteen minutes from a Costco, and not high in the mountains when it happened. Disaster averted.

We headed to a place called Harrison Hot Springs to meet up with Matthew’s sister Jennifer (and her family), as well as the California clan. It took us about an hour and a half to get there…and another half an hour to find a place to park. Then we had to pack all of our gear six blocks to the beach. Matthew carried a tote bag, a cooler…and had Nathan on his shoulders. I had Emily on one hip, and another tote bag and her floatie on my other hip. It was the best (only?) workout I’ve had in a long time. It also made me even more grateful for how close I live to a number of beaches, and for the ample parking at those beaches.

Graham spent pretty much the entire time in the water. I’d post a photo here, but it’s a group shot and I’m too tired and lazy to phone everyone and ask their permission. Nathan was in and out of the water, but here’s one shot I took that makes him look even more like a surfer than he normally does:

Here’s one of Emily modeling the tankini I had bought her on my mini spree:

Check out her outtie belly button. So cute. I also bought her these, and have had a song stuck in my head ever since.

Who wears short shorts?

Emily does.

We grabbed some take-out for supper and then hit the road for the drive home. The last hour and a half of our trip looked like this:

That’s all I’ve got.

3 kids, 800 KM, 36 hours.

I’m pooped. I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.