Road trip to Utah

The kids and I did something that I have never done before….we took a Road trip just the three of us!!! I haven’t personally driven anywhere further than about 5 hours. I don’t think I have ever driven further than 3 hours alone with the kids. When I heard that my mom and Beth were going to Utah and it would be the half way point for us I knew I wanted to drive it. I wanted to see my mom and Beth super bad, but I also was excited that I was going to be driving it solo with the kids. I felt like I was going to be an official grown up now!

Since I had never driven that far with the kids I figured I would do it in two days. I booked a hotel in Boise, Idaho so I’d do most of the drive the first day (about 7-8 hours), and have about 5-6 hours left the second day. I made sure the hotel had a nice indoor pool so when we got there the kids could swim. I thought we would have a decent amount of time in Boise the first day and the kids would have time to stretch and play in the hotel that night. Our trip didn’t go quite that smoothly though and I didn’t make it to Boise until about 10:30 that night. The morning we were leaving Ryan was so excited he woke up and grabbed the keys from off of my purse and handed them to me, thinking he was being helpful. Since we weren’t ready to go I set the keys on our entry way table. We decided to leave the same time as Chris that morning so he helped me load up the last few things and we all piled in the car and we were off about 7:30 that morning. I knew I wanted a soda on the drive and I love and miss Sonic so we stopped at a Sonic in Yakima, about 2 1/2 hours form our house. I ordered our food and I had an awful sinking feeling…and realized I had forgotten my purse at home! I do keep a credit card in my car for when I don’t take my purse places (like to the gym) but might stop to get something on the way home. So I had money to pay for our Sonic order. But I booked a hotel and you need ID to check in. I also hated the idea of being on a week long trip without my purse! I called Chris asking if he thought I had to go back for it, and he told me to call the hotel to see if they would let  me check in without my ID. I called the hotel and they told me that in fact I do need my ID, so I had no choice…I had to turn back and go home for my purse. We got our food, I double, triple checked the car to make sure I really did leave my purse, then I turned around and headed home.

The purse incident added about 6 hours to my trip…As I was turning around I was so mad and frustrated, I may have shed a few tears and thought a few choice words, but I realized there was no getting around it so after that I was fine with it. (I did accidentally make Ryan feel like it was his fault since he took my keys off my purse, and if the keys would have been on my purse…then I’d have to remember my purse. I felt bad for making him feel bad and I told him it wasn’t his fault because regardless I need to remember my purse.) The kids thought it was funny and kept asking me why I forgot my purse. I’d tell them that moms have a lot on their mind, I had a lot in my hands, and my keys weren’t on the purse like they normally are and that created the perfect storm of forgetting my purse!

We made it home, my purse was right where I left it, kids went potty again in our own toilet, we left our house, with my purse, went and got gas, then we started our trip again! I was able to listen to an extra audio book on the drive and the kids got to play their tablets for a long time, so I guess we were all happy! The sad thing is we left a day early to make the drive shorter and easier, but we ended up driving further than we would have if we just went straight through to Utah.

After we got my purse the drive went by super smoothly. We stopped once or twice for gas and potty, but we didn’t even stop for food (since we had eaten lunch at Sonic.) Once we finally made it to Boise we stopped at McDonald’s for a late late late dinner (it was about 10:30 PM). And we went to bed. The next morning we woke up early, had breakfast, then we went swimming. The kids were looking forward to swimming since I told them our hotel had a pool! Swimming was fun, then we changed and loaded up. I missed Chris extra when I was loading/unloading the car. It would have been nice to have an extra set of hands to help carry stuff in, or even to just sit in the hotel with the kids. It took two trips to unload/load from the hotel to the car and if Chris was there it would have only taken one trip!

After we were all loaded we decided to treat ourselves to a nice lunch at Outback. (I was not feeling fast food.) We weren’t meeting up with my mom and Beth until later that night so we weren’t in a rush. It was nice to eat with my cute kiddos since the day before we were in the car all day just sitting!

The trip to Utah was also easy and a nice drive. We beat my mom and Beth by a few hours, so we checked into the apartment we were staying at, then went for dinner. Since we were feeling extra fancy we decided we would eat at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. (Yes we ate at Outback for lunch and Texas Roadhouse for dinner.) But the kids love T-roadhouse and it was delicious! We went back to the apartment and again I was missing Chris and I had to unload the car, with two kids under feet by myself. (I missed Chris the whole trip and not just when I was loading/unloading!) I finally got everything unloaded, changed into jammies and the kids and I turned on a TV show while we waited for Beth and my mom. They finally made it and the fun was about to begin!

I had a great time on the road trip! It wasn’t even bad driving so far with just the kids and I would for sure do it again! I love trips with Chris the most, but I love knowing that I can do it a lone and that I actually like it!