Miss Party Mom: Two Kids. One Road Trip: 1100 Miles in 2 Days.

It's Day 2 of our road trip to Austin, TX from the Central Coast of California. If you were ever thinking a long road trip might be for you and your family, I feel like we are a pretty average family to track and see if this might be something up your alley. Heck, throw an ipad in the mix and you might be golden!

Day One.

Waking up at 3 a.m. Now let me tell you something about being woken up at this time of the morning- I don't care if I'm waking up to collect a million dollars, when you wake a woman who's a night owl up who insisted on blogging the night before, it ain't gonna be pretty. No matter how many times we've talked about why leaving on the first day in the middle of the night is the best idea for the kids... you are gonna get a good amount of attitude at 3 a.m. As in a ton of attitude.

Waking Kids Up at 3:30 a.m. I swear to you that my 4 year-old son wakes up and is literally yelling, "Texas, Texas, Texas!" What the? Whose kid is this and why am I so annoyed at his joy? Oh ya, it's 3:30 a.m. My daughter was a grouch, just like her momma... and I loved her for it. True to "the plan," the kids fell asleep after 20 minutes on the road and didn't wake until 8 a.m., just in time for a breakfast of champions at good ol' McDonald's in Palm Springs.

Breakfast at 8 a.m. Shawn has owned the car for something like 9 years, so we hear every day we drive it that it's a great car, etc. Never in our marriage have I seen people flock to the car like in Palm Springs, especially at a Palm Springs McDonalds during breakfast hour. I couldn't take a bite of my hash brown without answering a question about it. I had to start making up lies because I felt people were desperate for answers I did not have. And why is my husband taking so long in the bathroom?! It brought out memories in people that I almost felt awkward hearing. Everywhere we went in this town people were coming up to us with stories. It was sweet... in a somewhat stalkerish way...

400 miles of road...

Day One Summary: We are not an electronics family.We brought one Etch A Sketch for the kids to fight over, as well as a ton of books and coloring books and they didn't lose their minds at all on Day One.

I counted this a blessing and figured, "hey maybe this is going to go smoother than I thought!" They took another huge chunk of nap and all in all it was a great day with a stop at the Phoenix Zoo, ended by staying in Tempe at the house of an old friend I haven't seen in ages.

551 miles total.
Started in Orcutt, CA and ended in Tempe, AZ.

Day Two.

Leaving Tempe at 9:30 a.m. Birdie, my 20 month-old started out strong. She was clapping to the radio and being all kinds of cute. But once that baby brain of hers realized we were attempting to get in another 500 miles she started on a downward slope. I mean, can you blame her?

First she made this whining noise that sounded like something a cat in heat would make. I tried everything. Cormac tried everthing. And Shawn, he's all, "just ignore her, she'll fall asleep..." Ya... how do you ignore something that's getting to sound more and more like the toddler version of a velociraptor? You don't.

Cormac was a total trooper and we have officially nicknamed him the Rhodesian Road Dawg. Birdie? She has a lot of nicknames I'd rather not get in to. Let's just say one thing... if the Hell's Angels had a baby chapter, she'd be in it.

531 miles and a bunch of outpost and gas station stops later (some of my favorite shopping ever, can you say wolf tee? And not the ironic kind...), and we stayed the night at a Days Inn in Van Horn, TX. We rolled in at 9:40 p.m. and thank God the only restaurant in town was open until 10 p.m. AND it was Mexican. Double score. I hated being THOSE people who showed up 5 minutes before close (at the restaurant I work at we curse these people) but like the saying goes- desperate times...

The family knocked out while I worked on the ol' blog... we tackle the big state of Texas, (Day 3) with a wake up call at 8 a.m.

Day Two Summary: We've been seeing a few old cars on the road that are also heading to the Lonestar Roundup (car show) and it's so exciting... it's nice to see other wives in the passengers seat, we have this little wave we do and all that wave says is: "Thank God I'm not the only nut who agreed to this." Now wait till I see a wife with kids. We will immediately pull the car over and hug like long lost friends. Trust me on this one.

531 miles.
Started in Tempe, AZ and ended up in Van Horn, TX

3:30 a.m. Day One 4.2.13