Last Thursday I loaded our single stroller with a 1 year old, a diaper bag, a bag full of books, toys and snacks and a third bag filled with last minute things that didn't make into the suitcase that was already loaded into the car (like the baby monitors, sleep sacks, and lovies) and requested my almost 4 year old walk by my side to the car parked two blocks away. We made it! Whew!
Then we drove to my husband's office and picked him up for what would be our first road trip with two kids. We were taking this in two chunks. Four hours on Thursday night and hopefully only 6-7 hours on Friday morning.
The traffic in San Francisco was terrible. It took us an hour to get onto the Oakland Bay Bridge . . . which is less than a 2 mile drive. After that we didn't hit any traffic and were able to make it to our resting place in Redding CA around 8 p.m. (so it had been 5 hours instead of 4, but we stopped for dinner on the way).
Redding was HOT. We stepped out of the car and were shocked as the heat hit our faces and made me feel like my jeans were going to melt to my skin. It was only 95 degrees, but my summers are usually around 68 it so really did catch me off guard. The boys were in love with the hotel room and explored every corner of it. It took at least an hour to calm them down and get them in bed. And since it was just one room we all went to bed at the same time.
The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast at Lumberjacks cafe which was pretty good. Stephen refused to sit and eat and William only had ate a quarter of his plate-sized Mickey Mouse pancake. This is totally what we expected but even by 8 a.m. I was ready for a break from the chaos.
The drive was uneventful. Very little traffic until we reached Portland, Oregon. Stephen fussed and cried off and on and took one little nap. William refused to nap but was content listening to his audiobooks of Winnie the Pooh, looking at his comic books and doing some sticker projects I had packed.
We arrived in Vancouver, Washington a little before 6 p.m. on Friday. (With a few stops along the way it ended up being a total of 9 hours the second day.) Whew, we made it for real!
What did we do there? Read
here!
_________
On Monday night we decided that we would just do the drive home in one day instead of spending the money to get a hotel room. That night Stephen woke up around 3 and had a hard time going back to sleep. We ended up getting everyone up and packed to leave at 5 a.m. but didn't actually get out the door until 6 a.m. Our poor hosts had to hear Stephen scream for such a long time before we actually left. We thought if we could just get out the door and drive he would surely fall asleep and it would be okay.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. We were so entirely wrong.
Stephen cried and screamed for what seemed like forever. Finally we pulled off the freeway to grab breakfast (William and Stephen had already eaten at 5 a.m.). That seemed to settle everyone down momentarily. I tried to give Stephen his nap-time bottle and sing his songs and cover him with a blanket and after 90 minutes of trying he finally closed his eyes as I held his hand (doing a side-back bend maneuver from the front seat that messed up my back).
It was a good nap. A solid 90 minutes. And then we had some calm play time with books and songs and snacks. Followed by, you guessed it, more screaming. Earlier on the trip Chris had noticed how hot Stephen got in his seat so he purchased a fan to blow on him from the back seat. It helped him from over heating but this little guy hated feeling it on his hands and face. We tried everything to help him be more comfortable but nothing worked. Finally after our last stop for dinner we were able to get him to calm down again for a short nap by me holding his hand again. (If I could have fit in the back middle seat, trust me I would have gladly sat there the whole time.)
Once we got on the Bay Bridge he had woken up but was only softly whining/crying, not really screaming. Total time spent on the road that day: 13.5 hours. Total naps/quiet time by Stephen: 3 hours. Chris handled it all really well while he did all the driving. Where as I was super stressed out and feeling helpless, a little angry and mostly worried that Stephen cried so much and so hard.
We made it home! So ready for bed. So ready for normalcy. So thankful that William handled it all like a champ (other than throwing a fit anytime we asked him to turn off his audio book to eat, go to the bathroom or take a nap).
Where to next? I don't know, but we'll be flying!
Last Thursday I loaded our single stroller with a 1 year old, a diaper bag, a bag full of books, toys and snacks and a third bag filled with last minute things that didn't make into the suitcase that was already loaded into the car (like the baby monitors, sleep sacks, and lovies) and requested my almost 4 year old walk by my side to the car parked two blocks away. We made it! Whew!
Then we drove to my husband's office and picked him up for what would be our first road trip with two kids. We were taking this in two chunks. Four hours on Thursday night and hopefully only 6-7 hours on Friday morning.
The traffic in San Francisco was terrible. It took us an hour to get onto the Oakland Bay Bridge . . . which is less than a 2 mile drive. After that we didn't hit any traffic and were able to make it to our resting place in Redding CA around 8 p.m. (so it had been 5 hours instead of 4, but we stopped for dinner on the way).
Redding was HOT. We stepped out of the car and were shocked as the heat hit our faces and made me feel like my jeans were going to melt to my skin. It was only 95 degrees, but my summers are usually around 68 it so really did catch me off guard. The boys were in love with the hotel room and explored every corner of it. It took at least an hour to calm them down and get them in bed. And since it was just one room we all went to bed at the same time.
The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast at Lumberjacks cafe which was pretty good. Stephen refused to sit and eat and William only had ate a quarter of his plate-sized Mickey Mouse pancake. This is totally what we expected but even by 8 a.m. I was ready for a break from the chaos.
The drive was uneventful. Very little traffic until we reached Portland, Oregon. Stephen fussed and cried off and on and took one little nap. William refused to nap but was content listening to his audiobooks of Winnie the Pooh, looking at his comic books and doing some sticker projects I had packed.
We arrived in Vancouver, Washington a little before 6 p.m. on Friday. (With a few stops along the way it ended up being a total of 9 hours the second day.) Whew, we made it for real!
What did we do there? Read
here!
_________
On Monday night we decided that we would just do the drive home in one day instead of spending the money to get a hotel room. That night Stephen woke up around 3 and had a hard time going back to sleep. We ended up getting everyone up and packed to leave at 5 a.m. but didn't actually get out the door until 6 a.m. Our poor hosts had to hear Stephen scream for such a long time before we actually left. We thought if we could just get out the door and drive he would surely fall asleep and it would be okay.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. We were so entirely wrong.
Stephen cried and screamed for what seemed like forever. Finally we pulled off the freeway to grab breakfast (William and Stephen had already eaten at 5 a.m.). That seemed to settle everyone down momentarily. I tried to give Stephen his nap-time bottle and sing his songs and cover him with a blanket and after 90 minutes of trying he finally closed his eyes as I held his hand (doing a side-back bend maneuver from the front seat that messed up my back).
It was a good nap. A solid 90 minutes. And then we had some calm play time with books and songs and snacks. Followed by, you guessed it, more screaming. Earlier on the trip Chris had noticed how hot Stephen got in his seat so he purchased a fan to blow on him from the back seat. It helped him from over heating but this little guy hated feeling it on his hands and face. We tried everything to help him be more comfortable but nothing worked. Finally after our last stop for dinner we were able to get him to calm down again for a short nap by me holding his hand again. (If I could have fit in the back middle seat, trust me I would have gladly sat there the whole time.)
Once we got on the Bay Bridge he had woken up but was only softly whining/crying, not really screaming. Total time spent on the road that day: 13.5 hours. Total naps/quiet time by Stephen: 3 hours. Chris handled it all really well while he did all the driving. Where as I was super stressed out and feeling helpless, a little angry and mostly worried that Stephen cried so much and so hard.
We made it home! So ready for bed. So ready for normalcy. So thankful that William handled it all like a champ (other than throwing a fit anytime we asked him to turn off his audio book to eat, go to the bathroom or take a nap).
Where to next? I don't know, but we'll be flying!
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