Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's Nana's house we go! Seriously!

Recently we added a trip to Nana and Papa's house as part of Staycation '09.

Unfortunately, Hubby had to work so it was just me and the crew for this trip.

While seeing family is always fun, anything over 45 minutes becomes, well, HARD.
30-40 minutes is great though! I get some peace and quiet and a relaxing drive, the kids chill and watch a movie. It's all good. Throw in an extra 10 minutes and- watch out!

If I have to drive farther than that, it becomes a day trip. Because it the land of many little ones, a 45 minute drive quickly becomes an hour drive, which quickly become an hour and a half and then 2 hours, etc... You get the picture.

Our last trip to Pulaski, which used to take 1 hour and 15 minutes, took 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Yes.it.did.

Now, that is not 2 hours and 10 minutes of joyous, happy, good times and fun....as my 3 "big kids" would say, "no way!"

That was a hard, hard 2 hours and 10 minutes that was topped off with car sickness, diaper blow outs and a screaming roll down a ravine due to fear of an overly spastic beast my parents lovingly refer to as "Molly" the dog.

Good times!
I know you soooo want to take a road trip with us!
So sorry, there are no available seats in our Odyssey!
After all of that- it looked like I may never try the trip again. Until Nana convinced me otherwise.

So, I put on a brave face, sucked it up and started packing- for a DAY trip! I had soooo much stuff to take!

the stuff

Once we got there I had another challenge. The swimming pool.
Ya'll, let me just say that large, small, whatever- any body of water around my children seriously scares me. Seriously!
I am waaayyy outnumbered and they are fearless.

They have this crazy ability to make each other BRAVER, so even if they were scared at first- they won't be as soon as one of them starts to show an ounce of bravery.

My mom was going to help in the pool but due to plumbing problems she had to play handy man for the day. It actually worked out pretty good for the babies. They got to hang out with Nana in the house and got a nap in too.

my sweet, sleepy babies

That left me and 3 crazy excited children with a large body of water.
What a workout! Puddin took swim lessons this summer and is fascinated by mermaids so she was feeling pretty confident. Well, that was all it took. That and the slide that was recently installed in the pool.

oh.my.word.

My nerves were shot.

Thankfully, I had purchased all 3 kiddos suits at the beginning of the summer with attached life vests. I felt a little guilty about it up until the 1st one hit the water.

Yes, hit the water. (after, of course, a little nose picking!)UGH!

Monkey See

Puddin

Monkey Do

They were just jumping in like nobody's business! I was scooping them out as soon as they'd hit the water cause another one was following quickly behind! I had a regular assembly line going. I kept saying, "WAIT! You can not swim!"

After a while they started to slow down(that's when I was able to take these pictures!). I guess being water logged will do that to you. Then Monkey See let out the loudest burp I have heard in all my life!! I guess it's from ingesting all that water and air. After they slowed down a bit I could enjoy it( the pool and fun with the kiddos- not the burp), a little, sort of.

Puddin realized her suit had floaties in it and wanted to practice her "mmmm's" like Mrs. Laura taught her in swim practice.

So she did.

Then she remembered she was supposed to kick her legs.

So she did.

Then, she realized she was "swimming" in the water by herself and she was ecstatic!

She was really doggie paddling and being held up by her life vest but she could go from one end of the pool to the other on her own! I sat on the steps with the Monkeys and watched her cross back and forth, back and forth. Once more milestone for my baby girl! I was feeling a little teary until Monkey See decided he could do it too, and just like that, he was off the steps following his big sister. I know the days ahead holds so many more of these moments- it's kind of bitter sweet.

Anyway, the Monkey's needed a lot more assistance than Puddin but they did pretty good for 2 boys that have never been in anything deeper than a bathtub. Seriously.

They would be treading water pretty good and then would get nervous and flip face down so I'd have to flip them back over. They certainly weren't scared. I guess that's a good and bad thing.

They will definitely be joining their sister next year in swim lessons though. That's a guarantee!






So after all the fun in the pool, we went in, got cleaned up, had lunch, played with cousin G for a while and then it was time to repack and head for home to see Hubby. Oh, how I missed him!

Now, I had to drive through torrential rain storms to get home. Seriously!

It took at least 2 hours to get home. Thankfully, my sweet hubby had stopped and picked up a pizza on his way home so we had a hot dinner waiting for us. We unloaded the van, ate dinner and sent 5 exhausted little ones off to bed. Ahhhhh! What a busy, fun filled, water logged day!

I had conquered my fears, so to speak, and made it through a day I just knew I would not enjoy. And I did have fun with my kids in a swimming pool. having fun wasn't ever really the issue. I really was truly scared of what could happen. I had to be very alert and ready for those kids at all times. Just watching their every move was exhausting, never mind the scooping! I made sure I had bathed them in prayer and then I had to do what I know I will have to do many times again- let go. That is soooo hard sometimes.

Puddin's final words before bedtime??...

"Momma, can we do dat ahgin??? Dat was fun!"

Sure Puddin, we sure can! Seriously!