It’s the Monday before ThanksGiving and all through the day, Hailey is tired, and purposely this way. Why drink caffeine when I’ll have to take to the bed once my husband gets home and the family is fed.
The plan was that I was to take a nap once my husband got home from work. Then, when I woke up we were supposed to head out on our venture to Florida to give my mother a wonderful family filled holiday feast to remember. Alas, the plans fell through and when my husband arrived it was eat and load up, lets get on with the ride.
Who am I kidding? This is no poem. I had not allowed myself to have any caffeine that day simply so that when my hubbin came home I would be able to fall asleep. I was exhausted to say the least. I have this problem where it is extremely difficult for me to fall asleep in the car also. This was already going to be a rough night. I even started getting agitated immediately when we were loading the car. I was already done with the ride. Poor hubbin had worked all day and expected to drive a bit and then have me take over. That is not exactly what happened. When the time came where he couldn’t do it any more, we had made it to Pensacola, we still had about six hours to go. “Okay, maybe I can do this. I feel pretty good about it.” I drove for an hour and a half before I was “seeing ghosts” on the road. I was hypnotized by the road in the middle of the night. I pulled into the nearest rest stop and everyone, including my hubbs who had only been asleep for about forty-five minutes, woke abruptly. Fueled my rage at this point, he took the wheel once more. I felt worse than terrible but I knew that I had done the right thing. I couldn’t risk all of our lives on the road like that. =/
Another thing that was hard on the journey to Grammy’s/Mom’s house was that any time anyone else in the car would get comfortable, our less than two year old would troll the crap out of us. We would look away from him, he would scream, I would lay my head on my pillow in hopes of a few moments of decent rest and the second my head hit the pillow, screams. He didn’t want food, drink, music, just attention and no doubt to get out of that wretched car seat.
At some point, I’m not really sure where, I did take the wheel again. This time the sun was up and the kids were awake and we weren’t heading much further east so we were very close. That always fills me with the adrenaline to keep going. Then I could see the signs for the I10 I75 Junction! only an hour-ish left! YAY!!!!
We finally arrived at Grammy’s house. We were ready to give her a great holiday filled with family and excitement. First, the hubbs needs sleep! haha. Missy was so excited we were there she headed my way at once equipped with caffeine to help me get through the day, there was no sleep in sight for me. I was hoping that my beautiful sister and her wonderful family would show up later that day, however it was Britt’s birthday and she had to work a full shift. They wouldn’t have arrived until near mtwo in the morning had they attempted to make the journey. My mother wanted to go to the store, so, that is a thing that we did. We put the children back in a vehicle and Missy, my mother, and I hauled them off to walmart to complete our last minute Thanksgiving shopping. That trip to the store felt as though it was never going to end. The children just wanted to get out of the cart and run around like heathens while us adults just wanted this to go quickly and smoothly. The rest of the day is kind of a blank for me. I was so tired. I do remember that my mother had prepared one of the best slow-cooker roasts I had ever put into my mouth for dinner that night. MMMmmmmmm My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
The next day, Brittany, Alex, and their amazing daughter Ramona arrived in the afternoon. The cousins make a team for sure. I like to call them Ri-Mo-Ton. Kind of a play of all of their names and it goes in age order. They all love each other so much and I love it! I wish they were able to see each other more often, but that is a topic for another day. Brittany and I took to the kitchen in preparation for the feast to be had on the next day. ThanksGiving. We had a mostly traditional menu, turkey (two different kinds, Brittany’s was better by far than the store bought), mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, broccoli for picky children, rolls, gravy, canned cranberry, then there was the non traditional side dish, a gourdfull lasagna of sorts. For desert we had a caramel apple upside down cake and a pumpkin spice pound cake with a maple butter glaze. The feast was a success. Even hours later when we all piled into the kitchen for that traditional late night plate of leftovers, we were reminded of how awesome all of the food was.
My mother had enjoyed her ThanksGiving. She has her kids, their kids, and didn’t have to do any of the cooking. The last part made her a bit nervous, but she got over it and enjoyed that part too.
Friday morning was here and it was time for me to report to my father’s house for his non-traditional ThanksGiving a day late. I was there at seven AM to help prep the sauce for the day’s menu. We were having homemade sweet and sour chicken and shrimp followed by a decadent pumpkin spice cheesecake in honor of Brittany’s belated birthday. I thought for sure that Friday would be awesome! It was! After prep was complete, I headed back to mom’s to pick up the hubbs and the children to bring them over too. I couldn’t bring myself to drag them over with me at six thirty in the morning. When my brother emerged from the shadows at the end of the hallway, I was a happy lady! I thought I was going to tackle him. If I didn’t feel like leading by example was a real thing, I likely would have! I love my brother and like that we have a relationship as good as we do.
Anyway, Missy, A-A-Ron and their kiddo came to enjoy the day with us, My mother, Brittany, Alex and Ramona came a bit later. I could tell you about the adventures of black Friday shopping with Daniel and Missy, but I will just say that they were happy they brought me with them, (they didn’t even know it was black Friday until we were very near the store.)
After dinner it was time for my hubbin to head back to mom’s and take a nap. He was reluctant. I got there and managed to sleep for about two hours. Missy, A-A-Ron, Daniel and I took the three munchitos to the park to try to wear them out. We had an interesting encounter with what appeared to the untrained eye to be a child snatcher, we didn’t stick around to find out. The hubbs arrived back at dad’s to pick us up near nine fifteen and we were off. Headed back to Texas. This trip was not near as hard as heading to Florida was. The children slept most of the way and I was able to fall into a sound sleep for a couple of hours. Hubbs went to sleep when we got home and life went on.
I am so glad that we got to take that short trip. We had a fantastic week filled with family, friends, all people who we loved and loved us back. Everyone had a great time. The drive is always hard but well-worth it. Brittany and I experienced being in charge of food stuffs for the feast and got to spend some quality time together. Mom was happy. That is what was most important about the whole thing. After all, the adventure was truly for her anyway.
