Last Friday, I loaded the girls into the car and headed for Spokane to visit my Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle. I was a bit apprehensive about the trip because 6 hours in a car with two kids might go tragically horrible or it might go awesomely swell.
Molly packed almost every single toy she owns for the car trip and Maggie was blissfully unaware of what was going on. I mis-packed some; forgetting PJs for me and more than two outfits for Maggie. Overall the trip was fantastic! Molly and Maggie snoozed as I left Seattle and headed toward Ellensburg. They woke up about 10 miles from Ellensburg, just in time to stop for lunch.
Maggie took a short nap as we started out again. I stopped outside of Vantage at the Petrified Forest to check out the dinosaurs and made Molly roar-pose for me. We also stopped at the Columbia River Bridge overlook to see the horses sculpture and check out the view. Maggie liked the wide open space and wanted to run but I had to curtail her. Once I got everyone re-loaded into the car, we were ready to drive, drive, drive. Maggie played with some toys while Molly watched a few shows on the Kindle. Everyone was doing well until about 15 miles outside of Spokane. That is quite possibly the longest part of the drive but we pushed through and made it.
I decided to take advantage of any help I could once we arrived at the hotel. I used valet parking (and really with a $4 difference between valet and self-park, it only made sense), had our bags brought up to our room and accepted extra hands to get the girls to the room. We got cleaned up before heading to my Grandparent's place for dinner. They've recently moved into a retirement community and it is awesome!
Maggie and Molly enjoyed exploring my Grandparent's new place while I was able to chat with my Grandparents and find out what my Aunt and Uncle were up to. After a delicious dinner, we headed back to our hotel where the terror of the night began. Both girls wanted to sleep on top of me and I ended up clutching the side of the bed in the middle of the night. After deciding to move to the middle and hug each girl to my side, Maggie wiggled and ended up falling out of bed. That was a loud wake-up! Luckily she barely woke up and settled right down but I was beat by the time the sun came up.
My grandparent's new place has an awesome pool so we headed back to their place in the morning, swam like maniacs, had ice cream for lunch (such is the grandparent prerogative) before heading back to Seattle around naptime. The girls couldn't even keep their eyes open long enough for me to make it to the nearest gas station.
The girls slept for almost 2.5 hours before waking up and demanding a stop. We stopped before Vantage to stretch our legs and check out the Columbia River. The girls had a great time roaming and chasing each other.
I was hoping to make it past Ellensburg without a breakdown from the kids but it wasn't to be so. I decided to stop at McDonald's so they could play in the play area but sadly after ordering I noticed that there wasn't a play area at the McDonald's we were in. Molly was not interested in the Happy Meal I got her and threw a fit because she didn't like the toy. So that was fun. Loaded up with grease and an unsettled tummy, I threw the kids in the car and put down my lead foot to get home fast.
After 6 hours of car time, we made it home in one piece! The trip was fun but it was hard. I had a lot of memories of making the same trip many times with my Dad and now doing it from his angle, I appreciated how hard it was. Seeing my Grandpa and Uncle together reminded me so much of my Dad. They are all so alike. It was fantastic taking the girls to see my Grandparents and I'm actually looking forward to taking them on more road trips as they get older. I think it would be so much fun to take a road trip down to San Diego along Hwy 101. I think I'll wait until they are a bit older though and can contribute to the fun.
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