Happy Roadies

So...last summer, with Little Man finally approaching the three-year mark, I finally felt pretty comfortable taking a road trip solo with all three kiddos to see grandparents while the hubby stayed home to work.

And it was great.

The drive was easy-breezy, the kiddos were well-behaved in the car, and it was good Tulsa time (well...except for that whole Chicklet broke her leg while we were there fiasco, oye).

Anywho. I was finally excited that road trips weren’t a ridiculously painful event that made me want to simultaneously pull my hair out and mute all crying/whining/screaming/fighting passengers in the back row, ha. 

And then we moved twice as far away from family.

Boooooooo.

And suddenly, the 3.5 hour drive became a 9 hour one. 

Booooooooo.

Of course, I grew up making those kinds of drives since we always lived many states away from extended family. But for some reason, as adults, neither the hubby nor I have a great love or tolerance for driving and road trips. We are so not those people who want to explore and take our time moseying across highways and state lines.

Give us airplanes and a planned destination any day.

But flights aren’t cheap (duh). And we’ve weathered one heckuva year.

So...I had to pull on my big girl panties and plan our summer grandparent time via driving, and figure out a way to make it less painful, personally. Especially on a ridiculously depleted energy tank, after our Lice fiasco (and, yes, we made sure to be free and clear before we infected grandparents, ha).

The headline: we split the journey into two days, took our sweet time when we wanted to stop for something fun, and spent the night in McKinney so we could have some swim/visit time with our friends we miss so dearly.

In all, it was not so painful at all (well, except for leaving our friends again). The kiddos were well behaved, I wasn’t overly tired on the road, and we made it in one piece, ready for some extended family time. :)

So glad for our relaxed pace along the way.

:)

Our only stop on the San Antonio to Dallas leg of the journey was in Waco. And what better place to grab a snack than at this popular haunt for HGTV-lovers everywhere??? ;)

The bakery goods were delicious, and we might or might not have accidentally cut in a major line that saved us oodles of time (seriously unbeknownst to us!). It was a perfect way to have a restroom break and sugar up before hitting the road again.

And then, we had the whole afternoon/evening to spend with buddies, having some good quality time...and Chick-fil-A, of course. ;)



This morning, we woke a little worse for the wear after not a great hotel night of sleep (lots of restless babies—probably from the hours of swimming with friends!). 

But we rallied thanks to a yummy breakfast at our old favorite spot, and hit the road a bit happier. :)

Really hoping to have a wonderful visit that my kiddos can really soak up before we’re back home and staring down the kick-off of another school year.

And I’m really really hoping to somehow, some way, fill up my tank a bit, after some exhausting days.

And on that front...why yes, yes I am in bed before 9 p.m.

Peace out, m’peeps.

Zzzzzzzzz...