This post has been given many titles throughout the weekend … seriously! By the time we arrived at our cabin Friday night the title was Two Year Olds & Tradition by the time we checked out on Sunday the title had changed to What to Do When Tradition Goes Awry then upon return and having a moment of peace for the first time all weekend I realized that I had simply had A Little Two Much Reality.
I can honestly say it was an adventure and a learning experience. Outside of that I’m not really sure … tradition still rates super high in my book, but I’m the first to admit that your traditions still need to fit within the reasonable limits of your sanity.
Friday night we made it about 2 1/2 hours without incident. Dinner time rolled around as we rolled into the last large town on our way to the final destination. One of the Twinkies was stinky, so we stopped at a family restaurant to have dinner. It is always an eye opening event as the boys really do behave quite well when we go out to eat a nice sit-down dinner like this. We don’t do it all that often, but it is nice to see them behave so well.
Unfortunately things didn’t progress quite so nicely for the rest of the trip. The Twinkies weren’t at all happy about being loaded back into the car and their little cups from the restaurant could only entertain them for so long … then the screaming began. In order to help calm the chaos CJ would occasionally hand each of them a cracker, after a while though Bug was just D-O-N-E. Problem was we were still quite a ways from our final destination.
About a half-hour before we were there Bug got sick … Car sick … not just the turn green and need air type, the full out oh-my-goodness-did-he-really-eat-that-much kind! Yup – that kind! He was covered, it was so awful (side note: Monkey historically is the one to have car-sickness, but he was absolutely fine in that department, Bug has never gotten car-sick). As a mom this was the last straw, my baby was so upset about being covered in “yuck” and kept trying to clean himself up. It was the saddest, most pitiful thing I have ever seen and I began to cry!!!
We were towing our fishing boat behind the Yukon and were in such a rural area there wasn’t even a side of the road, let alone anywhere to stop. By the time we got to the cabins to check in he had fallen asleep. As Hubby checked us in I quickly stripped him down to his diaper and asked CJ to donate his favorite Football Sweatshirt to the cause – he happily did, blessed boy!
Whew, we were finally there, drama was dealt with and were into the cabin. Now for the marathon of getting crazy-excited little boys to bed. We let them explore the cabin and get the wiggles out for a little bit as they worked out the sleeping arrangements amongst themselves. It was decided that CJ would have the downstairs bedroom all to himself. I have no idea how he managed to get that, but he was thrilled!
The next morning the boys were up at the crack of dawn (literally) and I was exhausted. It had taken a couple hours between hubby and me to get the babies to go to sleep. But we got up, showered, made breakfast and were somehow out the door with everyone and everything in tow by 9:00(ish) am. In “regular life” that would be almost a miracle, so I have no idea how we pulled it off there.
A quick stop at an espresso stand (thank goodness for something civilized) and off to the lake we went. Hubby launched the fishing boat with CJ’s help and as soon as the car was parked he and the 4 oldest boys were off fishing in the lake. There I was … all alone (well, except for my MIL) … with the twins … and my in-law’s rv.
No toys to play on anymore, aparently the state decided it needed to be torn out, but I did the best I could. I grabbed a couple of balls out of the back of the car, which entertained them for about 5 minutes – maybe 10! That is all!!! Then we ran around, but the problem isn’t that they are active two year olds, it is that they love to go the opposite direction from one another and they will NOT stop when asked. We have worked and worked on this, even when there didn’t seem to be a reason to work on it, but ………
Anyway, I took them to the sand pit – another 10 minutes. Then I decided to try snack-time, another 5 minutes. Hmmmmm, considering that the other guys would be out on the boat for hours I was in a bit of a pickle! So I contained them in the RV for a while. Trying to get them to color or play with play dough or something. Finally nap-time rolled around and then I had another dilemma … I had been thinking I would take them back to the cabin, but with hubby on the lake and the boat trailer still hooked up to the SUV I wasn’t going anywhere. OK, plan B (or K as the case may be) – put them to sleep in the trailer. So, MIL kicked FIL out of the RV so that I could try and put them to sleep – it was a long and grueling process, but just as they were about to drift off to dreamland the boys came back in – ha.
Which plan am I onto now???? Well, they did finally take their nap, the boys eventually finished fishing for the night (poor things, only Lion caught a fish and they all tried so hard) so we went back to the cabin for dinner and bed. Things went a lot more smoothly Saturday night. Our cabin was beautiful! It was a little scary with the stairwell and the twins, but other than that I enjoyed it so much.
The story to beat all stories is being posted very soon, but it will be protected so if you want to read it send me an email and I’ll give you the password
We made it home in one piece, but not without a few thoughts about future trips (I’ll share those another time too – no password required). It was honestly the first time I had a chance to relax all weekend. Not to say that it was absolutely terrible, but it was very challenging and I was on edge the whole time trying to anticipate (and thwart) any life-threatening decisions the twins made. On the up-side, the older four were a dream (well, outside of the bickering in the car that is)! Even LION – who still had to be watched like a hawk and is apparently smitten with 3 year old girls with curls – heehee! He loves to fish with all the big boys and could be trusted to be in the boat or on the shore (with an adult nearby of course) without incident.
So here I am finally able to breathe and hoping you’re still awake as I am pondering my double dose of reality this weekend. I can honestly say that I hope your weekend was a little less eventful than mine