remyandhollandsmommy
<font color=purple>Don't be afraid of the dark<br>
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2004
- Messages
- 3,358
The things I learned on my vacation...better titled as The Trip to Hades and why next year we will only go for a week and fly.
First a brief note for those of you that do not know me on the CB. My name is Angela and I am insane. Yes, you heard right. I have always thought I was a resonably well adjusted person, but apparently I was simply the last person to know my true mental status. Sad, isn't it? Why do I now know I am insane? Well after this trip, there was just no way to continue living in denial.
A little background:
I have a DH and two girls, Remy (7) and Holly (20mos). We live on Fort Drum in Ny (30 miles south of Canadia). My DH is in the military here and we only get to see our family in Florida once a year in the summer when Remy is out of school and we stay for a few weeks. My DH (lucky jerk) has not been home for the past two years as he was in Iraq both times. I have taken the girls by myself and was looking forward to DH coming this year (what was I thinking?!).
Now for the trip...
Today's Lesson: Planes are our friend...Cars are "THE DEVIL".
I think the sub-title says it all, but for those that like to live vicariously thru others...
Imagine if you will, a much anticipated trip to Florida. Not only will you get to see your entire family (you haven't seen them since last year), but you will get to hit all the theme parks as well. Sounds fun, huh? Bwahahaha...think again!
When we go to Fl, we drive for two reasons. Number One, I can shop to my little hearts content and still have room to bring everything home (my bumper sticker doesn't say "Professional Shopper On Board" for nothing) and Two (the important reason) I am able to hop in my car and "go for a drive" when my family starts to get on my nerves. The 1600+ miles doesn't bother me in the least, after all we have been making trips like this for the 4yrs my DH has been in the military. I have even done it BY MYSELF with kids. The key to a sucessful car ride is simple...RULES! With RULES (always capitalized BTW) you can keep your sanity. For those of you dying to know, here are the RULES:
1. No touching, licking, yelling, flicking paper, coloring on or in any other way causing your sister to squeal like a banshee. This applies to both girls...and DH.
2. No RAP music (this rule only applies to DH as the girls are safely buckled in the backseat and thankfully unable to reach the radio). I can only take D12 and Eminem in SMALL doses. Trapping me in a car and playing their cds over and over causes a nervous tic under my eye.
3. We have an eating schedule due to "Daddy's New Car Issues". Breakfast is at 9am, lunch is at noon, a snack at 3pm and dinner at 6pm. After that you have to wait until we get to a hotel room to eat a snack. These are not my rules. Take all complaints and "I'm starving" whines to your daddy. If it was up to me, we'd eat in the car to save time.
4. Water is the only drink allowed in the car...again see Daddy with complaints.
5. We will stop at rest stops along the way for both bathroom breaks and exercise; NO asking if we can stop at MickyDs playplace!
6. The words, "are we there yet" and "how much longer" are now curse words and no one can say them.
While I think these RULES are very easy to follow, for some reason my family acts like I am asking them to cut off a limb so I can beat them over the head with it! That's right, just call me the "Trip Nazi" (anyone else recalling the Seinfield 'Soup Nazi' episode?), but make sure you follow the RULES.
Ok, so the plan was that we would be ON THE ROAD by 8am, but of course that didn't happen. DH decided to get up at 6am (like usual) and go to the gym for PT with his unit before we left (gym rat). That left me in charge of getting the girls up (who are NOT morning people), getting everyone ready and fed, and making sure everything was in order for our departure. Let's just say we got into the car at 954am and leave it at that. While there were many smaller incidents that occured a few stick out in my mind.
The first 'episode' occurred before we were even out of NY. The girls got into a "stare down". That is when one of them starts just staring at the other and the first to whine or look away is the loser. This is the game Holly started and she ALWAYS wins (Remy for some reason HATES to be stared at). I won't bore you with the details, but Holly stared, Remy started crying and screaming and DH started yelling and threatening. I just popped two asprin.
Second episode was in Pennsylvania. We stopped for lunch at Wendy's. Holly put a french fry in Remy's ketchup, said ketchup was contaiminated, meltdown occured. DH furiously whispering threats so as not to attract more attention. I just dug for more asprin.
Third episode involved Rule number 2 and that pesky tic. Yet more asprin.
Next was the beginnings of MANY requests for food in the car. Can you overdose on asprin?!
Finally, after another delightful stop (this time for dinner), at 9pm we reached I95 outside of Fredricksburg, Virginia (we go a certain way to avoid Baltimore, DC Beltway and Quantico traffic). We were on the 295 around Richmond when we hit a traffic jam. After an hour of listening to DH complain I called my dad in Chesapeake on my cell (gotta love those free in calling calls) and passed the time BSing. I felt kinda bad because dad was hinting at us stopping at his house for the night, but it would have taken us over 80 miles out of our way and after the day I was having it was not gonna happen. We talked for about 2 hours before my cell started to die (I have problems remembering to charge it) and then I had to start talking to DH again *sigh*.
The rest of the night passed decently until DH got it in his head that we were only stopping when we reached "South of the Border". OH DEAR GOD!! South of the Border is on the border of NC and SC and was a good distance from Va. We finally got there just after 1AM. The only good part was the girls were asleep by this time. Leaving DH to bring in our overnight bag, I crashed after taking a Tylenol PM (goodnight Angela).
See ya'll tomorrow!
First a brief note for those of you that do not know me on the CB. My name is Angela and I am insane. Yes, you heard right. I have always thought I was a resonably well adjusted person, but apparently I was simply the last person to know my true mental status. Sad, isn't it? Why do I now know I am insane? Well after this trip, there was just no way to continue living in denial.
A little background:
I have a DH and two girls, Remy (7) and Holly (20mos). We live on Fort Drum in Ny (30 miles south of Canadia). My DH is in the military here and we only get to see our family in Florida once a year in the summer when Remy is out of school and we stay for a few weeks. My DH (lucky jerk) has not been home for the past two years as he was in Iraq both times. I have taken the girls by myself and was looking forward to DH coming this year (what was I thinking?!).
Now for the trip...
Today's Lesson: Planes are our friend...Cars are "THE DEVIL".
I think the sub-title says it all, but for those that like to live vicariously thru others...
Imagine if you will, a much anticipated trip to Florida. Not only will you get to see your entire family (you haven't seen them since last year), but you will get to hit all the theme parks as well. Sounds fun, huh? Bwahahaha...think again!
When we go to Fl, we drive for two reasons. Number One, I can shop to my little hearts content and still have room to bring everything home (my bumper sticker doesn't say "Professional Shopper On Board" for nothing) and Two (the important reason) I am able to hop in my car and "go for a drive" when my family starts to get on my nerves. The 1600+ miles doesn't bother me in the least, after all we have been making trips like this for the 4yrs my DH has been in the military. I have even done it BY MYSELF with kids. The key to a sucessful car ride is simple...RULES! With RULES (always capitalized BTW) you can keep your sanity. For those of you dying to know, here are the RULES:
1. No touching, licking, yelling, flicking paper, coloring on or in any other way causing your sister to squeal like a banshee. This applies to both girls...and DH.
2. No RAP music (this rule only applies to DH as the girls are safely buckled in the backseat and thankfully unable to reach the radio). I can only take D12 and Eminem in SMALL doses. Trapping me in a car and playing their cds over and over causes a nervous tic under my eye.
3. We have an eating schedule due to "Daddy's New Car Issues". Breakfast is at 9am, lunch is at noon, a snack at 3pm and dinner at 6pm. After that you have to wait until we get to a hotel room to eat a snack. These are not my rules. Take all complaints and "I'm starving" whines to your daddy. If it was up to me, we'd eat in the car to save time.
4. Water is the only drink allowed in the car...again see Daddy with complaints.
5. We will stop at rest stops along the way for both bathroom breaks and exercise; NO asking if we can stop at MickyDs playplace!
6. The words, "are we there yet" and "how much longer" are now curse words and no one can say them.
While I think these RULES are very easy to follow, for some reason my family acts like I am asking them to cut off a limb so I can beat them over the head with it! That's right, just call me the "Trip Nazi" (anyone else recalling the Seinfield 'Soup Nazi' episode?), but make sure you follow the RULES.
Ok, so the plan was that we would be ON THE ROAD by 8am, but of course that didn't happen. DH decided to get up at 6am (like usual) and go to the gym for PT with his unit before we left (gym rat). That left me in charge of getting the girls up (who are NOT morning people), getting everyone ready and fed, and making sure everything was in order for our departure. Let's just say we got into the car at 954am and leave it at that. While there were many smaller incidents that occured a few stick out in my mind.
The first 'episode' occurred before we were even out of NY. The girls got into a "stare down". That is when one of them starts just staring at the other and the first to whine or look away is the loser. This is the game Holly started and she ALWAYS wins (Remy for some reason HATES to be stared at). I won't bore you with the details, but Holly stared, Remy started crying and screaming and DH started yelling and threatening. I just popped two asprin.
Second episode was in Pennsylvania. We stopped for lunch at Wendy's. Holly put a french fry in Remy's ketchup, said ketchup was contaiminated, meltdown occured. DH furiously whispering threats so as not to attract more attention. I just dug for more asprin.
Third episode involved Rule number 2 and that pesky tic. Yet more asprin.
Next was the beginnings of MANY requests for food in the car. Can you overdose on asprin?!
Finally, after another delightful stop (this time for dinner), at 9pm we reached I95 outside of Fredricksburg, Virginia (we go a certain way to avoid Baltimore, DC Beltway and Quantico traffic). We were on the 295 around Richmond when we hit a traffic jam. After an hour of listening to DH complain I called my dad in Chesapeake on my cell (gotta love those free in calling calls) and passed the time BSing. I felt kinda bad because dad was hinting at us stopping at his house for the night, but it would have taken us over 80 miles out of our way and after the day I was having it was not gonna happen. We talked for about 2 hours before my cell started to die (I have problems remembering to charge it) and then I had to start talking to DH again *sigh*.
The rest of the night passed decently until DH got it in his head that we were only stopping when we reached "South of the Border". OH DEAR GOD!! South of the Border is on the border of NC and SC and was a good distance from Va. We finally got there just after 1AM. The only good part was the girls were asleep by this time. Leaving DH to bring in our overnight bag, I crashed after taking a Tylenol PM (goodnight Angela).
See ya'll tomorrow!
I wanna hear more!!!!!!
