Road Trip with the Smith’s
Its no small feat to get 8 Smith’s packed up for the week and out the door. C benevolently offered to pack the boys if Id pack the girls. (nice move hon!)
15 minutes later, he had his and Tristan’s suitcase sitting by the door and tackle box packed. 4 painstaking hours later, I emerged from the girls “dorm” laden with overpacked bags, purses, blankets and 4 baby-dolls suited for the trip. Packing girls means 1) there will be a meltdown when someone can’t find their favorite new nail polish to bring and 2) you have an entire bag devoted to hair bows, cosmetics and accessories.
Its spring break here. If you remember my post on Songkran last year, this is a major Thai holiday where everyone leaves the city in droves. 8 hours in the car yesterday and quite a few more to go today….but we’ll be waking in paradise tomorrow morning. We’re headed to meet C’s parents and enjoy their timeshare at the beach.
Our fearless leader who had to answer “are we there yet” umpteen times yesterday. I assured the kids to could be worse. At least we all have seats. We could be traveling Thai-style…
Poor guy…..Tristan was less than thrilled with the music choice in the car yesterday. There was an inordinate amount of Taylor Swift and Shania Twain being rocked out to.
And here’s our version of a “drive thru” at lunch time. No Happy Meals to be had. Simply roll down the window, negotiate a price and pass back fresh bananas and mangos. (just scored 4 huge pineapples for $3…cant beat that!)
And then there are the rest stops. The distinctive experience that identifies which of my girls will be able to make it in the bush….and which will not. Izzy walked in. Gagged. And walked out.
“I’m just going to hold it“.
And bless her heart bladder….hold it she did. For another 5 hours.
Evie’s response: “Next time I have to go, Im going to ask daddy to stop somewhere a little fancier“.
It may have been a mistake to cut corners with packing. Maybe should have brought the kitchen sink too. This is the first trip we’ve taken free of diapers and port-a-crib now that Gigi is newly potty trained.
Well….almost.
Day 1 of vacation, up at dark-thirty bathing a bed-wetter and pulling sheets off. It can only look up from here. Lets get this party started…..back on the road we go. Next stop, BEACH!