This past weekend was my mama’s birthday. It always falls around thanksgiving. This year Ron was on call for the holiday weekend. So we had thanksgiving here with our favorite guys. But I planned a surprise visit out to western mass to celebrate my mom! We left early Friday morning. It took me days to pack beforehand. Days in which I was also preparing a full thanksgiving meal for 10 people I might add! Our plan was to arrive around lunchtime and sing her happy birthday at her doorstep when we arrived. And then cook her dinner and have family time. However our drive took a turn for disaster by about the time we reached the bridge.
‼️If you don’t like stories about children and bodily fluids you can just stop reading now 🤣
So for starters it was raining the whole drive. As we were approaching the bridge I suddenly hear Juniper gagging in the backseat. She was carsick. Great. I realized I needed to find a pharmacy immediately for some Dramamine. That’s when I realized the gps was taking me a different route and I’d missed my usual CVS opportunity. Sigh. Then I hear her actually throw up followed by grossed out sisters. So I pulled off the 1st exit I could find. No CVS. No Walgreens. No rite aid. No target or Walmart or anything. Sigh sigh. So we got back on the road. Next stop. I ran into a gas station convenient store. No Dramamine. Next stop. Finally a CVS. I ran as fast as I could. Got the meds. Ran back in the rain and gave her the medicine. Then Lorelei noticed that there was a bad smell coming from Lavender. Omg. That’s when I SAW it. The worst (WORST) baby blow out is ever experienced. Ever. In 9.5 years. The only spot in my car I had any space was my seat. I had to take the twins blanket and put it on my seat to change her. It was so bad. I must have gone through at least 20 baby wipes. I threw her entire outfit in the parking lot garbage. Meanwhile I was standing in the rain this whole time. I couldn’t believe this was my life. It felt like a bad movie. Anyways we eventually got on the road. Then I hear Sky complaining about her tummy. I gave her some medicine also. Pearl was a hot mess and needed to stretch. We were out in the middle of nowhere at this point. No where to stop. So I pulled over and literally stopped in someone’s driveway when Skylar got out of her seat and threw up all over the car. All. Over. The. Car.
Over 4 hours later we finally arrived on my parent’s doorstep. We all jumped out of the car and ran to the front door and rang the bell. When she opened the door we all sang to her. She cried. We all hugged. And then I realized my dad had told her we were coming 😒 Surprised ruined. But she was happy and that was the point!
My brother and his girlfriend came over and made dinner for my mom. I scrambled around getting everyone’s beds set up and clothes laid out and baths etc. There wasn’t much socializing for me… just lots of running around. I also baked mom an angel food cake for her birthday!
The highlight of our trip is that I slept. I went to bed early. The kids slept through the night. Granted. They were up at 4 am the 1st day and 5 am the 2nd day. But I still slept longer than usual. And I read my book! Both were such treats for me!
On our 1st day my mom took the kids for a walk to see the goats. it was raining still. And they came home with shoes that were absolutely soaking. Of course I only brought 1 pair per kid. On day 2 while the shoes were in the dryer that’s when we realized there was shards of broken glass all over the house. One of the girls must have rolled my mom’s disco ball across the house. Juniper stepped on a piece and cut her foot. Then I saw it all over. And naturally… no shoes. The girls needed a nap anyways so I ordered new shoes from target and took them for a drive 40 mins each way to get shoes and let them nap. On our way back I stopped at me and Ron’s favorite pizza place for a slice of pizza with the 3 littles. They had so much fun!
On our 2nd day we also had a family get together for mom’s birthday. We all had brunch together. I made omelettes to order for everyone. We all had food and gave her gifts and then ate the cake I’d made! We even snuck in a family picture!!
I miss having the family together. It’s so hard being the only one so far away from the rest. I feel bad for my girls not having family around them. No other grandparents or anything. They loved seeing their aunts and uncles and cousins and mostly grandparents!! But by night 2 we had some homesick ladies. Pearl especially was ready to go home and see her daddy and her own bed!
Today I packed all our stuff up again and loaded the car. We said our goodbyes and hit the road by late morning. The drive home seemed to go faster. This time I gave out Dramamine before embarking on our adventure. We “snacked up” as Pearl always says. A movie was playing. And we drove through snow!!!
We made the drive halfway ok! But then they started to get hungry. And I needed gas. So we made plans to stop for coffee, food and gas. Gas was easy. Lunch was much harder. Way harder than it should have been. Finally after circling the town a few times we found a tiny Panera. As I was unloading them and the twins were already in the parking lot i learned that Lavender gifted me yet another poopspolison. I’m not even kidding. So déjà vu …. I changed her on the front seat. It was a disaster. Of course. Of course a lady was waiting to get in her car next to where I was up to my elbows in poop. You literally can’t make these things up I swear.
Finally cleaned up…I took all 5 girls in and prayed for a table. Nothing. Only 2 tables big enough and both were filled. All the rest were 2 seater booths. A nice girl saw us and kindly traded tables! So sweet! I plopped the girls down and ordered food for them. They may or may not have had tiny chocolate chip cookies as a treat while they waited for lunch!
Definitely impromptu dining with 5 small kids and no other adult at nap time is not a small feat. It was challenging. But we worked as a team. Lorelei was a shining star. I had strangers compliment her and her stellar big sister skills!
After we got back on the road I realized I never got a coffee. I made a stop at a Starbucks and I’m not even kidding you. There was like 15 people in line. It was crazytown. I had to get out of line and leave. Sad. Mama needed the coffees !!! Finally we made it to the bridge and I found some glorious coffee!!!
We finally made it home to our cozy warm house. There were flurries coming down when we got here. Daddy was waiting with hugs for all and “grilled soup” (grilled cheese and tomato soup) for the ladybugs for dinner. It was so nice to come to a clean house, take a shower and put on fresh pajamas and sit by the fire. I love visiting my parents. But I’m a homebody! This time of year I’m happy being in my own house in the evenings for sure! I sure hope everyone sleeps well tonight in their own beds!
Ladybug Mama, a peek at life with 5 girls… 