Vacation–Day 1

Lilly, Josiah, and I left for vacation on Sunday evening.  We drove down to Massanutten Resort in Virginia for the week.  The kids watched a movie and ultimately fell asleep around 9pm…

I had been on the fence about topping off the gas tank earlier in the trip and decided not to bother.  With about an hour and a half left, I started doing some math:

1/4 tank left of an 18 gallon tank is 4.5 gallons.

If I get 25 miles to the gallon, that’d be 112.5 miles if my MPG guess is accurate (or conservative) and the gauge is proportionate.

Since I had about 110 miles at the time, I thought it foolish to test my luck.  I stopped for gas with about an hour and a half left hoping it would give the kids a chance to get back to sleep.

Instead, they both woke up seemingly with the flip of a switch.  Each wanted to get out and pump the gas (in the below-freezing cold) and were heartbroken when I explained I’d do it myself.  We got back on the road quickly but they would be up the entire rest of the trip.

We checked in (about 20 minutes) and drove over to our place.  Had they been asleep, I could have let them sleep on the couch while I carried everything in.  Instead, I needed the kids to stay with me as I made each trip with luggage from the car inside.  Each time we would come back inside, I had to remind them that our neighbors were sleeping so they had to be sooo quiet.  I’d say I was moderately successful but don’t poll the neighbors.

Once we got our bags in, food went into the fridge and the kids things went into their room.  Because we don’t want the kids to wake up lost and disoriented, I showed them inside every door/bathroom/closet and let them see me install the night lights so they could find their way in the dark.  I setup the kids cots (don’t call them “beds” or Lilly will correct you: “No, no, no daddy, COTS”), changed their diapers, and got them to sleep (at about 1am).

With the kids asleep, the rest of the unpacking could begin.  Rather than unpacking, it’s more like laying groundwork for the next day.  Kitchen supplies needed to be out and accessible, as did shower supplies, kids clothes, my clothes, and the other little things that we’d need for Monday.

During the two months we lived in the hotel after our condo fire last year, we decided we needed to always travel with our Roku.  We had access to our Netflix shows, our Amazon Instant Video purchases (both movies and TV shows), and all of it streamed “on-demand”.  It’s a great convenience to have the library of shows/movies with us and yet taking up almost no space!

So after the kids were asleep and the other things unpacked, I connected the Roku to the TV, then the cabling for the laptop to the TV (and the webcam) so the kids could Skype with Bethany while we were here.  I had to setup the MiFi and router so that we’d have our internet access (complimentary WiFi is convenient but often performs poorly if at all).

With all of that out of the way, I went to bed and was woken 4 short hours later by the kids, ready to start their day.

My next mistake (not my first since we left home) was that I thought it would be a good idea to head out for the day knowing they had such little sleep (though I’m not sure it wouldn’t have been far worse had I stayed home).  We went north to Luray Caverns so the kids could walk through the caves (their interest having been prompted by an episode of their beloved Curious George where he explores a cave).  Josiah sobbed the whole drive (45 minutes) there because he’d forgotten to grab his “tag” blanket to bring with him. Lilly slept.  When we got there, both were excited and cooperative (including a trip back out to the car because the camera battery was dead).  After waiting in line for about 10 minutes (and trying their best to be still), we went down into the cave.  30 seconds after that, their objectives had been met and they were ready to go.

I carried Lilly for most of the 1.25 mile walk over the next hour.  I held Josiah’s hand, despite his wiggling to get free, for as much of the rest of the trip as I could.  The three of us were elated to be above ground when the tour came to an end.  This was a much different trip than when Bethany and I went during our honeymoon.

We came back to the house, had lunch, and spent the afternoon napping and recovering from the day.

I didn’t get any pictures inside (despite going back to the car for the battery and then carrying the stinking camera the entire time) because of the kids but we got a couple just afterwards…

 

 

 

 

That night, Lilly and Josiah talked with Beth via Skype while they had their dinner: