On the road

Visits to L.A. are usually pretty common/routine for us. But being our first road trip with two kids, preparing and going on this trip was far from ordinary.

This week has been a lot about mentally preparing for the long drive and our first experience as a family in a hotel. It's not just the usual packing snacks and toys for the trip, but Eli has proven from our trips to Monterey that he can be unhappy in a carseat and with a newfound mobility, this was the aspect about the driving I fear the most. At the last minute, we decided to drive down Friday night instead of Saturday, mostly because I felt bad about not having more time with my parents and Matt-n-Kat. We also would get to find out if night driving is a good option for future trips.

Our drive down was really smooth, 5.25 hours with a bathroom stop at the Grapevine (3 Petro minimarts within spitting distance of each other. Weird.). Eli started out a little fussy but within a couple minutes was mesmerized by the muse of Tobey and the Discovery Ball. Eli fell asleep at around 8:30 and Tobey not until maybe 10? (I always did have a hunch that although bedtime at home is 9, he is up much later.) With kids in PJ's sleeping and Tom loaded up with Mountain Dew, we gunned down I-5.

All was supersmooth until we arrived at our hotel. We had reservations for Sat/Sun but not for Fri. Not only because of the last minute travel change but also because you have to cancel a reservation by 4PM that day and since we weren't driving until 7, we wouldn't know if we would make it all the way to Pasadena or if, due to a torturous drive, we'd have to stop somewhere along the way for the night. Turns out, there's probably some Santa Anita race track event so we were out of luck for getting a hotel room for Friday night. Great. It's 1AM with two kids in the car and we have no hotel room.

Strangely enough this reeks waaaay too familiar of my childhood where my dad would never plan ahead (well, we tried) and we'd literally be wandering around aimlessly at night, 3 kids in the car, hopping from hotel to hotel looking for vacancy. It think my parents also used to ask to see a room first before committing to staying there. And now that we have seen the range of hotel rooms within the 2 start range (we were a ta Quality Inn last night, a Best Western tonight/tomorrow), we understand why.

Anyway, thankfully, there was 1 room left at a hotel down the street and we promptly took it. Set up the pack-n-play and for the first time, shared a family bed with Tobey. He didn't kick as much as we thought and we all slept through to 7:30. I was very thankful for a smooth drive and a smooth night.

So I realized that this trip, while more of a visit than a relaxing "vacation", is not terribly leisurely for me. Being the first time for everything, I find myself a little on edge about everything. Will Eli cry in the car? Will Tobey sleep well in our bed? Will Eli wake up in the middle of the night? How do I get clean hot water for Eli's formula? Will we all get a decent nap in the same hotel room together? Will the kids fall asleep even if Tom and I are still awake? Will they sleep through the explosive sounding toilet of the hotel room? I'm thankful that the answer to all of the above so far is "yes". The irony is that I'm the most relaxed while we're out for the day. That's because I "know" how to do that, we do that all the time. The anxiousness comes when we come back to the hotel but so far so good.