Hit the Road Jack part 2b- HOME!

Sunday, November 30, 2008
7.33 am- We left the hotel about 10 minutes ago. I’m always surprised at how long it takes us to get out of the room and eat then get back on the road. The girls just find distractions every time we turn around. There are clear skies today! It looks like the storm systems are behind us and since we’re headed west we shouldn’t run into anything else. At least not in terms of weather, there is construction ahead which will be loads of fun I’m sure.

Helena has learned well from Lavinia how to be an antagonist. Doesn’t matter what it is- Lavinia wants the orange pencil? Well now so does Helena and she needs it for an hour. Lavinia’s bag is behind Helena? She’s “falling asleep” on it and can’t move to get it. The rest of today could be truly magical. I’m thinking it’s time to become a creative mommy. Ok, not to creative, we’re going to sing Christmas music now for a little bit. Twelve Days of Christmas should keep us busy. But I can never remember 7-10.

8.11am- first and second stop of the day right now: starbucks (mmmmmmm, fuel, I mean, coffee) and krispykreme doughnuts. Caffeine and sugar, alright! We’re listening to Regina Spector, love her music.

9.30 am- Feels like we’ve been on the road forever, hard to believe it hasn’t really been that long yet today. We’re in Louisiana between New Orleans and Baton Rouge on I-12. I tried to nap a little in the last hour, not so successful but the girls were pretty quiet considering. Evangeline just woke up and is ready to nurse, going to have to stop for a quick feeding. No wonder it takes us so long to get anywhere! Time to knit.

10.12 am- Gas stop and time to run the kids, they were getting restless aka fighting like cats and dogs. Evangeline is nursing right now. I love how she plays with my Mother’s Heart necklace Jeremy and the girls got me for Mother’s Day this past May from James Avery. While she nurses, Evangeline turns the charm back and forth, traces the outline of the mother and the baby part of the heart, and rubs the silver almost like an athlete does for good luck. It’s so cute! And when she’s done with that she sometimes reaches over to check and make sure the other breast is still there for her, just in case I guess, lol!

12.36 am- Stretch the legs, snack, chase ducks, nurse stop. It’s windy and kind of cold, wouldn’t feel as cold if not for the wind. We stopped at an odd little tourist info. stop for a parish in Louisiana. With a eclectic assortment of playground equipment the girls ran around trying out a little bit of everything setteling with playing on a pile of mulch after Lavinia was flung off the merry-go-round. Yes, you read that correctly, Lavinia was flung off the merry-go-round and yes, the picked the pile of mulch to play on. The little tourist park has a pond with ducks, a crocodile exhibit, and the playground. Evangeline shared some cheerios with the ducks, she found that to be very exciting, I’ll post pics later.

I took a turn driving just before now and passed a truck carrying Smart cars! They look so cute all piled on the truck. I was also treated to the pleasant personalities of holiday drivers. They are patient, considerate, friendly, smart, careful, and if you believe any of that did you know that the word gullible isn’t in the dictionary? Seriously though, what’s with people? Cutting people off, riding the vehicle in front of them, whipping in and out of lanes, and just in general driving like impatient maniacs. I don’t get it. Why not be safe? Ugh, they drove me nuts.

2.19 pm- Beaumont is now behind us, Houston is 78 miles away. So maybe an hour and a half before we get home. We’re all so ready. Helena is asleep in the back row, Lavinia is making Evangeline laugh and Ophelia is playing tetrus. That music gets so annoying I must say. Evangeline is loving watching Lavinia make her Raffie dance to the Christmas music we’re still listening to on the radio. She had a good nap and is now in a great mood, a far cry from where she was two hours ago when we struggled to get her back in her car seat. Jeremy is still driving attempting to keep the van in our lane against the force of the wind. Man, Lavinia is loud! If she wakes Helena she’s going to end up grounded when we get home, honestly! We will have made it this far only to implode from Helena freaking out at being woken up too soon from a nap. Beware the moody 5 year old disturbed from her sleep. Lavinia just showed me a project she and Helena have been working on during our trip- their own book of mazes! They are so cute! They really did a good job drawing out mazes to be completed complete with themes and illustrations. I love that they found things to keep themselves busy!

2.52 pm- Lavinia just made a hat out of the box for the 100 calorie snack bags of cheetos.

All week at my parents I couldn’t find the charger for my cell phone. Jeremy looked through the van and I checked bags. It looked like we left it at home. Both of us had been fairly certain we brought it but without it turning up anywhere we gave up. Jeremy found it in the glove box today. I put it there, remember that now. Too bad I couldn’t remember that 7 days ago.

3.34 pm- traffic, our first sign we’re close to home.

Houston, we have a sky line!

4ish- Home sweet home! Mostly unloaded the van and then headed out to the park on our bikes and on foot for some much needed exercise. It’s good to be home.