Road Trip

Monday afternoon the kids and I left for our first big road trip since Daniel was born. We went to visit my cousin in Raleigh. I somehow convinced myself that three hours in the car wasn't really that long. I was wrong. It is. It is especially long if you've just had surgery three days before.

A.'s apartment building

A.'s cat, Stuart, in the window

We arrived at A.'s apartment around 4:30 and we went to dinner at Panera. Then A. took us to get milkshakes. Oh. My. Goodness. They were good milkshakes. And not expensive either! I will definitely be back to visit A. and get another milkshake! Mom ordered a chocolate malt and Daniel drank at least half of hers. He only learned how to drink through a straw last week, but he has perfected the technique now!

When we left A.'s, we went on to the hotel where Mom was staying for the week. She was able to upgrade to two queen beds, which was great because everybody had a place to sleep. We tucked Daniel's pack-n-play in the corner and Brenna slept with me. Brenna slept. I didn't.

Our bed

One little Brenna story: To get to our cars, we had to walk past the valet station, which appeared to be staffed by students from the Chapel Hill campus. Monday evening it was a guy about 21 or so. Brenna slowed down her walk, looked him right in the eye, then ducked her head and said, "My name's Brenna J-*** P-****". Then she looked back with a flirty little smile. He grinned and told her his name was Jack. Mom and I couldn't stop laughing.

This was Daniel's first time to stay in a hotel. I was a little concerned, but it all worked out ok. He fussed for less than a minute when we turned out the lights and he fell asleep pretty quickly. The next morning though, he was rudely awakened by his sister. She decided it was morning and it was time to for everyone to get up. Even though I threatened everything I could think of, she whipped the curtain back and light flooded the room. I was so mad! So was Daniel! He screamed.

We moved this chair over in front of the window and set up the pack-n-play in the corner.

The trip home was just as boring and uneventful as the trip there. We stopped at McDonald's part way home and got a breakfast to split. All three of us ate for $3.52. Brenna couldn't understand why she couldn't get chicken nuggets. At 9:30 in the morning.

So now, I'm doing laundry and preparing to repack. Road Trip #2 begins tomorrow afternoon. It's a lot further, but I don't have to drive. : )