Our Journey to a Family of Four: First Vacation

Thursday, June 26, 2014

First Vacation

I've been busy with summer school this week but meant to write a post about our first road trip with the babies.

A couple of weeks ago we made a trek down to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas for a family reunion. It is about a 6.5 hour drive but it took us 7.5 hours.

I was really worried about the trip for multiple reasons:
1. 7.5 hours! How would we do this?
2. What if they won't sleep at our condo? They have only slept in their house for their whole lives.
3. A family reunion doesn't support their nap schedule very well.

However, they did AWESOME! I was so pleasantly surprised by how they did. Yes, there were some hiccups...but for the most part, it was such a great trip. We got to hang out with family that we rarely see. We got to get away from real life for a bit. We got to see a portion of the country we never have seen before.

We decided to leave right after feeding them breakfast. So we got out of the house around 8:30-8:45 by the time we dropped off our dog at the PetHotel and loaded the car. The babies stayed up for about an hour just looking out the window. (They have always been pretty good about riding in the car for short jaunts to my parents' house about 45 minutes away.) They fell asleep and slept for about an hour. When they woke up, we decided to stop and change them. We found a gas station and just used the front seats.

The next couple hours...they were awake! We had lots of snacks, sippys, bottles, and toys readily available. I think they might have ate half a can of Gerber Graduates Lil' Crunchers. They love those cheeto-like things! Around the time we entered Arkansas...they were done. Max wanted nothing to do with food, drink, or toys. So...we stopped for lunch. Good ole' Dennys!

They were able to get changed, eat, and play around a bit. They got back in the car willingly and were happy. They sang songs, giggled, and talked. In order to get into Hot Springs, you must travel a long scenic by-way that is a steep mountainous road that winds around for an hour. Before we entered that highway, we stopped again to let them sit in the front seat and drink a bottle. (For the record, we started weaning from the bottles and now they only get them morning and night.)

They slept the rest of the way there (1-1.5 hours). When we arrived, they couldn't have been happier to see family, roam around, play with their toys, and explore the new digs.

We definitely were not on their normal schedules. We tried to nap when we knew the family was going to be hanging around our condos. My parents gave us their master bedroom and they took the guest room. It was so nice of them! We could fit both pack and plays and separate them so they couldn't disturb each other. I don't think they went to sleep until after 9pm every night which is SO not like them. The last night there was the only bad night. Harper did not want to sleep. I think she got so exhausted that she wouldn't sleep. She finally went to sleep around 2am. Seriously! Jeremy and I took turns holding her.

It was sad to leave but the babies were SO tired and we were too. The drive home was splendid!! We stopped twice. Once to eat lunch and change them. Another time to change them and give bottles. When we got home, they were ready to eat and sleep in their own beds. (Us too!)

I wish I had special tricks to share with you guys. But what worked for us was to stop and not rush to get there. Our car was packed as to where we had everything they needed easily accessible.

It was such a great time!!

(BTW...2 weeks until they are ONE!!! We just got their cakes ordered today. Crazy!)