We are all so different but I love them all. My siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents. Our lifestyles and beliefs are not all similar but that's ok because if everyone was like me the world would be a boring place. God created us all different and as I get older I am learning to appreciate people's differences.
We decided kinda last minute to take a trip to Florida and spend Thanksgiving with my dad and his side of the family down there. Because there are 6 of us now we didn't want to bombard their house with all our stuff. So we chose to get a hotel room right down the road even though he REALLY wanted us to stay with them.
We like our bedtime routine with the boys and they need that structure even when we aren't at home. So we spent most of our days with the family and went back to the hotel at night to get them bathed and in the bed by 8pm. Being in one room with everyone sleeping can be difficult for me.
When I became a mother those nights of deep sleep and never hearing a noise were over. I hear everything now! So every time one of the boys coughed (and there was a lot of this going on) I got woke up. I was worried Jaron was going to fall off the bed so I jumped every time he moved around in his sleep. Jonah was against the wall in the bed with Jaron because I pushed the bed over to the wall for him. And I seriously considered pushing our bed against theirs so Jaron wouldn't hit the floor. Jacob slept on the couch and he did hit the floor twice in one night. Justus was in a crib provided by the hotel right beside our bed. We got the efficiency so we had a fridge, microwave, sink, and stove. It was just the right size for what we needed.
Driving 500 miles with 4 boys was something I dreaded but after lots of research online for travel games I was actually excited for all the things I had planned. I made travel journals for each one of them. They included a map of our trip and all the cities we would drive through. A map of the US so they could color in states as we passed cars with that states tag on it. Coloring pages, blank pages, black paper (for white chalk), travel bingo, homework pages, and their own pack of crayons taped to the inside pocket. So there would be no fighting over crayons. I made a treasure bottle full of rice with little things hidden inside. (the lid glued on tightly of course) And I had a new pack of pipe cleaners. We told knock jokes, played virtual hide and seek, listened to music, watched movies, took naps, ate snacks and lunch and let them spend some of their hard earned money in the stores we stopped at to fill up.
It was fun and we didn't have a whole lot of melt downs but the ride home was more dvds and less games. I tried to keep things going but we were all exhausted. Ready to get home to our house and our beds.
So we had a good Thanksgiving and it was nice to get away and see some family....
but as Dorothy says "There's no place like home"
