I should have known what I was in for when we weren't even 20 miles away from home and CJ and I had our first *disagreement* as driver and navigator. Yes, I was the navigator and I explained, well in advance, just which way to go and he argued with me and in the end, he certainly found out I was right, to which I said, "Ha! So you can kiss my ass!" Within a few seconds I heard this little voice from all the way back in the very last row of the van say, "Yea mom, CJ can kiss your ass!" Oh yes, my sweet Olivia...taking after her momma.
The drive itself actually was just fine, despite the fact that there was no DVD player in this van, the kids very fairly well behaved and seemed to keep themselves occupied with books and stickers and such.
We stopped every 2-3 hours or so because Olivia had to pee and we had to put gas in the van. The highest gas price we saw was around $3.79/gallon. I think we spent about $550 on gas for this trip.
Smooth sailing, really, all the way into North Carolina and then STOPPED. An accident had kept traffic at a stand still for almost 45 minutes. What a wonderful time for Olivia to tell me not only did she have to pee but her tummy hurt and she thought she had to poop. Hmmm, now what do I do? Have her poop in the puke bucket? Yea, puke bucket because my kids like to vomit while in a moving vehicle. After pondering this dilemma a few moments, I no longer had to come to a decision since Livi threw up, in the puke bucket. That's why her tummy hurt..ohhhhhhhhhhh.
So, there my grandma sits, holding a bucket o' puke and the stench is creeping up to the front of the van where CJ is about to hurl because of said vomit stench. We're moving at a snail's pace and opening a window doesn't help because heat and car fumes just don't seem to help someone who feels nauseated. Who knew?
Yes, nauseated not nauseous. That bugs me. So many people say *I feel nauseous.* Did you know that when someone feels like vomiting, one feels NAUSEATED. When something causes nausea, that thing is said to be NAUSEOUS. So, next time you are tempted to say "I feel nauseous", understand that you are saying "I feel that I make other people sick"...but I digress...
In this circumstance I felt it was my duty to step up and do the mommy thing, take the puke bucket, open the van door and dump the contents onto the highway. I then took water and rinsed the bucket out and then dried it with paper towels. Viola, no more vomit smell and all is well. We started moving at a normal speed and as soon as we found the next rest area, we stopped and took a potty break.
The next few hours were pretty quiet and as we approached Savannah, GA we decided to call it a night. We stopped in Pooler, GA at a Red Roof Inn and got some food at the nearby Sonic.
We had rooms next to each other and Olivia stayed in a room with my mom and grandma while CJ and I stayed in a room with the boys. The kids got baths and changed into their jammies and we were ready to rest and prepare for the next day's drive. Until...
My mom tells me to turn on the weather channel. Seems we were smack in the middle of a tornado watch. Not a warning but a watch. Ummm, I live in the Lehigh VALLEY in Pennsylvania. We don't really get bad weather and I think I've witnessed 2 tornadoes in my entire life, so needless to say, I was freaked out. I was NOT going to die at a Red Roof Inn by a tornado. I was on my way to the happiest place on earth, dammit!
I wanted to leave, right then and there. The weather dudes were seriously freaking me out. I was seeing all the damage Arkansas had just gotten and I knew this thing was headed our way.
We all decided we were safer where we were and that we'd leave early in the morning instead of 8-9am as originally planned.
Needless to say I did not sleep at all that night. CJ slept next to Dante and I
We woke up at 4:30 am and packed our things quickly to get the hell out of there!
To be continued...
0 comments:
Post a Comment