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Now, traveling with a toddler is some tricky business. I like being over-prepared. Which means at least one extra outfit and one extra pair of pajamas for the little one. You never know when pee will soak through, or someone will get sick. Which also means an extra shirt and pants for both mom and dad. Fortunately, the extra clothes weren't needed this time around!
Along with packing, we like to make sure Rin has all her "babies." It's hard enough to get her to go to sleep in a strange place. Surround her with her normal stuff! We also like to make sure she has something to entertain her in her down time. Got all that? Pack it into the car.
The next step is timing the drive. It takes us around two hours, sometimes a little more, to make the trip home. Rin's afternoon nap usually lasts about two hours, so we try to leave right after lunch.
Here's where things got fun for us. We stopped to get gas (and caffeine). Rin slept for about an hour, then woke up. Guys, the look she gives us when she's stuck in the carseat and sleepy is one hilarious grumpy pout. Okay, so great...she didn't get a good nap in. Hey! Maybe that means she'll sleep tonight!
Fast forward a little to when we arrive at our (super cheap) hotel. Once we finally got checked in, we headed up to the room. Andrew brought in our stuff while Rin did what I imagine every toddler does in a new environment...explored EVERYTHING. I mean, she opened drawers, climbed chairs, tried to climb the bed, went into the bathroom....EVERYTHING. We unpacked everything as quickly as possible and headed right back out to my brother and sister-in-law's house to meet my parents. At this point, as you can imagine, my rambunctious and sleepy toddler did NOT want to be back in the car seat.
Once we got to our destination, Rin looked right at my mom, also known as Bubbi, and said "Paw-paw?!" while pointing away from her. This girl loves my dad (Paw-paw). After hanging out around the house for a little while, we three and my parents went to eat at a Mexican restaurant. I'm never sure how well Rin will eat at a new place, but she had much food since lunch, so she ate. And ate. And ate. We discovered she loves salsa (as she was trying to dip her chip into my bowl). When she was finally done eating, we headed back to the hotel.
If you're traveling with a toddler, and said toddler usually goes to bed fairly early, expect their sleeping schedule to be SCREWED. Rin usually goes to sleep around 7. We didn't get back to the hotel until after 7. To keep some semblance to normalcy, I gave her a quick bath, read some books, and put her down in a pack-and-play. Guys, did I mention getting a toddler to sleep in a new place is really hard?! I think she finally fell asleep around 8:30.
The next day? Breakfast with the grandparents! Breakfast was delicious, and again, Rin ate. She normally doesn't cooperate with breakfast out, so I only ordered her an egg. We all ended up sharing something with her....bacon, biscuit, grits, toast. Girl was hungry! After that, we went back to hang out with my sister-in-law and her three boys. Craziness ensued with lots of stuffed animals and playing. This was the first time I can remember Rin really playing with her cousins.
Then it was nap time! We had a "picnic" on the hotel bed for lunch, then all three of us passed out. Andrew had to wake both Rin and me up. After we all got our heads un-fuzzed, we went to Andrew's parents (Grandma and Grandpa)!
You guys, Rin went right to them even though she hasn't seen them in months. We all went outside and she played and played and played and played. They have three shelties, so there are plenty of balls to play with. She moved them back and forth through the yard. She took Grandpa in circles on their back porch. She tried so hard to get one of the shelties to play with her. She played on the swing set. She met one of the neighbor's giant birds. We all had pizza for dinner and she happily sat on Grandma's lap to eat her dinner.
We got back to the hotel around 7:30 that night after lots and lots of fun and conversation. After baths and books, it was time to sleep! This night, Rin was out. We laid her down and "hid" so she wouldn't stay awake just for us and in less than five minutes, she had stopped playing with her "babies" and passed out. We didn't stay up too much longer than her.
Friday morning, we got up and got some really not good continental breakfast. Here's a piece of advice: if your toddler has been well behaved the whole trip, do NOT say anything about it! You will jinx it! I made the mistake of mentioning how well behaved she was and she started going crazy and not listening and crying for no reason and just....AGH!
After checking out, we grabbed some actual breakfast, then headed back to my sister-in-law's. This morning was beautiful and warm, so we all played "soccer" in the front yard. As you can see, it was more just kicking a soccer ball around with the two oldest boys while Rin and the youngest boy ran around with plastic baseball bats, giggling.
All seven of us left to grab lunch with my brother. Trying to get food for four adults and four children under the age of six is...interesting. But fun. After lunch, we swung back by Grandma and Grandpa's for a bit. Rin played. When we left, she slept maybe thirty minutes until we stopped by Statesville to see Bubbi and Paw-paw again. I don't think Rin slept much more than that on the road. We finally reached home around 6:30 and we were all exhausted! I was started to not feel well.
We all went to bed fairly early that night.
Now, this may be too much information, but I have issues going to the bathroom when I'm traveling. If your toddler has this issue as well, be prepared for a poop-storm (yes, I'm censoring myself) when you get home. You will clean more poop up in one day than you thought possible from such a tiny person. I won't go into any more detail than that.
Moral of this long story?
When traveling with a toddler, be prepared with their favorite things, especially bedtime things.
Take extra clothes (just in case).
Be prepared for the sleep schedule to go crazy.
Don't jinx yourself by talking about their good behavior.
Take lots of snacks.
Be prepared for poop after getting home.
Oh, and be prepared to be completely and totally exhausted from the massive amounts of fun that you've all had!
Until next time!
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