My kids are awesome car riders. They really are but even the best car riders can reach the point of meltdown. Combine this meltdown factor a 2 day, 20 hour car ride home, some sort of stomach bug and throw in the fact that we have just spent 6 days of magical exhaustion at Disney word and the results are not looking good. Oh, and did I mention that in addition to the strange little tummy bug the kids were passing around.... I got sick. We are talking raging fever, cold chills and I can't move kind of sick.
If your idea of a family road trip is bathed in magic, smiles and singing while everyone smiles and laughs in the car, get ready for a dose of reality. Sometimes our road trips are magical. Lots of smiles and possibly a song but then there are the days things go from good, to bad to somebody please shoot me.
We cut our day at Epcot short around 2:00. My stomach was feeling a bit iffy, Amber was on phase 4 of a full out meltdown, and the boys were done. They were just done. Everyone was tired and ready to be home. We still had 20 hours of driving to go and planned to drive as far as we could in one day, grab a hotel, and then finish up the drive the next day. Sounds simple? Nope. Nada. Nothing easy about it.
Remember that sweet girl on phase 4 of meltdown? Well, I HOPED that she would go straight to sleep because she was clearly exhausted. Nope. Enter several hours of car screaming. Well, the young adult was driving because he was determined to get out of Florida that night. (Florida is a long state and even longer when you have a car screamer.) I did my driving math, and I knew that was not going to happen. The young adult did not agree but was getting extremely irritated by the screamer. I was starting to feel.... hot, sick to my tummy, and my brain may or may not have been malfunction mode. I began to scour the web on my phone to find an affordable hotel.
The screaming escalated, nothing could calm this child. My fever was escalating. Young adults irritation was escalating. Meanwhile, Josh slumbered peacefully in the backseat. After attempting to check in at 2 hotels ( no vacancy!) and backtracking 30 minutes we found ourselves flopping into a Howard Johnson. At that point, I would have checked into a barn because I was pretty sure I was dying.
Everyone is exhausted, so naturally we all sink into bed and drift to sleep. NOT. The screamer does not want to sleep. She doesn't know what she wants. The young adult has been pushed over the edge. He can no longer stand it. He mutteres under his breath and stomps out the door every 15 minutes. So every time the screamer is about to fall asleep the young adult decides to come BACK inside, and this reminds the screamer that she doesn't want to sleep- she wants to scream. Repeat this insanity for several hours while I dig though suitcases and take every medication I can find.
At some point everyone slept. Except me. Because I was busy dying. The only place I could nod off was in the bathtub. I can't even explain how that is possible but it wraps up Day one of terrible trip home. Stay tuned for the puke, poo, and speeding tickets in part 2!
What is the worst thing that has happened on a road trip with your kids? Comment below!
The screaming escalated, nothing could calm this child. My fever was escalating. Young adults irritation was escalating. Meanwhile, Josh slumbered peacefully in the backseat. After attempting to check in at 2 hotels ( no vacancy!) and backtracking 30 minutes we found ourselves flopping into a Howard Johnson. At that point, I would have checked into a barn because I was pretty sure I was dying.
Everyone is exhausted, so naturally we all sink into bed and drift to sleep. NOT. The screamer does not want to sleep. She doesn't know what she wants. The young adult has been pushed over the edge. He can no longer stand it. He mutteres under his breath and stomps out the door every 15 minutes. So every time the screamer is about to fall asleep the young adult decides to come BACK inside, and this reminds the screamer that she doesn't want to sleep- she wants to scream. Repeat this insanity for several hours while I dig though suitcases and take every medication I can find.
At some point everyone slept. Except me. Because I was busy dying. The only place I could nod off was in the bathtub. I can't even explain how that is possible but it wraps up Day one of terrible trip home. Stay tuned for the puke, poo, and speeding tickets in part 2!
What is the worst thing that has happened on a road trip with your kids? Comment below!