About Our Trip

Every few months, I load Turtle into the mini SUV, along with about 350 pounds of Turtle-related accessories for the 4 1/2 - 5 hours drive (depending on bathroom breaks) south to visit my grandparents and aunt. Also in the area are my other aunt, uncle and cousins, and some friends. It's a "kill-lots-of-birds-with-one-stone" kind of thing.

As I hit the interstate, two chilled Diet Dr. Peppers waiting for me in the cupholders, I realized that I had forgotten to pack Turtle's overnight diapers. Dang it.

Turtle did a good job of entertaining himself with his magna doodle, aqua doodle and baby laptop, until my bladder could no longer contain itself and the gas tank was near E.

We were kind of in the middle of nowhere, but billboards were advertising for a "Brand New Town Just Ahead."

Which is when I noticed my own personal batsignal, the SuperTarget bullseye. (translation: bathroom, overnight diapers, in-store Starbucks).

When I pulled off the exit, I was pleased to see there was also a gas station and a drive-thru Starbucks, just in case. This "New Town" gets five stars in my book.





Armed with fuel and a tall nonfat hot chocolate with whip, we hit the road again, and made it the rest of the way without incident.

Note to all: traveling on a Sunday is a bad idea. Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sunday and you will have to settle for something not so fun. Like McDonalds.

So we arrived in one piece, unpacked the car and settled in a little bit. Then after a snack, we hopped back in the car and headed to my friend N's house. She was having a little family birthday soiree and invited us to join them for cake.

Turtle found a nice comfy spot on the couch.



A quick picture of us before I head out. You see that vein in my temple? Yeah. That's because not 5 minutes before this picture was snapped, Turtle managed to grab a glass of red wine by them stem and start swinging it around. No one saw it, until I turned around, and managed to leap a good four feet to snatch it from him before he dropped it or before any wine spilled.

My reflexes? Catlike. My blood pressure? May finally have elevated to a human level.



I'm going to skip over the brutal parts of non sleeping and my zombie-like demeanor for the next few days. It's boring and I don't want to relive it.

So let's fast forward to bath time.

I don't have enough bath pictures of Turtle. I don't know why. He's simply the cutest (yes, I'm biased).



The next day was MLK Jr Day. My uncle, aunt and cousins came over and my grandmother prepared a fantastic Italian feast: meatballs, ravioli, sausage & peppers, and drumsticks (so not entirely Italian). And wine. Mmmm. Wine.

The plate of drumsticks was right in front of Turtle. He's not shy. He reached right out and grabbed one. It was an encouraging development after the Great Turkey Leg Disaster of 09.



You can see more pictures of Turtle and his cousins in It's All Relative.

This is really the only way Turtle would nap. In the stroller, knocked out by the fresh air. He has only slept in his stroller one other time, so you know he was exhausted.



The next day, I went to visit my other best friend, K. She and her husband just had a beautiful little boy a few months ago, and I was so excited to spend some time with them. He's a doll. Especially in his Miami Hurricanes gear.



Now, do you want to see what strikes terror in the heart of the mother of a toddler?

Exhibit A: over 30 year old Waterford crystal bowl, fingerprint free.



Exhibit B: Lladro figurine, porcelain Boston Terrier, tile floor.



You get the idea. Turtle was awesome. He did make a grab for the crystal bowl, but we moved it to a higher level. Fortunately, he left pretty much everything else alone. Yay.

He was much more interested in drawing pictures.



We ended up leaving a day early because of the exhaustion factor. I had to cancel a playdate which was sad, but it was better to go than be a complete wreck, instead of just a partial one.

And remember that "New Town Just Ahead"? It did me right a second time. I pulled off the exit for lunch and ::cue singing angels:: Chick-Fil-A was right ahead.

And even though it was 12:05pm, there was no line.