Road Trippin'

Crack of dawn, Sunday morning.  Car is bustin' at the seams with fruit snacks, strollers, duffle bags, and enough DVD's to keep two monkeys occupied for the three hour drive across what is arguably the most god-awful stretch of pavement in the nation.  Bam Bam is a notoriously cranky passenger, but the Princess has him under control and erupting into giggles with her multi-character rendition of "The Wheels on the Bus".  Uncle Shad "may or may not" have been out late the night before, but he is a trooper and keeps me company while trek that lonesome stretch of road to the wild west.  We are on our way to meet Grandma & Grandpa in Bismarck!!

Three hours, (only!) two tantrums, one pit stop in Jamestown and zero naps later... we meet Grams & Gramps at Space Aliens for lunch, then immediately head to Raging Rivers.  (I know, I know, swimming less than 1/2 hour after eating, bad Mommy!)  It is at least 112 degrees out.  The water has never looked so inviting! 

Not afraid to get herself & everyone around her soaked!

My baby fishy.  He is SO at home in the water!

He ran Grama Kerry all over the place!

Tubing was her favorite!

The boys, heading in for a snack!

I scream, you scream, for Strawberry ICE CREAM!

Well, at least he enjoyed it. 

Getting a "buckin' bronco stroller" ride from Papa Chuck.  Apparently, this is hilarious.

One pooped lil' pardner.  He slept all of 17 minutes, then after his power nap headed straight back to the pool to pick right up where he left off!

This Little Mermaid was having a ball! 

They actually paused for ONE brief moment to let me snap a couple pics!

 "Swim!" said the Mama Fishy, "Swim if you can!"

(Boop boop dittum dattum whattamachoo!)

The whole purpose of our trip was to hand Asha off to Grams & Gramps so that she could go back with them to spend the week at the farm.  After several hours at the waterpark, we were all completely wiped out and ready to get home!  So we grabbed a bite to eat and headed our separate ways: one excited little girl and her two very tired Grandparents in one car headed south, one happy little boy and his very tired Mama and Uncle in the other car, headed back east. 

Three loops through "Elmo's Great Outdoors" later, the little dude STILL had not closed his eyes.  His aversion to sleeping in cars is astounding. The kid has willpower, I'll give him that.  But despite his resistance to falling asleep (even though we hit the road at what is his usual bedtime) he was a very good boy!  Lots of singing and laughing hysterically to his beloved "Ehmo", babbling quietly to himself, and making animal sounds while Mama and Uncle laughed at his antics.  He had our full, undivided attention...and was not about to give that up for sleep!!  This coming from the child who earlier this summer had us vowing to never ever again leave town in the same vehicle as him for fear of igniting the 8-hour supertantrum that ensued after our last trip.  He was miraculously... good! 

So next weekend we are tracing our tracks back to Biz to pick up the Princess.  She is having a blast at the farm, but we are really missing her back at home.  It seems SILENT in our house without her!  Our trip will involve a Tvedt family reunion as well.  We are excited to go -- there should certainly be some great "blog fodder" with that crew!!