Road Trip Survival Guide

I had to be in TX yesterday, so I decided to drive in Monday afternoon so I wouldn't be rushed Tuesday morning. After my appointment, a couple of playdates, and driving by our home there, I headed back north. I make the 3 1/2 trip every few months, usually alone. I have driven to my parents house 500 miles away alone. And flown multiple times alone. And by alone I mean me with the boys. I have done it with Mark also. And you need a survival guide even with 2 parents. With just me, I need an extra pill. KIDDING (sort of)

Here is what you must have when traveling with little folks:
-lots of DVD's -working DVD's-must check for scratches and skipping before pulling out of the drive
-headphones for the DVD player in reach of each kid
-extra batteries for headphones
-food-opened,sorted,divided and ready for hand out, except for Connor who sits on the 3rd row(he must         already have his food/drinks)
-drink- 1 drink each, not too much or you will pay for it in multiple pee stops
-DS for Connor
-Leapster for Colton with extra batteries
-magnetic board, crayons, coloring books, ect (the big boys each get their own bag full in reach)
-bag full of cars and other toys handy for me to pass one at a time to Christian (at each stop I collect what he has tossed onto the floor and refill my bag)
-blankies and babies
-and the must have for any traveling kiddos....dum dum suckers -very useful when you need to shut up   wines, cries, arguments, or talking back

Guess what I did on this drive! GUESS! You'll never guess....
I peed in a cup
OH YEAH! REAL CLASSY!
I had to pee by the time I hit Lewisville (30 minutes into my drive). Which is so unlike me. By Denton (another 15 minutes) I REALLY had to go. I just wanted to make it to Gainsville, which is the last town before I cross into OK. I was originally thinking, I will just drag all 3 kids into where ever I stop. But then, before I made it to the town I wanted to stop, 2 out of 3 boys were asleep. No way in hell I am waking them, but dang I gotta go!!! Now I have to stop alot for Colton to pee. And when I do, I pull over to the side of a gas station or fast food place where no one can see, and I open the door and he pees.  So I am figuring I can kind of do the same. If it's not too busy of a place I can just squat and hope no one can see my white ass from under the car. Don't you know, I was not seeing any place that I could pull over the side of and attempt this little white trash pit stop. It was then that I noticed  Colton's empty cup from lunch. So I finally found the side of place that was not too busy. I climb into the back of my SUV and start peeing in this cup. It was going pretty good until I realized I filled the cup (it was a kid size) and was not finished. Ok, so I'm gonna dump it and continue. Houston we have a problem. Once you shut the hatch, you can't open it from the inside. So now I have to climb over 2 rows of seats. I finally get out, dump my pee, climb back in the back, and finish my biz. By the time I finish all the this....the sleeping boys wake up!

Mark is so lucky he married me!

Road Trip....Continued

A week in the country, A week away from the routine, A week with family-it's good for the soul. However , it's not so good for the plants back home. Most of them did not survive, the ones that are not in reach of the sprinklers anyway. 

We started off our visit with watching my nieces dance recital. I haven't seen one in years. Now she is 16 and on the competitive team. I have no pictures of that to share, but take my word on it...she rocks! What a way to begin a family affair.

We spent most of the weekend in my sister's pool. It was just about too hot to do much of anything else. Connor is becoming quite the little fish. I had to make a Target run for some goggles. Colton held his own with the big boys (Connor and my 11 year old nephew). Christian preferred to be held or just quietly sit in the boat float. 

 Pops loves to fly his planes, in the yard and on the computer. This is always a hit with the boys. I hope they always remember doing this something special with their pops.

 Pops always gives the boys a remote, you know a "remote" that belongs to something else. He is flying the plane but they sure think they are! And have a great time doing it.

 Colton was doing flying the plane one evening out front with Pops and it crashed in the driveway. But Colton was watching a real airplane in the sky and was telling Pops "it's too high".

We also did lots of....

4 wheel riding

And snoozing

And lego building

 And visiting with Granny

And playing

And just in case the boys weren't obsessed with IPhone games

Thomas got them hooked on Angry Birds

And the sprinkler and water guns were a big hit

Christian didn't think so

 Such boys-nothing feels as good as water on the rear

And during our entire week here, we only saw this guy once. I joke about this to my sister because she is quite the QVC shopper, my mom too. So UPS makes delivery quite often. Soon, they will be setting him a dinner plate.

Overall the visit was fantastic. We did not see any deer, but pops did kill 2 snakes. And you're welcome for NOT posting those pictures.  The drive home was not quite as good as the ride there. Everyone was overly tired and extra cranky! But we did it, we survived. Now we are home, celebrating father's day with Daddy. We have swim lessons and tennis lessons this week, and I have a very dirty house to clean! Good times at Casa de Lenz!!


Happy Father's Day to all the daddy's out there!

Road Trip

We are here. Been here all week in fact. Leaving tomorrow actually. My power cord for my Mac died and it was several days before I got that taken care of. And we've been busy. I still have not caught up on other postings or uploaded my photos. One day soon, I promise, my friends. I know ya'll are checking everyday to see if I have done it!!

The boys did so much better than I thought on the drive here. It was my first drive here ALONE with the 3 boys. If Mark wasn't coming he has either driven me to Little Rock and then caught a flight or my parents have met me half way. But with no nursing baby I braved the trip alone.  And it wasn't so bad. So I hope I am not jinxing myself for tomorrow's return trip. I did not hear a peep out of Connor the entire 8 hours except "movies over, put in _____ now". How I love head phones! Colton played video games, watched movies, and told me every single time he had to pee. He made the entire road trip without an accident. We did pee on the side of the road several times though! Christian is not such a fan of being strapped down, certainly for any length of time. I had a bag of toys by me. I would hand him one toy at a time. When he would toss that one down to the floor, I handed over the next toy. When I stopped for Colton to pee, I would collect all the crap from the floor and reload my bag. And fruit snacks helped too. We are going to try the same routine on the way home.

Once arrived it has been family time! Lots of swimming in my sis's pool and lots of 4 wheeling. Even Christian's hooked. "Ca" (car) he says. The only problem is it's freaking HOT! We took the annual grandkid pictures of the kiddos for moms. Granny has made lots of yummy treats for us.....corn bread, banana pudding, lemon pie, pound cake. Needless to say, I have gained 5 freaking pounds. Serious vegies starting Sunday folks!

Not sure what's on the agenda for our last day today.....

Hope your week is going equally well!

Forgot

FORGOT TO MENTION

in all my 427 vacation posts

that on travel home day

while packing our suitcase

I 

FOUND

MY MAKEUP

seriously

WTH

that's just my style

Vacation 2011

Part ?

I don't even remember what part # this is

FINAL

DISNEYLAND

We went Sunday evening

and ALL day Monday and Tuesday 

For a DL virgin

I must admit I was a bit disappointed

I am not sure if I had built it up so much in my head

or maybe I was tired

Now this is not to say that after our 2 1/2 days there

I did not have a good time

I had a GREAT time

but must say

I will not become a die hard Disney fan

The boys loved every

single

thing

they rode

We managed naps in the stroller

OMG

scary face

Our trip was complete after meeting this guy

Here is the whole group of kids

My 3

My fave cousin's 2 kids

And her neighbors 3 kids

My cousin Cindy and I wanted to finally have our kids meet

I was planning a trip to Disney

And she and her bestie neighbor were as well

So we just decided to do it all together

And that was the way to travel 

I don't know if DL would have been as much fun without all of them

The kids entertained each other

whether in long ride lines

or at the hotel in the evening so the grown-ups could chat

It went really smooth for as many folks as we had

Then throw in Casey and her crew

WOWZA

 Connor watching the fireworks

Love that face

He was the only boy left awake

These 2 snoozed through it all

It is a small world after all

Goofy

Christian thought he was pretty special

He did not want to leave him

Oh Minnie

I know how you feel!

And the Star of the Show

Mickey

Well he's suppose to be

For us it was really buzz

The best part of our trip was made here

After we snapped this picture 

the staff was shooing us out of the room for the next group of folks

Colton said he had to show Mickey something

then he did a spin

more like a twirl

but it suppose to be a spin

then Mickey did it back

Later when we saw Buzz

he wanted to show him something too

yep, another spin

The fact that he was showing off to his heros

LOVED THIS MOMENT

We did make it into California Adventure on the final day

Just in time to see the 

Toy Story Soldiers

they put on quite the performance

and even got the kids involved

Big Cous Cindy 

and the crew

Cousins

and possibly new BFF's

Connor wanted to go everywhere Chatty went

Love me some 

Mater

Cousins in the toy box

 My kids

Cindy's kids

Casey's kids

And here she is again

Lainey Caroline

crushing on my man

I told Casey if LC could wash clothes and fix a bowl of cereal

that we could switch places

Overall, it was a fantastic vacation. I could not have asked for or expected anything better

I only lost 1 kid, 1 time

 MOTY for me

ok, maybe not

 I got to

 meet my cousins kids

meet some new great people

and got to see and old friend

 Most importantly

 I got to spend 5 really special days with my family

And the boys were so tired that the plane ride home was a breeze

BONUS

That's a wrap folks

Planning vacation 2012

Actually thinking Disney cruise

any takers??

Coming up

Connor turns 5

(which he did do in Disney)