roadtrip Archives - Mom in DCity

After spending more than 24 hours in the car this past weekend, I had plenty of time to be annoyed, impressed, frustrated, and amused by my kids. There was also plenty of time to be annoyed, frustrated and annoyed (did I already say annoyed?) with my husband– but hey, we’re still here! And that’s an accomplishment.

It doesn’t matter how many DVDs, coloring books, Barbies and snacks you bring… when you’re on a road trip from DC to Chicago, there is plenty of down time.

Here are ten things I learned about Lira and Zana over the weekend.

Lira does not back down from an argument– especially when it has to do with a Disney movie. (Want to know which is which when it comes to Flora, Fauna and Merryweather? Ask her, not Dave).
Time outs work for Lira– even when it just means no books for 10 minutes. They don’t work on Zana at all– not even when it means locking her in the trunk. Just kidding. Sort of.
Zana does like to eat after all! The problem is that we’re always trying to feed her a fruit or a vegetable. If you give her rest-stop pizza and cookies, she’ll eat all day long– even while sitting in a car seat and expending zero energy.
Accusing Lira of “tooting” makes her laugh, no matter how many times you do it– which in this case, was before every toll booth. You know those rumble strips they put in the road to make you slow down for the toll? The ones that make that… that sound? Well, all you have to do is say “Ewwwww, Lira!” and the giggles don’t stop.
The girls know all of the words to Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire. Lira even asked “if this song is in India, why do they say ‘bila bila’? That’s Spanish.”
Zana has a death grip. Every time Lira got too close, Zana would grab a chunk of hair; it took two adult hands to pry each finger off one at a time. And she’s convinced that a simple “saw-wee” makes it all ok.
There’s nothing more exciting than a tunnel.
Starbucks better watch out if Zana needs to “go.” She needs her privacy, even if that means hiding behind a display and knocking over all the glasses.

No matter how many Disney movies you bring (we brought 8), you never have the one they want to watch.
Both daughters are very patient, only asking “are we there yet?” about 10 times… which is more than I can say for myself.

As insightful as this journey may have been, I hope we don’t ever make that drive again. The girls have other ideas, though. When I arrived home from work yesterday, they both ran out to the car with bags full of toys yelling “we wanna go back to Chicago!”

Have mercy…

If someone told me a few weeks ago that I’d be driving 1,403 with two kids over a long weekend, I would have punched them in the face. Luckily for them, it was a game day decision.

My brother told us more than a year ago about his MBA graduation from Northwestern yet, in true delusional fashion, we kept telling ourselves we’d find flights for under $200 a pop. Wrong! So, after quick trip to the ER, we packed up the ol’ Prius and began our journey. Google said it was a 12 hour drive, so we figured that (with kids) meant 16.

Two Disney movies, three lattes, one Olive Garden, four rest stops and 13 hours (total) later, we arrived in Chicago. We spent a quick 6 hours in a sketchy hotel (Hotwire deal) and then headed over to meet the rest of the fam downtown.

“The rest” includes my parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew– that’s nine of us, if you’re counting. It’s hard to do much with nine people– especially when three of them are munchkins. We hung out at our hotel a lot– the W Hotel, which was a hilarious choice for our party. We were the only people not wearing Feragamos (well, my brother was), sipping cocktails at 9am and rocking too much self-tanner. It was entertaining, though, and Zana certainly enjoyed the lobby.

All the kids enjoyed the fancy bathtubs:

And the rest of us enjoyed some quality time together. The graduation itself went on for longer than necessary. I somehow managed to cry three times during the ceremony. I always forget how sappy I am, but nobody else seems to– my dad just laughed. And that somehow made me feel better because, come on, who wants to talk about their emotions? Not me! But I do want to write about them, so here goes…

Besim, I am so very proud of you. I don’t think I told you that enough (or ever) while you were flying back and forth from Houston to Chicago every week for two years. It’s a big deal to get an MBA. An even bigger deal to get one from Kellogg School of Management. And an even bigger-est (sorry, I don’t have an MBA) deal to do that while maintaining a job and a healthy family. Hard work is inspiring, and yours has not gone unnoticed. I am so thankful that we could be there to celebrate you, and can’t wait to see what you do next.

So, MomInDCity readers, what kinds of things turn you into a sappy, weepy mess?

Back From Our Trip and (not) Ready to Go Again!

Quick and Sappy Roadtrip to Chicago