Riding In Cars With Boys (a.k.a. My Crazy-But-Fun Trip to Tennessee with Two Toddlers, Part I)

So.... we had such a great time with Mam-maw when she came this summer, and she and I were talking about how wonderful it would be if all the cousins could play together. There are 6 kids total, all 4 and under, between our family and Melissa's and Daniel's families. Charlie and Henry hadn't yet met their cousins or other TN family, so I decided to pick a week and make the trip out there. I picked August because I wanted to go when Bettra was still working days, and those ended the end of August. Jimmy is such a faithful hard worker for our family, and unfortunately since he didn't have any paid time off he wasn't able to go. He was very gracious about that, though, and ended up working overtime and studying while we were gone. Anyway, on to the actual trip!

You can tell it was a humid day by he haze the camera captured. Here they are with toys and snacks, ready to go! I also wanted to get a picture of Henry facing the front in a big boy carseat for the first time!

This was supposed to be a picture of everything in the back...

...and in the front! I love our van. I tried to think of everything we might need, and clearly I packed it all.

To celebrate the beginning of our journey I stopped by Sonic and got a drink. Before we were even finished in the drive-thru, Charlie had used the window markers and colored all over his hands and arms. Those were confiscated immediately. I thought to myself, "This could be a long car ride..."

Henry thought facing forward was awesome. He was so cute sitting back there, just munching on his snacks and looking at the scenery! I think I took this picture at a stoplight.

I left on Saturday, August 3rd, and I was planning on going to Virginia for Rhonda's surprise party and then getting on 81 to head in the direction of Tennessee. I reserved a room in Kingsport, TN for that night on the road and felt that that would break up the trip nicely. 

Well.... the GPS took us on ALL KINDS of back roads to Rhonda's party. I mean crazy, twisty roads. After a couple hours on the road Charlie was crying and fussy and Henry was only okay as long as he had his plastic bat, with which he was repeatedly banging the window... We were already going to be late for the party when Charlie threw up all in his carseat. We pulled over to an abandoned shopping center where I proceeded to use gargantuan amounts of wipes to clean up the mess. I threw away Charlie's clothes and put him in some clean ones. I then called my mom to see what I should do... I was pretty sure he was just carsick, since those roads had been insane. But did I need to skip the party? Go back home? At Mom's recommendation I trusted my gut and went ahead to the party. We got there an hour late, but it was still awesome to see family, celebrate Rhonda's big birthday, and eat really good Mexican food. When we got back in the car after the party the boys watched a movie on the DVD player I borrowed from Tara, and I enjoyed the open road (with the windows down to get the nasty smell out of the van...which I smelled off and on all week...). I was exhausted when I got to the motel, but the front desk guy was amazing with the boys and got them apple juice and chatted with them. Once we were done checking in I piled the boys back in the car, drove to our room, put them in our room, and then unloaded the van. The boys played with a surprise toy I had reserved for the room while I unpacked our stuff, set up the pack-n-play, etc. I lost all motivation to bathe them and brush their teeth once all our stuff was in the room. We went to bed pretty quickly.

The next morning I sat them in their feeding chairs with the breakfast I had brought for them, turned on a TV show, and then ran really quickly to get some breakfast from the lobby area to take back to the room. Now, I've been drinking almond milk for a long time now but have continued to enjoy regular dairy cheese and ice cream here and there. I didn't think it would be a problem to drink cow's milk with my cereal that morning. But lo, I had a HORRIFYING case of heartburn not long after I had it. Thankfully the boys were engrossed in their cartoon, because I was sweating, burning, back and forth to the bathroom, and just generally freaking out. I called the front desk guy and he brought me some heartburn medicine. Once I recovered I threw all our stuff in the car, dressed the boys (skipped the bath and teeth brushing again...) and we were off. 

Sunday's drive was much better than Saturday's drive had been, but I was really tired. I pulled into a church parking lot to take a quick nap at one point. We finally got going good, and I decided we would stop in Lebanon for some good ole Cracker Barrel. We were all three glad to get out of the car once we got there, and the boys were very well-behaved.

Enjoying the fresh air on the porch.

Charlie got a Lightning McQueen toy for the car.

We drove a couple more hours, stopped at a rest stop outside Jackson, and then continued the last 45 minutes to the Hinkson home. I was beyond jubilant to pull into Granny's driveway and be done with that trip for a week! The trip is 12-13 hours with no catastrophes along the way, so we were glad to be done with the van! We were all thankful to have had safe travel, and I was thankful no one else puked.

And here is the amazing country landscape that welcomed us...

This corn field is right next to Granny's house.

Cows across the street.

Beautiful green soybean fields.

...And a 4-wheeler just to make sure things aren't too peaceful...

Soybean fields everywhere. It's gorgeous.

Sunday night we chilled out and unpacked. Monday we woke up and went to a park in Covington for a while, then all the little cousins had lunch and played at McDonald's! It was so much fun to see them all run around together and play!

Monday night everyone got together for Granny's birthday party.

Sweet little Alice! (A.k.a. Allie)

Mam-maw clearly has lots of toys for her grandkids!

Charlie and Oliver (A.k.a. Ollie) had fun playing with Granny's porcelain tea set.

Henry and big Charlie, Granny's beau.

The birthday girl... with lunch meat. Goofy movies, Granny.

Who needs a horse when you have a saddle?! Charlie rode this "horse" all week long!

Ridin' in style.

One day I imagine they will ride off together on a 4-wheeler, or a real horse... but for now I'm glad it's just this saddle!

Singing to Granny- it was quite a merry and out-of-tune version of Happy Birthday!

These little peeps were so excited for CAKE!

Allie has the prettiest little smile!

Plastic utensil party!

Cindy, Tina, and Sarah

Riding with Allie

Tuesday Bettra took us to the Memphis Zoo, which was quite a treat!

My big boys!

Looking at the wion (lion). Charlie was so excited to find this animal!

The Egyptian theme of the zoo was really cool.

Going to see the panda bears. Look how small Charlie is compared to those statues!

I love this picture! They were fascinated!

Riding the carousel with Granny.

I took this picture because Henry reached for my hand as we were riding the carousel together. I thought it was so sweet!

The two of us!

Lunch time! We brought a yummy lunch from home and we were all glad for a break to cool off and relax.

We put the boys in their bathing suits after eating and headed for the water near the front of the park.

Sitting with my big boy.

After our time in the water we changed the boys back into their clothes, got some much-needed ice cream, and headed to see more animals.

Charlie calls these animals "pwingins."

Henry loved watching them swim!

Going for a ride!

In the prairie dog hole, ha!

Charlie got on this cow and declared, "Mommy, I a farmer!"

The boys took a good nap in the car on the way back to Covington, and we arrived back at the house to their friend Michael working in the yard (he's a landscaper and very graciously insists on doing their yard for free!). He and his guys and all of us went to a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall local restaurant called Pappy and Jimmy's for dinner. It was amazing country food and the absolute best homemade yeast rolls I have ever had. I got a country veggie plate and then homemade pecan pie for dessert. I still think about that place and plan to go back the next time we are there!

Later that night, as Charlie was reading in bed. He slept in "Mommy's bed" the whole week, and Henry slept in the pack-n-play.

Part 2 coming soon!