That Long Ride Home

Vacation is over and you have a long ride coming up to get back home.  Then there's the unpacking and resetting the house and getting back into the swing of being home.  Oh, and you have a party the night after you get home.  Don't forget about that.

The party I'm most definitely not complaining about.  It may well be the easiest party we've ever hosted.  We're providing the location for a New Parents social for families at our children's school.  What do we have to do?  As far as I can tell, welcome people, talk, eat and drink.  The school has a caterer arrive with food and the staff is bringing the drinks and wine glasses with them early to help us set up.  They'll also stay and help clean up afterwards.  I don't think having a party gets much easier than that.

But back to the ride home that happened yesterday.  We have young children and they don't like to be constrained for hours on end in a car seat.  But there are some good things we have going now.  First, they face forwards and they can watch the television.  And we do use the television; but only on long trips or emergencies.  And we only use it when they're getting antsy.  For instance, yesterday we were in the car for several hours before we turned it on.

Second, we time the trip so that the hopefully have both a nap when we depart (because we've tired them out as best we can) and then they sleep the latter part of the trip after their bedtime arrives.

But even so, it can be trying. We were lucky yesterday in that they were happy most of the way and fell asleep after the movie (Mary Poppins) ended.  The traffic was good and we got home much sooner than expected.

Sometimes long trips can be rough.  Yesterday was one of the good trips.

The Big Boy Update: At lunch yesterday, my son was playing with his utensils and making all sorts of noises as he drove them across the table and up the wall.  When we asked him what the fork was, we were expecting him to say it was a truck or an excavator or a race car.  What did he say his fork was?  A "fork lift" of course.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Pig tails.  I've mentioned before that she tears out anything you put into her hair shortly after it goes in.  I think we're making progress though.  She will forget for long periods of time that there are things holding her hair out of her face.  Eventually though, she remembers and takes one side or the other side out.

Someone Once Said:  Dear, don't bore him with trivia or burden him with your past mistakes. The happiest way to deal with a man is never to tell him anything he does not need to know.