Road Trip

Last night, we put the boys to sleep in their clothes. Why?

Because I was going to be waking them up at 5:45am to load them into the car to drive to NJ. By myself.That's right, 660 miles, just me and my little boys.

And, as prompt as could be, we got on the road at 6:00am.

The Big Guys were fired up for the trip. I had picked out all kinds of things to keep them occupied and many exciting stops along the way.

Our first stop did not go as planned. We stopped at a Chic-Fil-A 40 miles north of charlotte. Now, I realize that we weren't in the car very long, but this was planned. I needed to head out early to get through Charlotte before rush-hour traffic and then stop for breakfast. I stopped at this particular restaurant because it had a children's playcenter and the kids could stretch their legs. Food was yummy - biscuits, fruit salad, yogurt parfaits and coffee for mom. But, I didn't plan on Finn getting stuck at the top of the climbing structure and mommy having to wedge herself up to get him down. hehe

45 minutes for breakfast, play and rescue and we were back on the road.

Our next stop was awesome. 310 miles north of Charlotte we stopped in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I took the boys to the new Children's museum that had just opened in the city. We had so much fun.

Patrick and Finn played with a giant operation game...

and drove in an ambulance.

Sully practiced changing a tire

(luckily we didn't need his expertise when we got back on the road)

and we all had a blast playing together. After we finished 1 hour of play,

we had a picnic lunch that I packed and we got back in the car.

New toys, new games, new videos - doing great!

Don't get me wrong, I love our country, but, man, do I HATE driving through Pennsylvania. It goes on and on with literally no end in sight. So, with all of us getting a bit stir-crazy and mommy craving some candy, we made an unscheduled stop at Cracker Barrel. My new favorite place. Not only were the able to ease my need for sugar, but the staff was SOO nice. One lady spent 10 minutes entertaining the boys and racing cars up and down the aisles. Yes, I gave in and let them each pick a treat, but when the CB Associate noticed they were picking out $12 airplanes (gulp) she gently steered them towards the $3 race cars. What a fantastic place!

Finally, we made it to NJ. At 7:30pm. That's right, what usually takes Gill and I 10 hours to do, took mommy 13.5 hours. But, we all arrived safe, sound and exhausted and that's all that matters, right?!