Late Night Travels

(Written at 11:30 pm Thursday evening)

In the chaos of packing for our latest trip, I didn't get a chance to post. I didn't expect to get to anything until a week or two after we got back either, but Sir took his laptop and I can at least write a bit.

After a series of late nights leading up to our trip, Thursday morning started way too early. Sir had gotten to bed even later than I had, so I let him sleep in a little and drove him to work. The original plan was for him to take the bus, but that means he has to leave almost half an hour earlier than when he drives himself.

The kids and I got home just before PC's morning nap was to start, and I managed to get a little of the packing started before he got fussy and needed to be put to bed. While he slept, Dolly and I finished cleaning the van windows, and really got started on our packing and chores. Everything had to be ready to go by the time Sir got off work since we were going to pick him up and head south from there.

Lunch was late, and the kids finally got to take their afternoon naps nearly an hour later than usual. I used the kid free time to finish a few un-kid-friendly chores like cleaning the birdcages and hauling water down the stairs to the water crock. Being able to leave the stair gate open sometimes is very helpful, but there can't be any squirming kids around.

I barely finished the packing by the time the kids got up. Well, at least the major packing. I still had two things to iron, the snack bag to pack and the playpen to fold up. Throughout the day I had been making little trips out to the van with loads of stuff, so at least I didn't have everything to haul out there at the last minute.

Dolly knew that she could take the last button out of the jar when she got up from her nap, and she knew that as soon as that button was gone, we could get in the car and 'go to Walla Walla'. She got to take the button out and then was just buzzing with excitement. I've never seen her find her shoes and socks so fast or had her put them on with so little fuss.

A few last minute msn messages to Sir to let him know we were about to come get him, and we made the last few trips out to the van. We were just five minutes late picking Sir up, which was a lot better than it could have been. We had to make a few last minute stops for some forgotten (or not gotten to) errands and then we were on our way. The borders near White Rock were a half hour minimum, so we opted to cross at Aldergrove since it would put us a bit farther south anyway.

Once we crossed the border, it was nearly 7pm. We picked up some dinner on the go, and once we got gas and re-checked the fluid levels and air pressure we were finally feeling like we were making progress. I snapped a couple shots of the kids settling down for bed and we started our nocturnal drive.