Travel Warriors

I think my kids are pretty good travelers. They sometimes fare better than their parents. But they've had a lot of experience. In the first year of Daniel's life, he never spent 2 months straight in his own bed. We were always on the road. (I'm not talking about Mediterranean cruises and Disney World vacations here...we spent our time wisely seeing the best attractions the USA has to offer....pumpkin patches, wheat harvests, apple picking, Grandmas and cousins.)

However, since we've moved here, we've never been more than 1 hour from home. I don't know why that is exactly. We were busying settling in to our house, then settling in to our new house. We were not familiar with the language. We were not familiar with the map. We didn't even know where to go. Admittedly, it was easier for me to stay home. DaddyHealy, on the other hand, has had a bit of Horizontina-fever...ready to get out of town, and see, do, eat something different. One of the many blessings of Grammy-cation was the incentive to just get out there and do something. Before DaddyHealy left to pick them up at the airport (about a 7 hour drive), our charming mini-van had a mere 2,800KM (that's 1,740 miles) on it. When we got home from dropping them off at the end of their visit, the odometer showed 6,900 KM (4,287 miles). That's 2,500 miles in 2 1/2 weeks! Like driving from Philadelphia to Los Angeles (most of the time averaging 42 mph). We drove a lot, we saw a lot, we ate a lot, we shared a lot, and slept very little.

Well....okay, except H. She was more creative in her napping. Some expat friends loaned us this backpack carrier and it was the perfect thing for H. She was contained, safe, and could see everything. She loved it, well....as long as she was being carried by me. H is truly an extension of my own self. She likes to be held or touched constantly by Momma. We worked out a system where I'd carrier her till she fell asleep and then we'd pull a switch-er-roo on her and Daddy would carry the sleeping baby. Tricky parents.

This picture of M just cracks me up. It's as if she were trying to collect Argentinian germs for souvenirs.

H has never in her life asked to go to bed. But we completely and utterly wore her out on this trip. Every time we got to a hotel room, she'd say "bed, bed!" and reach out for it.

D & M were even more exhausted. They didn't get the benefit of daily naps. We had early mornings and late dinners. Here I think they were so tired they forgot to fight about who is touching who, or who has more share of the pillow.