The Zombie Mobile

We were invited to a Labor Day BBQ over the weekend ... near Portland in Vancouver, WA, which is more than 150 miles away from us. The BBQ was at Ryno's childhood friend, A's house. We decided that we didn't have anything else going on and we were going to go. Sounds good so far, right? Well, throw D-Man in the mix and you have a whole new trip.

D-Man doesn't do very well sleeping anywhere but home, actually he doesn't really sleep that well at home either. Whenever we sleep away from home (at least the first night) he wakes up about midway through the night screaming and won't go back to sleep for, seriously hours and hours. We knew that this was a risk we were taking by staying the night at A's house. But, we figured with the next day being a holiday and no one having to get up for work the next day it would be fine. Guess again. As it turned out A's wife had to get up early the next morning for work ... so we all went to bed and D was as snug as a bug in his porta crib.

Then at 4 am the screaming started. Ryno retrieved D as quickly as possible from the next room and put him in bed with us. But, sleep was just not to be had. He quickly was climbing from the bed and saying "go go." So we got him up as quietly as humanly possible with a two-year-old and gave him some cereal, but this only gave him more energy. So by 5:30 am we decided rather than wake up the whole house we would load everything in the car and head for home. We felt bad leaving without a word to our hosts but thought it was better this way.

Ryno and I were both exhausted, we each got about 2 hours of sleep since we stayed up watching a movie with A the night before. We hit McDonald's for some iced coffee and crappy breakfast fast food. I drove almost the whole way home because as I put it, "I just want to get there and crawl into bed." Once we hit Tacoma, D was having none of it. His eyes were drooping and he was screaming and throwing his stuffed Piglet all over the car and yelling "biggie biggie!" But, we had to keep him awake until we got home otherwise he would think the 15 minutes he would have gotten at that point would be enough to sustain a few more hours of playtime at home ... but we made it, by 8:30 am we were in front of our house. No sleep was had for 4 1/2 hours and we were all showing telltale Zombie signs. We came inside plopped D down in his crib, he put his head down on the pillow and said "nigh nighs" and was out like a light. Ryno and I quickly followed suit and all was quiet in our little kingdom ... for a few hours at least.

On The Road Again ...

We are off to North Idaho in the morning to spend some time with the family and see my sister play Eponine, in Les Miserables. Getting ready to head out for a few days is always an adventure in itself. First of all, we have to pack so much. There are all those little "what ifs?" What if D needs this or that? I think I have gotten a little better. The key is to remember that we are coming back. Sometimes I think I forget that.

So once everything is snuggly in its place in the car and we are ready to go, I remember that D hates riding in the car. He usually averages about 1/2 hour of sleep for a five hour drive. Not a good ratio. Don't know why can't be more like me and just get the overwhelming urge to sleep in the car. I have always gotten motion sickness and growing up was always given Dramamine, which makes me sleepy. So now, I have been conditioned that if I am a passenger in a car, I go to sleep. Ryno hates this. But, I think he is pretty used to it by now.

I plan to do some driving so Ryno will have a chance to take in the lovely scenery of Central Washington then Eastern Washington ... probably our first stop will be Ellensburg for some Starbuck's and a burger, then probably Moses Lake where we will need to refuel. This will be followed by at least one stop at either a rest stop or Ritzville (where there is also a Starbucks.) Before you know it we will be in the heart of Spokane, remembering why we moved away. Then just 30 more miles down the road, the place where I grew up, and where the people that I love live. North Idaho has changed a lot since I lived there but it will always feel like home to me. Some things never change. And I wouldn't want them to.