Nick’s First Vacation: On The Open Road (Part 1)

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My alarm went off at 3:30.  I was so tiered from my restless night that it took me a moment to realize what day it was.  Once things came back to me I jumped out of bed.  Vacation was here and it was time to get ready to go!

The plan was for me to get up and get around and then Jason would get up around 4:00 to take a shower.  Amazingly the morning went pretty much as planned.  While Jason showered I finished packing the bags, made the bed, and emptied the dishwasher.  We both finished at the same time, around 4:30.  All that we had left to do was to pack the cooler and finish loading up the car.

Just before 5:00 we went upstairs to collect Nick.  It w was a two person job because besides Nick we had to grab his blankie, his pillow, and his Sleep Sheep.  I had hoped that Nick wouldn’t fully wake up and would go right back to sleep, but no such luck.  We had made the decision to turn Nick’s car seat for the trip.  For the most part we were very glad that we did, but Nick seemed to find it so stimulating that it kept him from sleeping much.

My goal had been for us to leave at 5:00 and I was very pleased to see that we were pulling out of the driveway at 5:06.  The first part of our drive went smoothly.  Jason and I talked quietly in the front seat while drinking coffee (I still had my migraine) while Nick happily rode in the back.  Every once in awhile I would turn around to see how he was dong and I would be rewarded with a big grin.  He was very much enjoying going forward.

Around 6:00 we made our first stop at a rest area in Ohio.  As I was getting back into the car mom called to see where we were.  I told her I was hoping to drive until 7:30 before stopping for breakfast.  Mom suggested we might want to stop sooner because she figured Nick would fall asleep on us before that.  She was right.  Nick fell asleep not long after we got off the phone.  Jason and I were happy to let him sleep though because at about the same time it started raining, so we didn’t want to stop and get out in it anyways.

Nick slept for about an hour.  When he awoke the rain had stopped and we were all ready to eat.  At the same time though we were dealing with morning rush hour in Dayton, so we decided to keep driving until we got to a less congested area.  Once we did we pulled off the highway and stopped at a McDonald’s.

This turned out to be a very frustrating stop.  When we went inside we ordered first which was difficult because the girl at the counter seemed to want to ignore us.  Then I left Jason to collect the food while I took Nick into the restroom to change his diaper and get him dressed for the day.  When we got back to the table I found Jason sitting with three platters of hot cakes in front of him.  I had ordered a platter with just the three hot cakes (no sausage or anything) and the girl taking my order had thought I had ordered three platters of hot cakes!  I was so mad at myself for not catching the mistake.  It didn’t turn out to be a complete loss though because Jason’s breakfast sandwich was cold, so he ended up eating one of the hot cake platters.

Once I had unloaded my bag at the table I pulled up a highchair for Nick and got his bib, sippy cup, and cereal bar out.  He got right to work at eating his cereal bar while I poured the milk I had bought him into his cup.  Then he went to take a drink, and that is when my happy and good little boy disappeared.  He kept putting the cup into his mouth and getting mad.  Then he started screaming.  Jason and I weren’t sure what to do because screaming in public has never been something that Nick has done.  I tried to feed him his parfait, but he just kept screaming.  I felt awful because there were a lot of people trying to enjoy their breakfasts.  Finally when Nick wouldn’t calm down I picked him up and carried him outside.  Once he seemed calm I carried him back in.  As soon as I put him in his highchair he reached for the sippy cup and then started screaming again.  That was when we realized that the cup wasn’t working.  It was one of the Playtex beginning straw ones, and nothing was coming up from the straw.  Jason played around with it until it worked, but by then Nick was a lost cause.  Jason and I inhaled the rest of our food.  Then Jason went out to the car with Nick while I went to order a mocha (my head really needed it at that point).  The girl behind the counter informed me that the mocha machine wasn’t working.  I thought I might just lose it at that point.

I headed out to the car to help Jason get Nick settled.  We decided to put the tablet up and turn on some Disney Junior for Nick to make it more of a normal morning for him.  That really helped him calm down.  He was then able to drink his milk in the car and I opened a little box of cereal for him to munch on.  Sadly after eating some of it he decided to wave the bag all over and got Cheerios everywhere, but even at the time Jason and I were able to laugh about it.

We decided to put the terrible breakfast behind us and just keep traveling down the road.  We figured everything was going better at that point and things would be smooth sailing from there on out.  Oh, if only that were true.

To Be Continued…