Go East Young Family!

So Tim's father's day present this year was a trip to Virginia International Raceway to drive his beloved El Diablo too fast with a bunch of other people way too interested in their cars (my father included). When it was just a thought 6 months ago it made sense; we would drive out to my dad's in Bethesda MD, hang out for a day, Tim and my dad would go racing for a day and we would have a nice little family vacay. I hadn't really worked out the particulars of travel, but it is rare that I can get Tim to commit to travel so I ran with it.
(not that this father's day gift totally beat the pants off the crappy $25 gift card to Target I got for Mother's Day)
I spent the first part of last week getting my life together, my kid's lives together, and my house ready for us to be gone for a while. Tim and I only had one meltdown when I told him that I was not his mother and he had to pack his own damn bags. Now anyone who knows Tim understands that he does not transport well. He is very anal and over cautious in his packing. He worked all day Wed with the plan to leave before dawn on Thursday. By 9 on Wed I was in bed with all my stuff, the kid's stuff, and the house packed, ready to get rest before hitting the great wide open. Tim was still running around like his ass was on fire freaking out about having a tool kit and 100% cotton clothes for racing (he left a shirt behind that was 95% cotton and 5% spandex in case he caught on fire).
So by some miracle we are all set and packed into El Diablo and on the road by 2 am. Tim wanted to drive the first leg because he was so "wired" on Monster energy drink and his general hyperactivity. He got about 60 miles and we switched. The drive really wasn't all that bad. We were crammed into the car, but we kind of expected that. The leaves were pretty and the girls were good (the recent release of The Little Mermaid on DVD kind of helped. You can think less of us for being the people who let our kids watch TV in the car, but really, it was great, and she didn't watch it the whole time so back off and go judge someone else).
We got there with little incident, ready for a weekend of family fun. Tim was leaving Friday night with my dad so we went to the National Zoo to see the Pandas during the day. Abby was an insufferable brat. She was tired and crabby and completely over stimulated. In all honesty she was a little shit, and I don't think that went over too well. Tim and I deal with it because we know it comes from a place that is not her. There was so much going on in her little (almost) 4 year old world that you had to feel bad for the kid. 12 hours in a car followed by a house where there is 1 room where you can be free to be a kid where something priceless won't get broken, and a strange bed to sleep in, it could put anyone in a state. Add the impending doom of her beloved daddy and Grampy leaving for the weekend I am sure she was on overload. The day was fun other than her spurts of brattiness, and we had a nice dinner before the boys left.
That night, Abby called me at about midnight and asked me to cuddle her. I told her to come get in my bed because the commotion had woken Nora and I was going to nurse her back to sleep. We all piled into my room until 3 am when Abby woke up to tell me she was going back to her bed. Huh? What had happened was that she had peed in my bed because she had taken off her sleep pull up (I know, she should be potty trained at night, but she isn't get over it) and didn't want to sleep in the "wet spot". Fun to clean up at 3 am, right. Oh wait, the baby woke up again.
Saturday we went to see my great aunt and uncle who live about 2 hours away (just what my kids wanted a car ride, meh, they survived, I wanted to show them off to the old people). We had a nice visit with them and continued on to lunch and a trip to the outlet malls.
Saturday night was just as much fun as Friday. Nora was up constantly because she chose this weekend to cut 2 new teeth (we are now at 6, how many does she need, really?) and Abby wanted to sleep in my bed again. Whatever, we survived.
The boys finally came home Sunday with all kinds of tales of auto racing. I stopped listening after about the first 10 minutes (I am a bad wife/daughter, I know). Sunday night was by far the worst night I have ever had with Nora. She would not stop crying. If she wasn't nursing she was crying. If I wasn't holding her she was crying. If she was not in my bed she was crying. I got maybe 2 hours of sleep, jealous?
We spent Monday on the Mall looking at the monuments. How do you explain the Vietnam Wall to a(n almost) 4 year old? It was actually one of my favorite days I have ever had in DC (check my flickr page this week for pictures). We had great parking luck, great things to see, and my kids were back to normal once Tim came back.
We left DC late last night and drove through the driving rains of Ohio to get home before noon today. Again, the drive really wasn't that bad, but I think it was because our dear Tony lent us his GPS system which totally rocked. I used to make fun of it, but now it is all I want in life. It gives you an ETA based on where you are going. It will tell you where the closest Gap Outlet is, and lets you know everything short of what color that state trooper's boxers are. (Both Tim and I got Certificates of Merit for our ability to exceed the speed limit; mine in Ohio, Tim's in Maryland)
It is good to be home, but of course we kind of exploded back onto the scene here and have a ton of stuff to do this weekend. Both girls are tucked safely into bed and Tim and I are blowing off our responsibilities for the evening to catch up on all the great Tivo we have missed (I am dying- did Flav pick New York or Delishes?). This is actually a red letter day in our world, Tim told his dad to take a cab home from the airport. That was worth blowing off belly dancing tonight, right?