Trip out west

This weekend the kids and I hit the road with Mom and Dad.  I threw caution to the wind and climb in the back seat with a potty training three year old and a 6 week old infant.  It. Was. Awesome.  The trip over there Luke did great.  We left about 1:00 and he didn't get super antsy or agitated till we were just about there.  We only stopped twice- half way there to take a potty break and get a snack at Dairy Queen.  After we got back in the car we drove for another hour to Abilene, and stopped to pick up a coconut pie at McKays.  Of course.  Then we only had one more hour to get to Grandy's.  At that point Mom handed Luke her newspaper.

How cute is he?!  While he "did" the crossword puzzle, Sister just slept the ride away.

She did fantastic.  Once we got to Grandy's, we all went out to the little Mexican food place there in town for dinner with Aunt Patty and Uncle Allen.  Then it was back to Grandy's house to relax and eat our pie.

Saturday we slept in until 9 and then hung around the house.  Eventually we got dressed and headed to the museum where Aunt Patty works so we could see it and- best of all- let Luke play in the red caboose that is right behind the museum.

  Girlfriend and I stayed inside where it was air conditioned.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing around the house, figuring out Google+ and Pinterest.  We'll see how long I stay interested in them!

Today we all got up, went to church, and then had lunch over at Aunt Patty's house.  Finally it was time for the trip home.  It started out okay, mostly because after about 30 minutes we all (except for Dad, who was driving) fell asleep for a couple of hours.  When we woke up, things didn't go to well.  We'd slept through Eastland (the half way mark) and stops after that are slim pickens until Weatherford (an hour away).  Luke got tired of his seat FAST and Evan suddenly became starved.  He kept saying "I"m not happy.  I'm sad." and "I WANNA GET DOWN."  Lovely.  We made it to right outside of Weatherford to a Wendy's in a truck stop, where I huddled in a corner table nursing Evan and Mom and Dad got a snack for everyone.  All too soon it was time to get back in the car.

Holding hands with someone made it a little more bearable.  Sometimes it was with me, sometimes it was with Evan.  Eventually we made it home and all was right with the world.  I have to say, that kid talked the ENTIRE car ride there and back, except for when he was asleep.  It was incredible.  Mostly it was about his beloved trains, but there was a little bit of everything in there. Let me tell you, I am currently enjoying the peace and quiet of bed time at this moment.

Some exciting news about Luke....he didn't have an accident all weekend!!  I was very nervous about the car ride, but he did fine.  He did say on the way home (after Wendy's) that he needed to poop, but of course when we stopped he didn't.  Once back in the car, Mom handed me some fruit snacks in front of him and said when he went poop in the potty he could have the fruit snacks.  When we got home he sat on the potty for 20 minutes working for those snacks.  I kept telling him he could get down and try again later, but dude was determined.  Finally he did, and he received the spoils of his labor.

The exciting news about Evan is she gave us her first real smiles this weekend!  I tried so hard to get one on camera, but of course those suckers are more elusive than Big Foot.  Hopefully I'll have one soon!

(closest I got)