On Monday morning my mom accompanied me on some errands before our trip. She sat with the kids while I ran into Target, the library, and Einstein’s Bagels. It was so wonderful to have her help, because those errands would have taken FOREVER and been really un-fun if I had had to take the kids in with me at every stop. I love my mom.
Then we said goodbye, headed over to the FedEx parking lot where Abe was just finishing some last minute copies before his drive to the airport. We said goodbye to Abe one more time and then started our drive to Boise.
It was such a happy leg of the trip. I will say our first rest stop was a little tricky. I peed with Clarissa on my lap and Ammon in the stall. He threatened to open the door at every moment, and when I finally let him out he immediately busted his lip open jumping against the sinks repeatedly. Since I had my hands full with Clarissa, I handed him a towel for his lip and hightailed it back to the car with everyone. Thereafter at rest areas I would send the girls in first and then lock everyone in the car with the air conditioner running full blast while I hurried in to pee. That turned out to work much better.
When we arrived in Boise, my car, which had been sparkling clean at the start of the trip just hours before, was trashed. The kids had poured cheerios over Clarissa every time she cried in their attempts to calm her down, so there were cheerios everywhere. There was trash from meals and snacks everywhere, even though I had repeatedly instructed the kids to put trash in the trash bag. And the car was just so jam packed with stuff that there was no room to navigate through the mess.
So instead of saying hello to Candace, I sent my kids into her house to play with her kids while I cleaned the car. Then I went in, said hi to Ben and Candace, and ate dinner with everyone. They made some delicious grilled kebabs for everyone. The kids loved holding the Martineaus’ chickens, jumping on their trampoline, and playing with their kids.
Then Ben gave us the keys to his apartment, and we drove there for the night. I bathed the kids and we all slept in the same room. I loved cuddling with Ammon, and all three girls were PERFECT the minute I turned off the lights. I told them that when the lights went off they would have to go to sleep, and all three girls (even Clarissa!!!) followed instructions perfectly. Ammon, who was in bed with me, did a lot of whispering songs and stories for an hour before he finally drifted off. It was so cute.