Road trip and thanks

The 3 Little Bears and I hopped in the van and drove to Boston on Saturday.  The entire adventure has been filled with a sense of thankfulness.  Thankful that…

-minivans exist with all their cool features

-we have beautiful family who conveniently live halfway through our drive…and who graciously welcomed us in and provided more fun than Disney World.  I’m talking balloons, balls, food, things that shoot, play dough, more food, bubbles, stuffed animals, birthday cake, and more than enough laughs.  Just lovely.

-little boys have the amazing capacity to pee in cups, saving us laborious stops on the drive

-we dodged strep throat.  Back story: the kids were around our sweet-though-streppy cousins for 4 days.  And wouldn’t you know, 20 minutes into our 6 hour drive to Boston, they’re all crying and saying their throats hurt.  Yikes.  So I swing by a Minute Clinic in Connecticut only to discover that “minute” is apparently synonymous with “THREE HOURS”.  So we hop back in the van sans diagnosis or medicine and hope for the best.  As we drove I asked God to heal my kids.  When we got to Boston, I made a concoction of honey, warm water, vitamin c tablets and good ol’ apple cider vinegar.  After their nightcap, they all fell asleep and woke up without a complaint.  Amazing.

-drive-thrus exist.  I cringe at all those times (pre-kids, of course) that I judged those lazy people who chose the drive-thru over parking and walking.  Um, sorry.

-the hubs and I have made deliberate decisions in shaping our family culture.  Specifically, that all 3 kids share a room…that sure makes traveling easier.  And that they don’t use computers/video games/technology…at least not yet.  They rode happily for 6 hours ‘reading’ library books and singing (just call us the Von Trapps).  And that they know that for 2 hours in the afternoon, they will be resting in their room…what a wonderful gift that is to Mommy!

-we celebrated the boys’ birthdays surrounded by so much love from friends and family.

The remedy for little boys falling out of bed at all hours of night:  sleep under the bed!  Added benefit: Momma Bear just scored a spot on top of the bed!

I misplaced my keys, though I made sure to put them in a kids-free place.  After searching for a good 30 minutes, I noticed the boys playing Pirates and Treasure.  And that’s when I had the epiphany, “If I were the boys (pirates), where would I put (bury) the keys (treasure)?  I looked around and noticed what conveniently looked like a treasure chest.  And low and behold, therein lay the keys (treasure).  Argh!