Road Trip

We made it to Ohio this weekend, our first road trip as a family of seven. Getting ready began a week earlier - battery run last Saturday for the car headphones, trips to the library on Monday and Thursday for movies and CDs, laundry and suitcase packing Wednesday, Thursday a catch-all day to get the house clean and final items into the car. We loaded everyone up early Friday morning and set out as the sun was rising over Chicago. Those early morning hours always make for a peaceful drive. Two hours later, we were ready for our first stop to eat breakfast. Only 15 minutes of crying from Colin right before we pulled into my parents. I was disappointed. Wasn't this trip going to make for an interesting blog?

Oh, just wait. We leave to come home today, and Camille is in hysterics before we've even loaded up the car. Not a good start. We try to buckle her in to her carseat, but the kicking and wailing demand some sort of response. Ryan takes her into the house to promptly spank her. She returns only slightly subdued. We pull out of my parents' driveway, wave our goodbyes, and I ask Ryan, "Where is my iPod?" He answers, "On your seat." "Nope." "I put it right there, on your seat." We fumble around, stop the car, fumble around some more, find the iPod jammed carelessly in a bag. He blames the kids. We've made it at least half a block by this point. Nathan yells from the back, "Something's wrong with my screen!" The DVD player we've borrowed for the trip is our sanity. We pull over (again), I jiggle the cord to discover the only problem is the screen is in black and white. We blame the movie, I buckle in again, and at this point, a moth is hurling herself against the windshield on the inside of the car. Ryan puts down his window and successfully shews her out. 

By this time, we're finally to the highway. I'll spare you the gory details of the rest of the trip. Here are snapshots: family stopped at McDonald's, Ryan MIA on a business call, Jen nursing twins in the front seat of the van; Jen hurdling to the back of the van to squeeze Camille's cheeks together and utter violent threats about the spanking she's going to get if she doesn't stop crying;  babies crying in unison, Jen listening to one, two, and yes, three consecutive episodes of her favorite podcast, Manic Mommies with her iPod and earbuds and contemplating how she can make it home alone from Rensselaer, Indiana.

It wasn't my best of days today.