Life is a highway

Why is it the drive home always takes longer than the drive there?  Yesterday's long long long car ride home from Christmas at Grandma's really sort of epitomizes how the rest of the holiday went for us.  There was grumpiness, chaos, comedy and barf.

Here's the scene:  we've just gotten back on the road from our delicious and satisfying Burger King lunch, the big girls are arguing over what DVD they want to watch.  Zoey gives a cry and when I turn to see what the fuss is about she starts spewing all over herself.  Chaos ensues - Zoey is crying.  Greg is trying to decide if we can make it to the next exit before stopping, Lorelei fanning the putrid air and telling us how gross it is.  Violet is coughing and crying, "I don wanna barrrrrrrrf Mommy!"  I'm chanting, "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay." 

It was not okay. 

Greg took the first exit we came to, which turned about to be the on-ramp for I-64.  Crap.  So, we cleaned up as much as we could on the ramp between Interstates 81 and 64.  When we finally made it to a Sheetz, I made the quick decision that the outfit Zoey had been wearing was going straight into the trash can.  I pulled the car seat out and we did a more thorough cleaning - we still had a long way to go.  

An hour and 20 minutes later we were back on the right road to home.

A little further down the road, very shortly (and I emphasize the "very") after we'd made a bathroom stop, Violet starts yelling about needing to pee again.  We're on a 2 lane country road with only farms, keep going and going, get on our next road, still nothing, going and going - finally about 20 miles later we come to a town.  I remember from our last trek this way that the gas station on our side had outdoor bathrooms that were really horrifying, so we opt for the 7-11 on the opposite side of the road.  I run in with V, search around.  You are kidding me, no bathroom.  Back in the car and across the side street to the A&W we go.  Run in - Violet starts gushing about how "cute" the bathroom is and is not acting at all like it's urgent.  Gotta tell you - the bathroom was not cute at all.

I am so glad to be at home.  I don't know when we'll be making our next car trip, but it's going to be a little while.