2 kids, one husband and 15 hours in a car

So, in order to allow my kids to have vacations with each set of grandparents, we allowed our girls to go to Ludington, Mi with my husbands parents a few days before setting out to see my parents in Georgia. If you are unaware of geography, this adventure is driving in the wrong direction for when we pick them up and set off to the Peach State.

We spent a day and a half together in Ludington before packing the car, the kids and the husband and heading off down a new path toward Georgia. We decided to drive a different route, avoiding I-75 and opting for 2 lane highways the entire way. (The time it would take to get there according to Google Maps was 4 minutes difference). So why not? We get to see different parts of the country, not the same 6 hour trek through Ohio (especially now that the Jesus statue has burned, we had little to look forward to), Kentucky and Tennessee as well. We were excited to see hours and hours of corn, lettuce and various other crops, but we also got to see wonderful new cities, Nashville for example, was seen for a lot longer than we were supposed to thanks to the rush hour traffic we were stuck in for what seemed like forever!

I would like to thank the inventor of the in car DVD player which was a saving grace with my 4 year old and 1 year old. The only problem, one wants to watch Barney and Dora, the other Addams Family, Muppet Babies and Thumbelina. We dealt with a few minutes of arguing over whose turn it was to watch what show and settled on a compromise of sharing, one girl first then the next.

My daughters did unbelievably well for a 15 hour trip across country. We stopped a few times to eat, go potty and stretch our legs, but overall it was a straight haul. We came prepared with suckers, snacks and new toys to bribe our children with, all unneeded. They slept, watched their shows and talked to us (well, if dora, dora dora, dadadada and the always frequent girl scream counts as talking, then Zoe was able to participate in the conversation as well.)

My wonderful husband drove 99% of the way pulling a motorcycle trailer and listening to us girls in the back while he kept us safe from the other drivers trying to avoid said Mini van pulling a trailer. This allowed me the opportunity to finish one book and read another on the way. Reading to me makes the time fly, and as long as the kids were busy and happy, mom could be too.

Speaking of people trying to avoid our mini-van, why is it cars think we are going to be driving slowly just because we have a mini-van? I need to research this. We have the same ability to speed as the next car and find it highly offensive that people feel it necessary to cut us off just to get in front of us... oh well, for another time.

It was such a great feeling to pull into the driveway at my parents house. The girls were so wound up and ready to play that we didn't go to bed until after 1am, but it was well worth it. Ava was so excited to see her grandparents, she had to tell them every story she could think of in the first 10 minutes, as well as find all her toys, visit her room and show off her latest dance moves. Zoe on the other hand stuck to me like glue, not wanting to look at her grandparents whom she hasn't seen in 4 months.. it took awhile but she is now enjoying them as much as if they lived next door.

Off to have fun with the family.