Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Going, Going, Gone....

Greg left on Monday for a work trip. I usually don't mind, but this one is SIX weeks long and he doesn't get to come home even on the weekends. The thought of spending that long with my two kids (who I adore) with no backup almost made me run for the hills. To add to the excitement I have a family wedding in Vegas. A five hour drive. In the car. With my two kids. No one else. Now I know the pioneers walked across the plains. I know my grandpa walked to school uphill both ways in the snow. But I think this is right up there on the list of things I absolutely never want to do.

So, to keep myself from missing Greg and to break up the driving, I decided to come up to Vegas a week early and spend time with my family here. Awesome idea. But I still had to get there somehow. Hmm.... time travel? If only. Here's how the trip went:
  • Five minutes into the drive Brayden asks "Is this Grandma's house? Are we almost there? Where is Vegas? I have to pee!!!!!!" This was repeated on a loop until we got there.
  • Tawny cried the first forty minutes. She wants out. She wants to crawl and play and break things. I'd stop, but we're in the middle of nowhere. I haven't seen any sign of life for over twenty miles. I'm afraid if I stop you all will see my face on the side of a milk carton with the title "Have you seen me" over it.
  • I have no cell reception for 3/4 of the drive. What if I get a flat? How will AAA find me?
  • Someone thought it would be funny to teach Brayden "JohnJacobJingleHeimerSchmitt". It wasn't funny. Not even a little bit. If whoever taught him that song is reading this, consider this your warning. I will find you and you will pay.
  • The kids are hungry. I hand Brayden snacks for him and Tawny. He's supposed to hand Tawny hers. Instead he pours the entire thing on her head. "Why?" I ask. Brayden's replies," Hmm... cause I wanted to. And cause now you have to stop and get out and clean them up. Can I get out and play? Just five minutes?" I stopped to clean them up. He didn't play.
  • My boss forgot I was leaving that day, and true to form he had a million important things that had to be done in 5 minutes. Over the five hour period I had 12 voicemails from him (not exaggerating even a little).

Somehow I am alive to tell the story. Do you think I can FedEx my kids back to my house? Or maybe I can have a soundproof barrier installed in my between me and them. I'll check into that tomorrow....

On a serious note, I am really missing Greg. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle all this. And Brayden is seriously acting out. I know he misses his daddy and I'm trying to be extra patient, but he's having a hard time. Which means I'm having an even harder time. We'll all figure it out. I'm sure we'll do some fun stuff with family here in Vegas. I'll keep you all posted!

4 comments:

Melissa said...

Long drives are brutal with little kids! Here are a few ideas that always save us...
books on CD. If you go to iTunes, you can download things like "Fox in Socks" and stuff like that for anywhere from .99-1.99 depending on the book. And kids music. It will drive you batty, but it will entertain them for quite some time!
The Dollar Store. Go and get a bunch of dumb little toys that you can give to him as fun little surprises. They will be new and exciting to him. And as a bonus, if they get lost or broken, you won't care!
Mini DVD player and a NEW DVD. We take the old DVD's and let the kids watch those for awhile, but when they get whiny, we pull out the new stuff and it seems to help.
Car games are always a hit. We will take turns telling a story or play I spy... although, that one is hard in the desert. Not much to spy. We do have another game we play...kind of like 20 questions. But the first person must think of an animal and the other person asks yes or no questions to figure out what that animal is. I try to give hints to Emma... like "I'm thinking of an animal that we saw at Sea World!" That way she's not trying to guess for hours.
Last bit of travel advice and then I'll get out of your hair. :) Take lots of breaks. I know you just want to hurry and get there, but you also want to be sane. If you stop somewhere in the middle of the desert, just let the kids jump around in the car for a bit.
Sorry this is so long, but I've done the driving alone thing for about 9 years now - usually on 10-15 hour drives. I feel your pain! If things get really bad, let Brayden call Emma on the phone :) Enjoy your trip!

Adena and Greg said...

Hey Honey, I am sorry that this is making things hard on you. But thank you for being so supportive of me and such a great mother for the kids. Maybe Brayden will settle down for you today. I love you. I will call you later.
Greg

Danielle Dallas said...

Adena and Greg! I found you! How lucky for me that "Adena Hebdon" only comes up with 350 results on google and this was one of the first five! Yeah! Anyway, I just wanted to say hello, let you know that I thing your kids are BEAUTIFUL (well, Brayden is handsome and Tawny is gorgeously cute) and let you know that I was thinking about you!

~ Danni (Reist)

Bethanne said...

I hear ya girl! I need my Dan!

And, I have to admit that your driving trip made me laugh...but only because I could see every one of those things happening to me. I don't know what I'm afraid of more? Long car rides with the both of them (and me by myself) or trying to survive a plane ride without Jax getting us kicked off. I don't think I look forward to either if you want to know the truth!

Good luck!