Tour de Texas: Getting There

When I heard the news that my youngest Graff cousin, Eric, was getting married it seemed like the perfect excuse opportunity to take a trip to Texas.  In addition to visiting Family (Eric and his family had a house on the same ranch as my family growing up, so they're more like extended siblings than cousins), I couldn't resist the siren call of some of my most favorite people who also reside in Texas.  Besides, I rationalized, if I'm going to spend the money to buy plane tickets and go through the hassle of traveling, you better believe I'm going to stay for more than a weekend!

Unfortunately, Mark couldn't take two full weeks off of work (somebody's got to pay for all our gallivanting!), so that meant I had to take the kids on the plane alone.  In anticipation, I employed my best coping strategy - denial.  I didn't think about it more than absolutely necessary until we got to the airport and by that time there was nothing to do but plow through.  Bryce, however, thought about it enough for all of us.  He was thrilled with the prospect of flying on an airplane again and spoke of little else the entire preceding weekend.

By the end of a full day of travel, we were exhausted and slightly frazzled (okay, so maybe that was just me), but we survived and arrived in Houston (our inaugural stop) intact.  There were 3 different 10 minute periods where I seriously questioned my sanity in thinking I could take on such a venture, but that's not too bad considering how long we were out.  The first period occurred on our first flight (we had a layover in Albuquerque).  All three kids chose the same moment to meltdown.  I thought, "Albuquerque is a nice place.  I have a friend in Albuquerque.  I'm getting off the plane in Albuquerque and staying!"

I stuffed my backpack and Aubree's backpack with things I thought the kids would find fun and entertaining en route.  In the end, they didn't touch 80% of it.  Snacks saved the day.  Of course, none of the kids slept at all, which meant that when we  reached the most difficult part of the trip (getting our luggage and our rental car), Bryce was hitting his I'm-too-tired-to-obey-or-be-kind point and Thane was a pick-me-up-no-put-me-down-NO-pick-me-up mess.  

I somehow managed to load 3 suitcases and 3 car seats on a luggage cart while simultaneously pushing Thane in a stroller, and made our way to the rental car line.  When I finally got to speak with an agent, Thane was screaming in the stroller, Bryce was pulling on my arm begging to use the bathroom, and Aubree was keeping watch over our huge pile-o-stuff trying to keep the top-perched car seat from tumbling down (again).  As the agent talked and talked and gave sales pitch after sales pitch, I had to resist the seemingly overwhelming urge to throttle her.

Once past that hurdle, we made our way (slowly) to the rental car shuttle.  The driver dropped us and our gear off in front of the office.  "Where," I asked, afraid of the answer, "can we find our car?"  

"Over there," he answered, pointing to a row of cars along a far-away fence line.  I know Houston is hot and humid, but I just about melted into a puddle at that point.  Thankfully he took pity on my plight and had someone drive the car over to me. 

In the end, it was ALL worth it.  We had such an amazing time visiting friends and family in Texas.  Some women go to special retreats and conferences* to find inspiration and "get recharged."  I go visit my friends and family. 

*note - I have nothing against those types of conferences and retreats, I think they're great.