Tis true! We are home after many, many hours on the road. Good hours, hours well spent, but many nonetheless. The kids did great! Better than I expected, actually. We got started a bit later than we had originally hoped for, but waking them up from a dead sleep is always sad, and it seems to take a bit longer to get things going on those mornings, even though the intention is there. We all had a good breakfast together and were on the road by 9:00. However, considering its a ten hour trip, and we lost an hour going home, that set us on course to be home at 8:00pm, which is actually already past their bedtime, and thats assuming we didn’t do any doddling. Which we did. At Ikea in Edmonton.
Laela napped for maybe a half hour coming into Edmonton but was an adorable little soul upon arrival, and was cute as a button through Ikea. Dekker was roaring to go, and enjoyed himself immensely being out of the van and shopping. He loves shopping. We went to Ikea specifically to splurge on something I’ve had my eye on for a while, plus a duvet cover or two for Dekker’s big new blanket. I’m proud that after those specific things we went in for, we only spent an extra maybe $40!! We are so bad for overspending there, but we rocked it this time around and didn’t maybe any bad/crazy/impulsive purchases. Go us! Afterwards, we grabbed some food and fled the city. Dekker was asleep before we out of the city limits. He also only slept maybe a half hour but its better than nothing. The kids are such goobers, and make big efforts to wake each other up in situations like that!
The day went on with lots of Christmas music, dropping of toys, and gnashing of teeth, but it was actually pretty smooth. We haven’t done this trip since having kids, so the layout of places to stop along the way wasn’t really what we had accounted for, and by the time we could stop for supper somewhere, it had been quite a while and the kids were super hungry. Instead of fast food yet again, I ducked into a Safeway and bought a couple scoops of broccoli pasta salad, two packs of raspberries, a box of ritz bits, and a gatorade for my sick hubby. And it was GONE. The kids alone ate the crackers and both packs of raspberries.
And all of the sugar from those berries went straight into my sons bloodstream and he was WIRED. He talked incomprehensibly for the entire last hour or two of the drive, no lie. Just on and on and on. It was both hysterical and exhausting.
Upon arriving home, the kids were so relieved. Dekker was thrilled and was bouncing off the walls, while Laela just wanted to drink milk on the floor of her bedroom. It was actually really hard to put them down, because they just wanted to be up and around their own house, but it needed to be done. Once they were safely tucked away, we hauled stuff in from the van. Yes, I said WE. I brought in all the little annoying stuff that wasn’t appropriately bagged, like the Ikea purchases, and some of our winter gear. I got it all organized and put away all of our toiletries and a few other things while Brady hauled in the big stuff. Not everything is put away yet, but the suitcases will likely get dumped into the laundry tomorrow, so thats not something I’m too concerned about. I don’t think the cleanup of coming home will be too ugly tomorrow at all. We are so bad at leaving our suitcases out for weeks at a time, but I think we’re organized enough that we’ll easily tidy it all up soon.
Its good to be home. Brady and I are anticipating some Netflix and a hot soak in the tub!!! Its been a while.