Finally on vacation....well, sort of

Friday is a blur as I look back on it--packing, packing, refereeing fights, cleaning, packing. Then the drive--oh the drive. We decided to leave at the height of a Friday rush hour. Stop saying those things--we're not stupid!! Well, yeah, maybe we are. The Baltimore Beltway can be a pain in the ass on its best day--but 4:30 on a summer Friday? C'mon. We weren't even to I-70 when the kids starting asking for food. Which at that point was still 2 hours away. I was sitting in my assigned seat in the middle row of our van. Next to B, and in front of A & C. Directly behind Hubby. I really am not a fan of this as I have always been a firm believer in the "mom and dad up front/kids in the back" way of driving. Even coming home from the hospital I didn't sit w/ my babies. Well, with A I did, but it wasn't because I wanted to! However, this perch in our van allows me to be within reach of everyone and therefore I am able to be superwife & supermom for 3, or sometimes more, hours. When we finally reached our stopping point for dinner (a McDonalds playland--oh joy!) we were all hungry and rattled from close to 3 hours in the car. I can't imagine ever driving to, say, Florida with my family. Maybe if I'm in a separate car from them! Anyway--McDonalds was pretty much non-eventful, except for the crazy clean-up attendant on duty. As she saw my flip-flop wearing daughters run to the playzone she ran after them as if they were carrying weapons of mass destruction. Why?? Because they weren't allowed to go on the play equipment barefoot!! Oy... So basically she chased my kids, she was RUNNING, all because they MIGHT put their bare feet on the stinky festering filthy equipment. Ugh. Lucky us, McDonald's sells socks at the counter, $1 per set. And believe me, I want my kids to have a layer of something between them and the awful germ-pit, but seriously...running after the kids? Get over yourself lady. Once we got back on the road again things stayed remarkably sane. We arrived into town around 9:15 at which point I ordered Hubby to the all-night grocery liquor store for a few essentials. Wine, chocolate, Cheese bread, OJ. You know, the basics. I would love to tell you that the long day and long drive made my little angels go right to sleep--that would be a good end to this little tale, but alas--it was not meant to be. It took so long to get A & C to bed...kicking and screaming is putting it mildly. At least dear, sweet little B was doing the right thing!! By the time the girls settled down and I finished unpacking the kitchen items (of which there were many) and unpacking my clothing, Hubby was passed out cold on the bed and I was a zombie. It was well after midnight and I just wanted to crash. It was only a brief 5 hours until the fun would start all over again--but it was the first time, on night one of a vacation, that I have slept that long a stretch...I normally count on no meaningful sleep at all that night because I'm forever tossing and turning and clock-watching. By the 2nd night it gets better, and if there's a 3rd and more--I'm good. Sleeping that long, and that well, was a good thing. Given that the day/night were so horrendous and the following day ended up being, well, a day with lots of yelling to say the least, I decided to be pretty damned happy about that five-hour stretch of sleep. Let's see what the next day brings!