Spring Break Road Trip

I still haven't quite figured out what got into me a few weeks before Spring Break, but I decided to do something adventurous that I've never done before: take the kids on a road trip - ALL BY MYSELF.  Ben is getting swamped with work toward his dissertation, among many other things, and I knew that if we stayed home for Spring Break, we would only be a temptation to him ("Are you SURE you want to go to the office today?").  So I stocked the freezer with Trader Joe's dinners, packed our bags, and took the boys on a 5 1/2 hour drive to Pennsylvania.  

Why it worked: 

1. Henry is awesome!  He took on the giant responsibility of taking care of EVERYTHING for himself and the other two boys while I focused on the road.  He was stocked with books, toys, DVDs, and snacks for all three of them, carefully placed within his reach so that he could divvy them out without having to unbuckle his seat belt.  He got very stressed a few times when objects fell on the floor out of his reach, but he stayed cool under pressure, and we only had to stop a few times to rearrange things.

2. Caffeine, jelly beans, and the audio version of Angle of Repose. I had a mini party up in the driver's seat doing whatever was necessary to stay awake and safe!

We stopped after about 4 hours to visit our dear friends in New Jersey from the good old days.  The boys, Aden, Evan, and Henry had no problem rekindling their old friendship (they were best buddies at age 2 1/2 when we moved).

(look how little they were!)

The moms (Cindy, Jessica, and me) had a great visit as well!

It was fun to get to know little Karen . . .

and to introduce them to Sam!

Then on to Pennsylvania to visit Christina and kids (and a little bit of Mike)!  We had a great time just letting the kids play, play, play.  This was our outdoor pizza picnic (that was kind of disastrous actually, because it was right by a beautiful river and the little ones could not get enough).

Ava and Henry were bestest friends before these guys moved.  Before we came down, Ava told her mom, "Henry is just one of those friends that I'll have forever!"  I hope he did not disappoint her.  He has become a lot more interested in crazy boy things over the past year.  While he used to love playing "this game called 'House'" with Ava, he now goes crazy over imaginative games where video games come to life and everyone tries to earn points, defeat all the levels, and kill the bad guys by doing all sorts of random things.  I'm not sure if it was all Ava was dreaming of.  Hopefully she still considers him a good friend.  Ezra, on the other hand, was in heaven.  He and Henry especially enjoyed a rousing game of "chop the imaginary turkeys' heads off."

We got to meet Amy and Joshua at the Philadelphia Zoo (she lives 5 minutes away)!  It was a slightly drizzly day, so it wasn't too crowded, and it really was pleasant.  

It was so great to see Amy - I wish we could have visited longer!  She seems to be having such a good time with little Josh living the city life.  She takes him on the bike seat to visit museums and other cool city places all the time.  What a cool mom!

And Christina is Super Mom.  She's expecting #4, and I can't wait to see her master the art.  I like to let her show me the way long before I dare to try things myself :)  Mike was away on business for 2 of the nights while we were there, so we had some serious girls' nights.  And we ate a lot of cake!

I got some fun pictures of the kids in the fun indoor play area at the zoo.  

We managed to fit all of them into one dino egg (but where is Ellis?)

Ava was a sweet helper with Sammy.

I'm in love with Mark and his beautiful curls.

Ezra's great pose.

The closest we could get to a great group photo.  These kids have so much fun together - they might as well be cousins!

Last stop: JoDee's house in Connecticut on the way home.  We stayed for a couple of days and let the kids catch up on their Olivia and Ben time.  We really miss those two and think of them often since the time they stayed at our house last fall.  Brandon was sweet and watched the kids while JoDee and I got to have a girls' night out.  We went shopping with NO KIDS!  

Did you know that JoDee lives within walking distance from the beach of Long Island Sound?  They just go play on the beach, like all the time.  We were happy to join them for a day!

The boys dug in the sand for two hours.  Olivia was very patient!  I think I'm intimidated enough by JoDee's photography skills that I didn't pull out my camera the rest of the time we were there.  But we had a great time, mostly just doing what I like best - sitting around talking while the kids played.

I feel so lucky to have so many good friends that are within a reasonable driving distance!  I don't know that I'm looking to hop in the car and drive for 5+ hours again anytime soon, but I'm glad to know that it's possible!  Aren't you kind of proud of me?