This entry could be about tolls, entrance fees, exorbitant concession prices, and all the costs of a family vacation, even one done on the (relatively) cheap. But it won't.
Let’s forget the traffic ALL THE WAY through New Jersey. Let’s forget the camp set-up at dusk in Maryland. Let’s also forget the traffic the next day ALL THE WAY from D.C. to the North Carolina border. Let’s forget the torrential rains in NC that drove us to a hotel instead of our planned campsite. Let’s forget the blistering hot and soakingly humid weather that makes summer in Florida. Let’s forget the money-sucking vacuum that is Legoland. Why forget those things, when bad events make the best stories? Your imaginations can fill in the details of all the above. And much more good has happened.
Instead, remember the night Freddy spent in the tent with us in Maryland. After a disastrous beginning in his port-a-crib, or pack-n-play, or port-a-pack-n-play, we decided he might fall asleep better on the ground with the rest of us. At first, yes, he snuggled and cooed and was generally an awesome, chubby 18-month-old. But then he decided that he wasn’t sleepy, so he began roaming around the tent. We have a roomy tent, but still, every third step was someone’s stomach, or hair, or nose. The kids thought this was hilarious and cracked up, but anytime the kids crack up, Freddy starts laughing, too, and so a stomped-on ear led to laughter, which led to another stomping, and on it went. Freddy sacked out, eventually, but was up several times in the night. I distinctly remember getting kicked in the nose and then kneed on the temple as Fred tripped over me. Poor Stefanie, however, got the worst of it: she gave up her mat so Freddy could sleep on it while she slept on the cold, hard ground. In the morning, Freddy’s feet were in my face, his body was on Stef’s mat, and his head was on Rosie.
I did have one Clark Griswold moment that morning: as we climbed in the car for Day Two of driving, I sensed the kids’ apprehension that the day might be as long as the first day, when we were bumper-to-New Jersey. “Don’t worry, kids,” I said, jinxing myself with all the confidence of the true idiot. “Today can’t be as bad as yesterday. That was the worst traffic I’ve ever seen. Can’t get any worse.” And then we hit Washington and weekend traffic to Virginia Beach.
Yes, we did not reach our South Carolina campsite in Little Pee Dee State Park (a great name on many levels) because of traffic and rain, so we had to fork out dough for a hotel room, but it was a needed respite. I can’t say it was much more comfortable than a campout, but it was nice not to have to set up the tent in the rain and dark, so I guess it simply relieved my trepidations. It wasn’t even much easier to unpack or pack, since all the campsite stuff was on top. Oh well. At least we got to smell that “non-smoking” room smell of bleach, Fresh Hotel Scent, and old cigarette smoke. We could have used the wi-fi, to, if we hadn’t fallen asleep so fast. We did snag some good pizza from Pino’s Pizza across the road (listed on Tomtom as Pink’s Pizza, which would be the worst name ever for a pizza parlor).
Day Three of driving was lined up to be our longest, but was actually the easiest simply because of the lack of traffic anywhere between North Carolina and central Florida. We did, of course, stop at South of the Border. Bathrooms, pictures with the weird animal statuary, and some bad ice cream (when our kids don’t finish ice cream, you know it’s bad). I know our kids were pretty wasted by the traveling, because we parked right outside the toy store and not one of them asked to go inside.
We spent three nice nights in an air-conditioned cabin at a KOA (sorry, Mom and Dad). We were promised free wi-fi, but apparently lightning struck their tower last week, so it would be down for a few days...maybe someone would be out tomorrow...mumble mumble. My cynical side says it was a great bait-and-switch: free wi-fi! Oh, sorry, our wi-fi is down.
Legoland. The kids had fun. Really, it’s a very nice amusement park (although the carousel ride is shamefully short). Pricey, yes, and Storyland’s mist tents beat the pants off Legoland’s mister-things that don't even send moisture down to human level. Miniland is awesome to look at, but not in the sun in 90ยบ heat with 90% humidity. But the kids had fun. The staff was very courteous. We spent two days there, and day two was much more fun than the first--the kids made a plan of all they wanted to do, which meant very little standing around wondering which way to go. The gardens there were really cool--the 80-year-old banyan tree was amazing.
So now we’re at Stef’s grandmother’s house south of Melbourne, on the “treasure coast.” Spent the morning at a beach in Vero, the afternoon at the community pool, and Freddy and I had a good nap in between.
So much of our trip must be planned around Freddy. We have to stop driving so Freddy can move, we have to start driving so Freddy can nap, we can’t go there because Freddy won’t behave, we can go there but one of us has to hold Freddy.... I’m so proud of my big kids for not only putting up with this reality, but also for going out of their way to entertain him and love him and care for him. Watching them interact with him and with each other makes it easy for me to love them. And that’s where I’ll stop.
