Conversations with Bryce #1-Wish I could give you the world!

Out of the blue, in the middle of playing...

Bryce: "Mommy, do you still love me?"

Me: "Of course I love you!"

Bryce: "You dooo love me a lot??"

Me: "Yes, I love you so so much! I will always love you!"

Bryce: "So then Mommy? If you love me, would you give me a chocolate kiss?? Just because you love me so so much??" (big grin). 

Of course I couldn't say no to that. He knows I couldn't say no to that...

I love this kid!

 Anything to see that smile!

Plate by Batton Clayworks

I would give you the world if I could, my child. Since I can't give you everything, a chocolate kiss will have to do.

Family Vacation Road Trip Part 3: Destination Sandbridge

With full hearts, and energized spirits, we left Great Grandma Kirk's house (read about that visit here), and began the final leg of our journey to the beach! 

Day 4: 285 miles. 5 hours 37 minutes drive time. 7 hours 45 minutes drive time. 

Purcellville, VA to  Alexandria, VA to Sandbridge, VA (THE BEACH!)

We got onto I-95 with high hopes of a good last day of driving. We had only 4 hours drive time to the beach from Great Grandma's house....or so we thought. 

Then we ran into traffic. So. Much. Traffic.

Luckily, there was an HOV lane we could take...

but ohh (insert choice swear word here), we completely missed the HOV entrance. 

So there we were, in heavy traffic, going very slowly, watching the cars in the HOV lane zoom by, and realizing the red on the GPS went on for many...

...many more miles. 

That's when I started to snap at my husband and everybody else in the car. My husband joined in, and so did the kids. I could only imagine how this looked from the perspective of the cars around us. Then I noticed the car next to us with parents and 3 kids in the back seat who were obviously also traveling somewhere. Mom and Dad were yelling. An older kid in the back was screaming. Mom was leaning over the middle console trying to calm backward facing baby and Dad was obviously frustrated as he was trying to navigate the 3 lanes of barely moving traffic to pull over. Wow, look at that family! Sheesh, they should really cool it or they are going to crash that car. Seriously, how can they possibly think all that snapping and anger is helping their situation?? Good thing we aren't like that...Oh, wait....we are EXACTLY like that! (insert choice swear word here once more). Well, at least I can take comfort in the fact that we aren't the only family who loses it sometimes more times than I care to admit. 

FINALLY, we were moving at a good pace again, but our original easy 4 hour drive time to the beach ended up taking over 6 hours. Adding over 2 hours to that drive would have been frustrating on any road trip, but on the fourth day of driving, after 1640 miles already, on the very last leg to our destination for the rest of the week, this was a nightmare.

In the end, we DID make it to the beach that evening with a promise to the kids that they wouldn't have to get in the carseat again for a week! 

We didn't even care that it was raining when we arrived because we were just happy to make it there! Plus, we knew we'd have many sunny, fun on the beach days coming up. The traffic was far behind us so instead of feeling overwhelmed by car horns, screeching tires, and sarcasm, we were able to relax to the sound of the ocean waves and laughter! So. Blessed.

Family Vacation Road Trip Part 2: One More Stop, Sorry Kids

We woke up at Grandma and Grandpa's rested, energized, and ready to get to the beach THAT day...finally! We were able to promise Bryce we would have our feet in the sand that day....BUT, we had to make a stop in Alexandria, VA first (which I fully explained to Bryce to avoid making the mistake I made on Day 1 ). GREAT GRANDMA'S HOUSE! 

Grandma Kirk hadn't met Nathan yet so we of course wanted to make time to go see her. I miss this woman and love her so much. She is almost 98 years old, lives on her own, and has an outlook on life that I wish I could have. Her positivity is amazing. No matter how I feel when I arrive at her house, her presence is enough for me to be overwhelmed with feel good, positive, life is awesome thoughts and feelings. I seriously want to be just like this woman. 

I always leave her house with a fun Grandma Kirk phrase that makes me smile. Last visit, she said in response to others who complain about the younger generation, 

"We had our generation, let them have their's!"

This visit she was talking about her recent trip to her local grocery store and said, 

"Ohh, if I could write a book about all the people who have been so nice to me. There are just so many nice people!" 

Wow! I seriously want that attitude every day. I want to be just like her. How often do I go to the grocery store and fail to see all the nice people? Not because the nice people aren't there, but because I'm too focused on the negative to see them. 

How many times am I too focused on my own complaints, trials, inconveniences, injustices, or just thinking of myself too long to see the good around me, the good in other people, and the good in the world (yes, honestly, this world is actually NOT all terrible)? How many times am I too busy judging instead of looking at the good or approaching the person and/or situation with love and positivity?

She of course has a few complaints at her age, but she seems to still always have this incredible positivity on, well, just about everything! I've only been blessed to know her for about 8 years, so of course I don't know if she has had this positivity and uplifting personality her whole life, but all of the family I talked to confirmed that this is just her and she has always been the way she is. 

The kids were so good! Bryce went right up to her with a smile and HUGE hug and Nathan was content and happy being in her arms, reaching for her, and listening to her talk! It warmed my heart (and her's) to see the kids react that way toward her. 

What a great visit! Then we got in our car once again, and drove away with her standing in the doorway, waving goodbye, with a big smile on her face (as she ALWAYS does). 

We drove off with wonderful positivity and joy in our hearts that we thought could last a lifetime....

....until we hit I-95... 

Family Vacation Road Trip Part 1: The Drive East

Call us crazy, but we hit the road for a very long drive out East to Virginia Beach for this year's family beach trip. 

The drive actually went very well considering we had a 5 month old and a 3 year old in the car with us!  We enjoyed a few moments of complete silence with both sleeping (although that was rare). 

Our nice, spacious, comfortable car was one of the best parts of the drive. There were MANY moments where I was thankful for the comfortable car.

Day 1: 819 Miles. 11 hours 40 minutes drive time. Home to Florissant, Missouri  (north St. Louis). Total travel day including stops was just under 14 hours. We wanted to make it all the way to St Louis so our second day of driving could be under 6 hours. Both kids did great this day and we were making some pretty good 3 hour stretches! 

Fun notes from our first drive day: It only took 20 minutes in the car before Bryce said, "Are we to the beach yet?" Also, our 3 year old became a big kid and even renamed his lovey from the cute little kid name of "ed-time bear" to a very well pronounced mature name of "Night Time Bear". I was still a little sad about that one many miles later.

Yay! We made it to St. Louis!!! (this photo was taken on the drive back because we made it into St. Louis around 11 pm. We weren't thinking of taking pictures at that point!) 

Lesson learned from day 1: put myself in a 3 year old mind set when talking about/planning trips like this. Instead of talking so much about our "beach trip", "leaving today for the beach", the "long drive to the beach.",  I probably should have articulated more that we wouldn't actually arrive at the beach the day we left. When we said we were leaving for the beach that Wednesday morning, WE knew it would take us 4 days before we were actually at the beach, but Bryce really thought we would be there THAT day! Bad Mommy failed to put together some fun crafty pinterest tracker idea to let him know that we were going to a hotel first, then the lodge, then grandma and grandpa's, and THEN the beach. Of course at 11 pm when we arrived in St Louis, after being on the road ALL day, he wasn't in the mood to even try to understand this. Tears. Then the "But I want to go to the beach!" turned to, "I WANT TO GO HOME!" Unfortunately, that wasn't the only time we heard that phrase on this trip. We did talk him through it, he ended up liking the hotel room with his own bed, and he understood the trip better after that first night. 

Day 2: 367 miles.  5 hours 32 minutes drive time. Florissant, MO to Mason, Ohio. Destination: the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio for some FUN!

 

This day was much more challenging than the first, even though it was the shortest of the 4 days it took to get to the beach. The biggest meltdown trigger for Bryce is lack of good sleep. When he doesn't get enough sleep, watch out. Gee, I wonder who he gets that from... Because we arrived so late that first night, we were a bit overtired, cranky and defiant for the drive, BUT we made it to the lodge with plenty of time for the pool.

Somebody is a bit antsy!!!

The Lodge was awesome! There was so much to do. We will make a trip back someday when the boys are older, and when we have more time for them to be able to enjoy it more!

Bryce even got to sleep in a wolf den!! So neat! Best of all,
he slept GREAT! We were all in bed by 7pm that night.

Day 3: 454 miles. 7 hours 26 minutes drive time. Mason, OH to Purcellville, Virginia (Grandma and Grandpa's House!)

After a good night's sleep, day 3 was great again. My only complaint is that Baby showed us these 3 days that even in the car, he'll only nap 30 minutes at a time. We were told that the baby would be super easy because he'd probably sleep for longer periods of time being rocked in the car. Not our baby! He really did well. It just took a bit more effort keeping him happy than expected.

I packed 3 small bins of activities and pinterest ideas for my 3 year old. I only had to break into 1 of the bins, using only a couple of the planned activities. He was EASY! Although our 5 month old still did well, he wasn't nearly as easy!

Seriously, who knew we would need to pack more toys and distractions for our 5 month old than for our 3 year old?!?!

 I forgot how beautiful the drive out east is! It was nice to see these roads that I recognized telling us we were close to Grandma and Grandpa's house!



WE MADE IT TO GRANDMA AND GRANDPA'S HOUSE!!

Stats of the first 3 days from home to Grandma and Grandpa's house:
Total Miles: 1640
Total Time: 24 hours 38 minutes drive time (not including stops).
Meltdown Moments: Only about 2 small ones from Bryce.....and maybe also a couple from Mommy. 

And no, we are still not to the beach yet....