Look! It's a family! A BIG family!!

I am back. Like really back. As in I'm having a party at my house tomorrow to celebrate my return.

Okay, not really. I am not that vain. But I am having a party. A salad recipe exchange party. Wanna come? Who sets up a party a day and a half after they get home from vacation? I must have had the May haze going on when I suggested that date.

I'm excited about, though. Recipes that you get to taste before you make them. Whoot! 

But that is not what I was wanting to blog about. So why am I? Moving along...

The first day of our trip was surprisingly easy, despite me only sleeping three hours the night before. My kids didn't fight at all! (Liar!). Okay, so they fought a little. But that was to be expected. Oh, yeah and I almost forgot that Briggy got the runs 3 hours into the trip. We had to pull over every 30 minutes for about 2 hours hours, but once the banana made its way through his system, we were good.

After being in the car for 15 hours, with 5 kids, on three hours of sleep, we were so ready to get to the hotel. I checked us in while Hubs unloaded the van and then we all came dragging into the lobby. Okay, so Hubs and I were dragging in. I think a more appropriate description of  my kids would be bouncing. Again, 15 hours in the car.

The people at the front desk just stared at us. (They may have actually been counting because I may or may not have told them there were only 3 children. What? We needed to stay in the same room.) But one guest looked at us, laughed and asked, "What'd you do? Bring the whole preschool? Hahahaha."

He was making a funny.

Funny thing is, I was too tired to come up with a smart remark equal his funny-ness. Only, at that moment, I wasn't feeling funny. Come to think of it, I don't think I could feel anything but tired. I kid you not, every single person we passed on our way to the 4th floor had a comment about our family.

Really?

Have never seen children or just not that many children in one elevator? Yes, they all belong to us. No, we don't run a preschool. And I would rather have my hands full than empty, thankyouverymuch.

See what I'm saying. I was tired. 

And he was rude.

Party anyone?

Trip Tips

We had a great trip. We saw so many good friends, the weather was kind to us and no-one died of boredom, though after about 4 hours in the car, my daughter claimed to be on the brink. She has since recovered, in case you were wondering.

Because I am a giver, I am going to share a few tips with you on how to make your next trip amazing!

Make sure that Hubs the driver ignores the gas light until you are in the middle of no-where with no gas station in sight. That is sure to make me the passenger freak out and have a really great time. Then, just when divorce is eminent, you spot a Chevron sign. Marriage saved.

Play chicken with an elk.

Make sure your exhausted Hubs drives until he is crossing that middle line. Then, when he finally lets you switch places, make sure he forgets to put the car in park. Just for fun.

Make sure that you are visiting good friends. You know, the kind who will kick their kids out their beds for you. The kind who will feed all seven of you without blinking an eye. The kind who won't complain about hearing your children wailing at 2am. Start there.

Make sure that no matter where you go, you are late. Because that just make people love you more. And my friends really love me.

Make sure to get to the Easter Pageant 2 hours early so that you can sit on the grass and instead of seeing the stage, you can see a tree. A very nice tree. Big....large branches...big.

It would probably help if your two year old had a temperature of 102+ every morning when he woke up. Oh, and if you would like to add more enjoyment, make sure that you carry said two year old everywhere you go. And I do mean everywhere.

And, to make it the best trip ever, have your sick 2 year old throw-up the first 20 minutes of the drive home, making sure that he throws up on your germ-a-phobic-ultra-sensitive-to-smell-almost-teenager. It makes for a super duper ride home!

And that, my friends, is my advice for having a great trip.

Worked for us!

In and out!

This is going to be brief.

It is Spring Break... you know that week when all your kids are out of school and you think it is a great idea to tour your state, seeing things you normally wouldn't, kids whining all the while, for three days. Who would want to skip out on that fun?

Not us!!

It really was fun. Lots of amazing places.

We just pulled in.  

Van is cleaned out, first load of laundry in, and kids have finally stopped fighting.

Inhale. Exhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaale.

But for some reason, unknown to me, my left ear is vibrating like crazy. Not ringing. More of a low rumbling...constant rumbling. This has been going on for two days now. Odd. And noise seems to aggravate it.

So you can imagine how relaxing those last 3 hours of our Spring Break adventure were for me. Us.

Memorable.

Oh, and I realized as we were driving passed the soccer fields next to our neighborhood that we totally forgot about Brody's soccer game today.

That's awesome.