Memorial Day Trip

We are preparing for a trip to Arkansas this weekend to visit my parents. Violet has been so excited about our upcoming trip. This is a fun age right now. She knows just enough to be excited and not enough to dread the actual trip.

I don't like to travel. I never have, really. I would rather prepare for the trip, close my eyes and then magically appear where we going. Since I don't live in la-la land, where magical travel happens, I have to do my best to not stress out and make the trip as pleasant as possible.

Violet and I made a paper chain earlier this week in order for her to count the days till we leave. We have one link left to tear off. Violet has steadily been going to the calendar, where the chain is hanging and makes sure that it's still there... making sure that she hasn't somehow missed a day. Every time she checks on the paper chain she'll point to it and say, "Only one more link!" Making this chain is probably the smartest thing I've done recently. Violet is able to settle down some while the time passes and knows when we're getting closer to leave.

The last time the three of us took a long trip in the car Violet didn't do too well. We left in the middle of the night, hoping that Violet would sleep the whole way there. What actually happened was she was wide-eyed for the first two and a half hours and then finally crashed. Violet woke up about two hours later when the road changed and began to get a little bumpy. We listened to her cry as I was turned, facing the back of the car, trying to console our precious little girl and get her to go back to sleep. We drove for a little over an hour that way... I don't recommend that. Still, Violet finally crashed and Gregg and I thought the silence was bliss. Violet eventually woke up when we were an hour outside of where we were going and watched the sunrise. That last hour was the most pleasant hour of that whole drive. The sun was beautiful and watching Violet appreciate it was the best reward.

We're praying that this trip will go better than our last.