Have Kids. Will Travel.
Here are some of my favorite shots from the road trip home for Christmas. The day before we left, our sweet friends in Austin The Cullen's sent the boys awesome Spiderman pajamas and socks. In fact, so awesome Beckett refused to take them off for the ride. And he insisted on holding Eli's. Whatever works!
We left when Justin got done working Friday so we made plans to stop in Louisiana and stay with our favorite family, The Galloways' who you might remember recently moved outside New Orleans. Their twin boys Beau and Dax are so much fun and all 4 boys had a blast playing together.
We stayed up way to late visiting of course. And then had a long night as toddler on the road sleeping in new places is always an adventure. We put a mattress on our floor for the boys. We finally got them to sleep and all was well. I got up around 3 to go get Eli juice because he was crying for it. I seriously could not find Beckett anywhere. I am on the floor crawling around and I can hear him but not find him. I get my phone off the charger and use it as a flash light to discover he is sleeping (and snoring) under the bed! I left him there and he slept all night. When he woke up he kept giggling and saying "I slept under the bed! That's funny!"
The Galloway boys were up early so we got to spend some time with them before our sleepy heads got out of bed.
And as always gas station stops require the art of compromise with a 3 year old. Eli asked to pick a treat (for being so good of course) and he chose candy lipstick and an ice cream cone. Both of which I vetoed. The candy lipstick looked like hard candy and ice cream was not happening in the car. He compromised on Old Fashioned Marshmellow cones. Just to make myself feel better, I didn't even read the label. He picked out one for his brother too all on his one which made my heart happy of course.
We left when Justin got done working Friday so we made plans to stop in Louisiana and stay with our favorite family, The Galloways' who you might remember recently moved outside New Orleans. Their twin boys Beau and Dax are so much fun and all 4 boys had a blast playing together.
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| Beckett & Eli (3), Beau & Dax (2) Christmas 2012 |
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| Where is his brother??? |
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| sleeping under the bed |
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| yep. That's him. |
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| Ipad time with Uncle J |
And then what is any good stop in Louisiana without beignets?? We hit up Cafe du Monde before getting back on the road. What a treat for sure.
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| Beckett loved |
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| Sweet Beau's grin |
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| Dax killed that plate |
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| sweet powdered sugar face |
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| And we wore our going to Grandma's house shirts |
Eli always gets upset when we have to leave friends. He knew we were wrapping up the visit and started crying "I will miss my friends mommy." I looked at him and said, "I know baby but we are going to Poppy's house. He looked at me and said "Poppy's house? Right now? Let's go!!"
We had quite the adventure between Louisiana and my parents house. A 4 hour drive turned into 6.5 hours. Ugh. We had a little "miscommunication" between me and Justin and ended up stopping for the grossest lunch which was the only option north of Mobile which also took an insane amount of time. And a total exercise of patience on my behalf :-)
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| not organic. not healthy. AT ALL |
Eli didn't mind it one bit.
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| oh and do you notice the horrible misquito bites on his face?? |
Then the potty situation started. Beckett said he had to tee tee. There are NO exits. Seriously State of Alabama. There are only a handful maybe of exits between North Mobile and my parents exit over an hour away. So we stop on the side of the road #1.
At this stop, Eli said he did not have to go. Well, a few miles down the road Eli now has to go. Side of the road stop #2.
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| best dad ever. |
Then of course. I have to go!! Ha. We made it to a rest area for me. Thank goodness.
On the way home we did much much better. Justin was not confident at all we would make it all the way in one shot but I knew how much we needed to do for Christmas when we got home so I was determined. I set my alarm and woke up at the Riley's at 4:15am. I got in the shower and then started working on waking Justin. By the time he got out of the shower, the car was warm, the cups were fixed, everything but those little guys were in the car. We made it to Louisiana without stopping! Ha. 3.5 hours. What a difference traveling before sunrise makes. The boys slept until almost 9:00 in the car!
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| sunrise behind us as we headed west |
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| love that they both sleep the same |
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| good sleeping right there |
We stopped at Target and treated the boys to a new movie. Daddy also entertained us with his fashion style.
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| do you love his traveling look? Moose jacket over buzz light year pajamas with red cowboy boots. Rocking It. |
Believe it or not we made it to Houston is right at 10 hours. Ok Justin. 9 hours and 45 minutes but we had to stop almost at our house for a little boy bathroom break. They did awesome. We kept it going. Life on the road. Always an adventure! Praising God for our safe travels on a busy holiday ride.
When we got home and got settled, I went out to get us take out. We decided on a true Texas welcome home dinner. You don't get more Texas than that!
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| Shiner Bock & Mexican food .. Welcome Home |
Hope you all have safe travels as well this holiday season!
Love,
The Riley's