Road Trip

I always thought as the kids got older, it would be easier to take road trips with them, but that hasn't rang true yet. Instead of packing bags of toys for the trip, we are now packing several pairs of shoes, jewelry, X-box and the Wii. It hasn't got any easier than when the were little. At least when they were little, I could gather their stuff together. Now, it requires their assistance and there are so many things they claim they can't live without.

Except now we have even more complications, nobody wants to sit next to the other one. They are driving me nuts with this sibling rivalry crap. I have no clue how to stop it, everything I try doesn't work. They are 11 and 12 years old and claim they hate one another. My oldest and middle child are 8 years apart, so I didn't have to deal with the sibling rivalry as much as I do with my two youngest, who are only 1 year apart. They live to drive the other one nuts. The only problem with that is, the parents are the ones who are stuck trying to mediate between the two all the time and according to them, we are never fair. No matter how hard we try to be fair, someone is always unhappy with the decision. The sad part about it is, I have two psychology degrees and can't get my two children to get a long, no matter how many different things I try there is always that underlying resentment towards one another and I don't know how or when it began. We adore them both and hate seeing them at one another all the time. It makes it very difficult to do anything together as a family, because they are always arguing with one another.

Another Road Trip

I have been MIA in the blogger world lately, because I took a little road trip to North Carolina. My father was sick and I needed to go to help my mother. The stress was becoming too much for her and I was worried about him, plus I needed to see him to make sure he was okay before leaving. It is very difficult to be so far away from your parents when they are sick. You worry about them so much and you are so far away you can't go over and check on them every day.


It never fails on a road trip that you run into at least one stupid driver on on the road. If your lucky you run into only one stupid driver. On the way down there, a crazy motorcycle driver whipped in front of me forcing me to put on my breaks on the highway. Then there were the crazy drivers who think they are race car drivers, riding your bumper if they can't pass you. Coming back during the day wasn't too bad until I hit OH8, where the traffic was bumper to bumper and a driver stopped in front me waiting to get over two lanes, because they almost missed their exit causing a big truck behind me to put on their brakes and came just inches away from hitting me. Then on the Ohio Turnpike their was a semi carrying new cars swerving and flying down the high way. I kept passing him, because I didn't want to be behind him or next to him in case he wrecked and every time I passed him, he would pass me and get in front of me. I think he did it intentionally, because he was driving behind me and I was going 75, the speed limit was 70 but that wasn't fast enough for him, he passed me and flipped his hands up in the air.

I got stuck in one lane traffic on the turn pike for almost an hour, so a trip that would normally take me 12 hours took 14 hours. I was so stressed out by the time I got home, my neck and shoulders are so stiff it hurts to turn my head. If plane tickets weren't so expensive, I would fly.

Then I came home after a 14 hour trip and being gone for a week and a half to find the house a mess and I don't think anyone cleaned the bathroom while I was gone and I spent an hour and half cleaning, because I can't walk on dirty floors and I didn't want to kids to be using a bathroom with mold growing in the shower and around the sink or a dirty toilet. It wasn't easy to coordinate, my husband's schedule, my oldest daughter's schedule with the babysitter to make sure someone was here with the kids all the time.

Road Trip

We returned home yesterday from North Carolina. What used to be a trip I would fly is now a trip we drive, because airplane tickets for a family has gotten totally ridiculous. Twelve hours in a car with three kids and a dog is a rough ride. I would have left the dog at home with the neighbor, but Max has some anxiety issues. He loves riding in the car. He is definitely a rode trip dog. Especially, when he has the kids sitting with him. He enjoyed stopping at the rest stops and watching the pretty lady dogs in the dog walking area. The last hour of the trip, he insisted on sitting on my lap in the front seat. He amused the passing drivers as they were driving by, because he was sitting up in my lap like he was a person looking out the front and side window. I think after watching the kids hold the little dog all week, he thought people should hold him too.

Who ever thought sitting in a car would be so exhausting. Every couple of hours, the kids were asking "How much further until we get to Michigan?" At least my power was back on when I returned home. My cat was angry with us for leaving, even though my neighbor came over to let her out and feed her she peed on my couch where I usually sit to let me know she was displeased with me. But, she did bring me home a welcome home present today, a dead mouse at the back door.

My daughter fell in love with my mother's new puppy, Lexy. The two were inseparable. She walked around with Lexy wrapped in a blanket and showered her with attention. Lexy would wake her up in the morning. I'm sure she woke up this morning wandering where all the kids went to and was disappointed when she didn't find them.

Adam fell in love with the tree frogs and wanted to bring one home. But, we decided not to bring one home with us. The car ride with three kids and a dog might be a little much for a tree frog. That and Sasha Kitty likes to kill small prey and the frog would probably be first on her list. Some how, some way she would get to the frog, she is a determined little kitty when it comes to small things that move. He did take pictures, but he locked his phone up playing with it in the car. I needed to replace his phone anyway, because while he was down there he jumped in the swimming pool with his phone in his pocket. But, we did buy him and Sammy a Venus Fly Trap there, because he wanted one and they are native to South Carolina and North Carolina swamps. He had fun catching flies to feed the Fly Traps.

They both had a fun time at Carowinds and are begging to go back for Scarowinds. It was Adam's first time riding a roller coaster and Sammy our little dare devil couldn't get enough of the roller coasters. 

We did have a nice trip visiting my parents and hopefully we will make it back there again soon. It was nice getting away from Michigan for a week and the constant power outages we have been having and coming home to our power finally back on.