Road trip diaries

Just me and the kids on a road trip. Destination: Grand Canyon. I wanted to take a trip with just us three. I wanted to bond with my kids and do something with just us three. I missed it being just us for a while. I know it's me and them every day, but there's just something about being trapped inside a confined space for long hours at a time with just you and your children.

I knew I'd be tested of my patience and tested I was. I knew it'd be tough for them to sit there hours on end and knowing Leila and how she gets when she's in a carseat for even 5 minutes, I feared of what was to come. I wasn't blind going into it though. I had expectations and well thought out solutions.

I prepared our trip by buying a handful of discount the kids' favorite characters on DVD.. Elmo, Mickey, some other random road trip ones. I went to Walmart and bought some cool looking dollar toys and coloring books that they weren't allowed to play with until well on the road. I packed up the car with snacks and my mom prepared us with juice boxes, crackers, and cereal for the long haul.

I taped up pictures of Jason on the back of the front seat headrests so the babies could see him the entire way. For myself I made sure I had a few pairs of sunglasses since my eyes are extra sensitive to sun, my favorite CD's and ipod, and comfortable clothes on. That's all I could really do to prepare myself. Not much the driver can really do but drive right?

I had hours of singing "Wheels on the Bus", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Jingle Bells" "Old McDonald" or as Jonah and Leila sang it "Micka-Donalds had a farm..." lol. It was fun singing it with them because they'd want me to sing it over and over and over! My throat hurt by the end of each day because I'd also have to practically yell to talk over the loud sounds of driving on the road at a fast speed.

We stayed at a few hotels over our 3 day trip. I tried to drive during the day and get a hotel before it got dark. I don't like being outside in the dark with the kids, especially when it involved getting our junk from the car and me being preoccupied with the kids rather than be fully aware of my surroundings, although I have to say my military training has definitely taught me to keep my guard up at all times and I am thankful for that. Ever since I had the kids, I am on constant watch with my surroundings.

What I appreciate about the kids most on this trip is their ability to communicate with me so well. They are old enough to where they can tell me what they want. I am very thankful for that. Leila was able to tell me on numerous occasions that her butt hurt. I believed her every time. Those kids sat in the car for probably 30 hours total. Maybe even more. If she wouldn't have been able to communicate that to me, I would have thought she was just whining again or cranky from being in the car or wanted me to get another toy that she couldn't reach.

Between the both of them, they had about 10 requests per hour each. Whether it be to give them a snack, drink of water, turn on another movie, get their toy, put on their sunglasses, reach for Pooh, reach for Minnie who fell on the ground, play with mommy's phone, get the piano, kill the fly that keeps buzzing around, etc. I swear every time I opened the door a dozen flies flew in and it took me so long to try to shoo them out before we got back on the road again. And I couldn't handle another two hours of Leila screaming and hollering "SHOO FLY, DONT BOTHER ME! GET AWAY NOW!"

When we would take breaks, I'd try to make them at busy rest stops or gas stations. I'd change them in the trunk of my mom's small SUV that she let us take. We'd take a short walk or run somewhere then I'd make us all do jumping jacks which they were so happy to do with me. One stop we made off the highway on this dirt area where we were well out of the way of any cars. It was well over a hundred degrees outside so I knew this would be interesting getting these restless babies out of the car, but them be just as miserable outside as inside. So I tried to make it fun for that 8 minutes. We got out and did some arm and leg stretches, hopped around like bunnies, then played a quick game of tag around the car. By the end of the 8 minutes I was drenched in sweat. I felt better that it was mostly from the heat and not because I haven't worked out in a while lol.

We showed up at the Grand Canyon late in the day around 5:30. The sun sets around 6:30 so I knew we had to make use of our time. We walked about 10 minutes inward to get to the edge of the canyon. We went to the south side. It started coming into our view and all our eyes just glazed over at this overwhelming wonder of the world. The babies were running toward it and as they got closer they slowed down significantly and just stopped right there. They looked left to right and all they saw was canyon. As we walked down toward the viewing point, the babies were able to see how high we were and how deep the canyon was. For as beautiful as it is, it's also very frightening to think of how this huge creation can just swallow you right up. It's kind of like the fear of thinking of yourself as an astronaut in outerspace outside the space shuttle connected to only a thin rope that they use.. and having that deathly fear of being let go and just drifting off into the black infinity of nothing. So maybe the Grand Canyon isn't that dramatic, but the space thing was somewhat of what I felt being there.

I imagined when we arrived at the Grand Canyon I could lay out a blanket and just have us three sit there alone with this whole gorgeous view to take us and sit there for hours to just reflect and admire. Wasn't the case. I had specific pictures I wanted to take of just the babies, then the babies doing this, then me and the babies, then just the canyon, then go to another spot to get different shots... and after the babies got over looking at the canyon(which lasted about 20 seconds) they were more interested in climbing on these rocks all around the canyon and running around screaming their heads off out of excitement of finally being free and out of the car. Keep in mind all these other visitors that have come to the Grand Canyon were quietly sitting and taking photos and right when Jonah and Leila stampeed on by singing "How I wonder chiga chiga chee, how I wonder chiga chiga chee" (sung to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle), they immediately turn their eyes to us and just follow us with their eyes for what seemed like an eternity.

That's the one thing I can't stand about people is when they keep staring at me deal with my kids or just watch what we're doing. It's just rude and embarassing. Sometimes I just can't shluff it off. Especially this time. It was the entire crowd watching the babies disobey my orders and just laugh thinking it's a game to run around the rocks at the Grand Canyon lol.

So I got the pictures I wanted for the most part and as it got dark we headed back to the car and drove to a place to stay for the night.

We are home now and am now at the point where I can just look back and laugh... and cry lol. It was a great trip. Jonah and Leila did magnificently on the road and listening very well for two 2-year olds. I am so proud of them and I let them know it along the way. They received numerous "surprises" and "treats" for being such a good boy and girl in the car. I know they loved the trip. They loved our close time together in the car, becoming familiar with new movies that I know they will remember when they are older just like I remember my road trip songs and CDs from back when I was a kid. They had a blast in our hotel rooms jumping on all the beds and eating at different places. They experienced weird gift shops at truck shops and saw some things that some grown adults haven't seen yet.

It was a good trip. Well worth it. It wasn't difficult really even though I know my dad was flabbergasted when he found out I was going on a LONG road trip by myself with two toddlers. Nothing I haven't done before traveling by myself with two babies on an 8-hour Air Force cargo plane carrying my bags, two carseats, two babies, and then having to navigate through 3 airports and two more long flights to California. I'm proud that I can do it on my own. I know what I am capable of and I know that I am my kids' ultimate protector (besides their dad).

Oh and Jason- we thought of you every step along the way. We will get to do this some day soon as a family! I love and I miss you so very much. Soon enough we'll be together as a family again.