We drove to Sacramento yesterday for my high school reunion which is tonight. When you're driving six hours with toddler twins, it's very important to figure out what time to leave. A little too early might make the kids too antsy; leaving too late might make the kids too grumpy. So when it is possible, I like to leave just before their nap because they end up falling asleep during the middle of the trip.
My travel itinerary was the following:
9a-12:30p -- Go to work.
12:30p -- Leave work for home.
1:15p -- Arrive at home.
1:45p -- Leave Los Angeles.
4:30 - 5p -- Snack.
7:30p -- Arrive in Sacramento.
7:31p -- Go to sleep.
But of course when you travel with twins in Los Angeles, your plans are always f&#*ed up.
Everything was going according to plan until I arrived home a little before 1:30pm. Lisa was on the floor and the place was a mess. No, Lisa was not binge drinking again. You see, the kids picked some toys and books to put into their little travel backpacks. But Andrew took his toys out of his backpack and misplaced his most prized possession: his Lightning McQueen car.
After spending 20 minutes trying to find the damn car, Lisa finally found it stuck between the wall and a safety gate. I quickly did several trips up and down the elevator to pack the car, and off we went at around 2pm.
2pm was actually a perfect time because the kids usually nap around 2:30pm. My thought was that the kids would be awake for about 30 minutes, and then fall asleep for their usually 90 minutes; we would have two hours of travel time under our belt!
As we quickly made our way up the 405, the traffic came to a halt as we merged on to the 5. I assumed it was just a little Friday traffic, so I remained calm. But two hours later, I was ready to gouge my eyes with my glasses because we only drove seventeen miles. Unfortunately, there was a brush fire along the side of the freeway so the 4-lanes merged into a narrow 2-lanes.
The only thing I was correct about during this time is that the kids did take their 90 minute nap and awoke just in time as the traffic cleared. Great. 17 miles down, 350 more to go. 350 long and excruciating miles.
We ended up having to make more stops than we planned because the kids were too energetic after their nap. I even let them run along side us for awhile, but the kids couldn't run any faster than 15 mph.
After much crying, many tears, and constant whining, Lisa told me to stop acting like that because I was being a bad role model for the kids. What should've been a 6 hour trip ending up being an 8 1/2 hour trip. We didn't arrive in Sacramento until 10pm. And what made matters worse is that the kids slept for an hour before we arrived at Crazy Grandma and Lazy Grandpa's house. This meant they were slightly reenergized and ready to play.
About an hour later, we decided it was time to put the kids to sleep. We explained to them that they were going to sleep in new beds, and it was very fun and exciting. Emma was enthusiastic, but Andrew was not. How could we tell? Perhaps it was the two hours of crying that followed because Andrew did not want to go to sleep in a new bed and in a new room.
At around 1:30am, the entire house was finally asleep except for Lisa and me. We both rolled into bed exhausted and were ready for a nice sleep. As I curled in bed, I enjoyed the silence for the first time throughout the day. Until Lisa began to grind her teeth because she forgot to put her mouthguard in.
So I slowly turned over, grabbed my glasses, and gouged my ears. Ahh...sweet silence.
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