Oh, sad little, lonely blog. I've been so neglectful these past few weeks as I live my own version of the movie, "Up in the Air". Each day I wake up in a different bed, my cell phone alarm chiming away at me. A breakfast suprise awaits me as I head to the lobby or to venture out on my own to find some food. The worst was the area that didn't have a single place open for breakfast and I had to resort to chugging instant oatmeal out of a cup with out even a spoon. This was also the same place that had no internet service. Hello, 1994!!! Good times. My bank account will be happy, the review site will be brimming with hotel and car reviews too. I'll be debuting my new brand of review, "Sneak Attack!" style reivew, so stay tuned. Hotels … [Read more...]
Coffee with a Vodka Chaser, Please
I am surly today. Call me CPM - Cranky Pants Mason.I decided that it would be a fabulous idea to suck just one more sunny ounce out of summer and hit the road with the girls again this week. Beach bound we got on the highway and down came the rain. Winds blew and tiny mouths became gaping black holes of want and whine accompanied by fists of fury and destruction. "I want, I want, I want..." It was all I heard until one of the dictators passed out along side the other despot in the back seat. Silence and sunshine ensued for much of the trip.Until I got lost. Why is it that just when you miss a turn the peanut gallery in the backseat decides to create a list of demands so long and loud that you miss all the other eight turns the GPS is barking out at you in its super polite British accent? … [Read more...]
Pack it Up! We’re Going to Chocolate World!
"Are we going to Pretzel land today?" TD asks continuously. To her Pennsylvania is the land of the giant pretzel thanks to her US Maps placemat. However, after this weekend I am quite sure PA will be known as Chocolate World from here on out.I'm doing laundry like a whirling dervish today. I just finished unpacking myself from my trip and off we go again. I'm looking forward to this opportunity for some downtime with the family. Lately our schedules have been so missed matched that we are almost never home at the same time. The kids are coming and going and so are we. I'm not concerned about the car ride to Hershey. We've got car trips down. Rather I'm deeply, deeply concerned about us all sharing a hotel room. We've got light sleepers, we've got nappers and we all have different … [Read more...]
Three Girls, Two Cities, One Day
Ellen Burstyn lived as a homeless person for a few days to step out of her comfort zone. I don't need to go quite that far just yet. For me, stepping out of my own comfort zone only requires me taking the girls into two cities, aboard two trains, on three cab rides and onto the steamy streets of New York. All in just twelve hours. Even though I stay home with my kids I don't really think of myself as a hands-on mother. I still work, travel and am independent from them. It is a system that works well for us most of the time. TD was a year old before I had ever taken her to the grocery store on my own. Taking a three year-old and a nine month old on a day excursion to one of the world's largest cities is not something I find within my means of momfidence. It is more of an adventure. … [Read more...]
Have You Seen My Rose-Colored Glasses?
The radio in the kitchen is playing its familiar morning radio show, the smell of coffee is wafting through the house and all the bags from our trip are unpacked. I stand completely amazed that we made it up to CT and back without much of a blip. Nothing blogworthy to write about in two whole eight hour drives. I just might have a place in parental history.I want to say a big thank you to our fellow travelers at the Delaware rest stop who stopped by our lunch table to remark on what beautiful children I have. It brightened my day and gave me a bit more energy to get back into the car with my two "angels". It would have been even better if one of those fellow travelers had read my mind and gotten me a steaming hot latte from the nearby SBUX, but no worries. This trip gets mixed … [Read more...]
Notes from the Road
Queue the ridiculously bad and entirely inappropriate except for the song title Barry Manilow song, 'Looks Like We Made It' The girls and I had hit the road yesterday around 4:30 a.m. Typical of TD to stay awake for the whole drive and consume her weight in goldfish crackers while watching 'Bolt' two times in a row before screaming, "I just cannot watch Bolt again!"To the woman at the Woodrow Wilson rest stop with the white fluffball of a dog: Thanks for telling me my kids are so well cute and well-behaved and all. However? So not cool to then dash into the bathroom ahead of us and take the only handicap stall. Thus leaving me, one antsy toddler and The Comedian in a baby carrier car seat to squish ourselves into a Jersey Turnpike single person bathroom stall. I like being close to my … [Read more...]
Road Trippin’
It's Friday and while I'm flummoxed by the whole Japanese rent-a-cat trend my mind is also wandering in the planning direction. My anal retentive list mania is peaking as I get ready for my first solo road trip with two kids. We leave next week and I think I have four separate lists going already. I'm OCD planner. My parents think I have a death wish. My father asked me what I was trying to prove. Only a nutball would want to drive for eight hours with two small kids. I keep telling TD this will be some grand adventure. A grand adventure that will involve not kicking the back of the car seat, any yelling in the car and many, many snacks and DVDs. She thinks it sounds like quite the kick ass time.Any advice about taking a trip like this with wee ones is appreciated. And no, Valium is … [Read more...]
Anyone Got a Light?
Morning. I need a cigarette or four and a bourbon. I don't even drink bourbon, but it sounds like the breakfast of champions right about now. It's definetly the day after a vacation where it's all craziness and mayhem after you come home. Needy child after being at grandma's, laundry, errands, and well, back to work. Yippie Skippie!The trip home was essentially uneventful unless you count the woman giving birth, or at least that is what is sounded like, in the Maryland rest stop bathroom. Wow. The screams. The wails and cries for "Dear God help me! Someone help me with the Pains! It was like Melanie was giving birth all over again during the siege of Atlanta in there. We found high chairs at lunch time and we got home before we both totally went over the edge of sanity after being … [Read more...]
Over the river and through the woods…
We have internet! It's really true! My fingers have been positively itching the last few days and now it's here! My parents, having just moved into a new place had to wait until their provider got their little booties together and extended the internet privledge to them. At last.The trip up North did not start off as planned. When does it when a toddler is involved? H, feeling sentimental, had the brilliant idea to wake T.D. up early the morning of departure. I cringed and declared I did not like this plan. I could see chaos written all over it. However, I let him do it much to my chagrin. Chaos did indeed reign that morning after H left for work. Instead of getting myself ready and loading the care while she slept I did it while Lex, the dog escaped out the front door and a … [Read more...]
Road Trip!
My mother called last night. She felt I needed directions of the utmost detail for their new house. T.D. and I are heading out for a few days into a land without internet. I'm scared. I will feel so alone. I will miss you internets. The conversation with my mother went something like this-Mom: Ok, when you get to this route you will pass the casino. Really pass it. The whole thing. Don't be fooled by the other roads that seem like our roads. They are marked like that. So go pass the casino employee parking until employee lot 10. Lot 10. Employee Lot 10. Ok? Me: Desperately trying to listen and not laugh as she confuses me with more and more details in what I know is really quite simple. Mom: The road to our house is really narrow, winding and hilly. So hilly and narrow and … [Read more...]