Travelin' Fool

I never know the way to best catch up on blogging after a busy month. Do I write one ridiculously long, all-encompassing post titled "October"? But who wants to read that? And it would probably take another week to finish, by the time all the photos uploaded, stealing time here and there from naps. Is it best to do lots of short, retroactive posts, about each event that I've missed? But then it's things that happened so long ago, that they just seem irrelevant. Or do I just skip the whole month, and start fresh tomorrow, vowing never to get behind in blogging again? But we've had so much fun, and there are so many good pictures this month, it'd be a shame for them to disappear into a virtual Never-never land! Not being much of a decision maker, I guess, I'll do a little of each. And the first thing to tackle is our Great Canadian Road Trip.

As I mentioned before, this was my first time taking both boys on a long trip by myself. We take lots of road trips as a family of four, but I'm usually splitting my time equally between the passenger seat and the back, handing out snacks, drinks, soothers and toys. And although the boys and I go plenty of places alone, none of them come even close to the twelve hour mark. I wasn't really sure how the trip would go, and was preparing myself for twelve hours of sheer torture in the car, goodness knows how many stops, and approximately 15 hour travel time.

Turns out, I needn't have worried! We left at 2:30 am, and made it to Mom and Dad's house just 13 hours later, which is a near record. We only stopped twice, for breakfast at a Panera in Michigan, and for snacks in Ontario. The boys were wonderful; alternately dozing, playing, sleeping, looking out the window and listening to music. I barely heard a peep out of either of them. I only had to break out the "kids' cd" once. I got to drink a lot of coffee and enjoy the beautiful fall scenery. I think it was one of the best drives to Canada on record! I credit three things: books for Iain, pacifiers for Liam, and coffee (well...chai) for Mama! Not saying I'd want to make the trip every day, but it really was a pleasant surprise, and certainly gave me confidence that I could do it again!