So driving over there (3 hrs) with 2 kids under the age of 3 was not very smart. Jason wanted to stay home so he could go to the Grove and I wanted to go to Hot Springs with Lorrie and JL and the boys so I thought "eh! it'll be fine! i'll drive while they sleep!" The drive there was fine, but only because Caroline had Dylan to occupy her and Sophie Bea had Austin sitting next to her. It was the drive back that was "character-building", as i like to say! We left Hot Springs on Saturday night but that was not such a great idea. My logic was they would be so exhausted they would not be able to do anything but sleep. The reality was, they were so exhausted they were not able to do anything but wail/whine/scream/cry. An hour into this journey from hell, i cried "UNCLE!!" and got a hotel room in Little Rock. Sophie Bea dried it up as soon as I took her out of her carseat. Caroline fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. The next morning, we got up and going around 8. I pleaded with Jesus to get us home safely and oh, could He provide me with a little peace along the way? 45 mins outside of Memphis, Sophie began screaming and Caroline began whining. 10 minutes away from the house, between whines Caroline began threatening to pee her pants. I couldn't stop, as we were in a rather um.."interesting" part of town. 5 minutes away from the house, she made good on her threat. When i finally pulled into the driveway--on 2 wheels no doubt--i took the kids out of the car with record speed. Caroline ran in the house and flung herself at her dad's feet rather theatrically while she wailed and cried and whined. Sophie was still screaming in her carseat. My bedhair was all sticking out to one side. My eyes bugged out of my bed. My mouth was agape and drool oozed out one side of it. My fly unzipped. Nickel took one look at me and the kids and chuckled and said "Fail." I thought that one word summed up this "independent journey" of mine rather nicely.
As far the non-travelling part of the trip went, well as you can tell from the photos, we had a blast...
Love,
The Nickels
