Adventures in Traveling with Kids

We've been traveling a lot. Almost every weekend for the past month or so. And it's not letting up until mid-July. It's exhausting on all involved, too. Especially when you're kids don't sleep well in hotel rooms.

Abiline, Texas
We went to Abiline for Allison's aunt's 50th wedding anniversary celebration and family reunion. That's about a 7 hour trip without kids. A couple of months ago, we went to Dallas for the weekend. It took us 8 hours to get there. Expecting more of the same (and not looking forward to it), we decided to go early and stay in Fort Worth for a while. The drive down was pretty good. We made the trip in about 6 1/2 hours. The next day (Thursday), we took the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo and hung out at the hotel. On Friday, we went on to Abilene. To make this post short, I'll highlight the "fun" we had while we were there:

• Very little sleep. Brooklyn cut 2 teeth over the weekend! 2!!! She was fussy the whole time and didn't sleep well. When she doesn't sleep well in a hotel room, NO ONE sleeps well.
• Brooklyn threw up twice at a super-nice steak house with the entire family there. Not "spit up"...we're talking projectile vomiting. We left the party soon after.
• Emma. Where to start? A tired 3 1/2 year old girl is not a pretty thing. Especially when she's been struggling with mood swings a lot. I'm talking minute-by-minute ups and downs. Before the final dinner on the last night, we had a throw down with her in the hotel room. Over what? Putting on her pants. I had to hold her for the next 30 minutes before she could calm down. I wanted to do anything but hold her...I was furious.
• Spankings: see above point. There were many handed out throughout the weekend.

On a good note, it was nice meeting new family members and hanging out with them. It's a fun family and they all pitched in to help with the kids. For that, we are super thankful. In the picture: this meercat sat in one spot for at least 2 hours and just stared at me while I took pictures.


Mountain Home, Arkansas
My dad just turned 60 this past week. And he and Mom just moved into their new house on the golf course. To celebrate, my sister and her family and my family went over to hang out. The house is really nice and has spectacular views of the golf course! I played LOTS of Wii with my nephews while the girls all read magazines and talked house plans (my sister is building a house). Luke & Isaac (my nephews) are becoming interested in golf. So I took them to the driving range at the course and let them hit a large bucket of balls. Then we putted for a while. Us and the Hannon's (my sister's family) went to the pool and hung out for a long time swimming, which is always fun. Emma is all about jumping in from the side of the pool. Of course, I have to catch her each time so she doesn't go under water. Being a parent at the pool with your kids is really, really a great time! In the picture: Uncle Sam fed Brooklyn before bedtime Saturday night. She was so tired, she fell asleep while eating.

Brooklyn did decently well sleeping. She cut another 2 teeth this weekend! At this rate, she'll have a full set of teeth by the end of August! I'm praying they stop coming in...I'm ready for my happy Brooklyn to be back full-time. Emma slept great and got to play with her cousins all weekend. Dad and I were going to play golf this morning, but got rained out. Very sad.

We're looking forward to August....when we can have a rest from our travels.