Nothing like a weekend trip that requires 1000+ miles of driving...

This weekend we made a trip to SC for Doug's Granny's 90th birthday (oh, and her twin's) party. It wasn't our first 'big' trip with the twins, but it was the first time we tried to pull something off like this in only about 48 hours. (I think it actually ended up being more like 60 hours, but you get the idea.)

YEAH!! FOR:

Yeah!! for being able to stay with Chuck and Maria and enjoying some peaceful quiet time not walking on eggshells. Granny's house looks amazing and is so much brighter and bigger than it ever looked before. The only thing that could have made this better would have been if the weather would have cooperated a little more. We couldn't really go outside and play with the boys because it rained pretty much all day on Saturday and Sunday we were doing the birthday party and then driving home.

Yeah! for the boys behaving really well the whole time we were in SC. They were pleasant, took their naps when they were supposed to, slept all night in a new and strange place, and handled all the new places and people really well. Being in such an uncluttered location also really helped with Grayson practicing his new found un-aided steps. In the past few days he has been letting go and teetering a few steps at a time. It is too much fun to see him look so surprised (and excited) when he manages to make it a few steps on his own.

Yeah! for the boys getting to meet Snowflake the talking bird at Granny's party. They were both so excited to see the bird up close and when he started talking they were beside themselves. Gabe kept signing "pretty, pretty, pretty!" and trying to get the bird to talk to him. Grayson would have crawled IN the cage with him if he could have. He was so excited he kept jumping up and down, up and down!

We ended up needing to trim Gabe's hair while we were down there - Grayson really needs it, too - but he hasn't had his first hair cut yet and we wanted to make sure that we give it proper attention (set up the chair, save the hair, take pictures, etc.) We made sure Gabe's first hair cut was properly documented and we want to do the same for Grayson. Plus, he has been working on growing his little bit of hair for 17 months now, so cutting any of it off is a bit sad!

The down side of the trip really ended up being having the boys in the car for such long periods of time. We left to make the drive both days after dinner when they would normally be asleep, but now that they are in the upright car seats they really couldn't seem to get comfortable enough to stay asleep and they were sooo tired.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way home (not our favorite place, but kid friendly) and enjoyed watching Gabe concentrate so hard on the little peg game on the table. He kept taking two pegs at a time out and switching their places. I don't really know why this was fun - but he did it over and over again.

We decided to make the drive back all in one big session since the boys didn't sleep so well in the hotel on the way down. It really wore us out, but everything seemed back on track on Monday, so we will count it as a success. I'm not in such a hurry to make such a long drive again any time soon, but it is good to know we can survive it. I am sure it will get a little easier when the boys are a bit older- but for now I think we did a pretty decent job.