What a Wonderful day from HELL!

Fourteen hours ago we left our house, setting out on a pretty hefty undertaking.  A 240+ mile trip down for a three-year-old's birthday party and a stop-off at our friends.  Then back home again.  With a three-year-old and a four-month-old.  It seemed like a somewhat reasonable idea when we thought of it... 


So, we left our home at about 8:45a.m. (ONLY 15 minutes later than our hopeful starting time!)  We did need to stop for gas, air in the tires and coffee, so by the time we actually began, it was 9:15.  still not bad, especially for me!


The trip down was great- at first.  the baby slept, M played her video games, traffic moved.  It was a beautiful day to be out on the road.  Until, that is, the baby woke up.  and M no longer wanted to play video games.  and that was bad enough, to listen to a screaming baby and a whining toddler.  but then, when we got within ten miles of our first destination, traffic Stopped!  it just Stopped!  on 85, dead stopped!  and, when we finally get up to our exit, it is closed.  as of 9:30p.m. last night (per the very helpful sign that really could have alerted us ten miles ago, so we could have planned out our alternate route with all of our free time in dead stopped traffic.)  ok, no biggie, we follow the GPS directions to the next exit (1 mile=15 minutes), drive through midtown and around a bunch of streets until we finally arrive... at a red brick building in an alley.  'this isn't her house,' i say snidely, as if my husband had made a wrong turn (we are now 40 minutes past our, 'we'll be there in five' phone call from right before the closed exit...)  'you made sure to put in the correct direction on her street (i.e. NE vs NW), right?' i get asked... i'll save you from the rest of the conversation, because, as you may have guessed by now, no- i did not make sure of the direction of her street... i chose the first one that popped up... which evidently, led us to a red brick building in an alley, rather than her new home.  Thirty more minutes later (and now with a hyperventilating baby and screaming toddler), we arrive.  flustered and grumpy, but there.  we visit for just over an hour (enough time for a great visit, but not nearly enough time. period.)  


we leave there to drive just under 30 miles to the birthday party.  the GPS-proclaimed 35 minutes took us, in actuality, an hour and fifteen minutes, because (of course) the on-ramps (every one we tried for 20 minutes) were closed to the highway we needed to enter.  we were re-routed another 20 minutes out of our way before we were finally able to get back on track and begin our trek to the big bouncy birthday party.  we were forty-five minutes late.  we had a wonderful time with friends we haven't seen in way too many years, and again- it was enough time to enjoy them, but not nearly enough time.  (period!)


we get back into the car at now 6:00p.m. to head back the 230 miles home.  except now everyone is tired, and uncomfortable, and no one wants to sit in their car seats (or front seats), and no one wants to drive, but everyone wants to be home.  we drive five minutes before pulling over to nurse the baby, and change her, because somewhere in the day she has gotten diarrhea (of course!)  at 7:25p.m. we finally set out on our trek back home.  the baby cries until about 8:30.  M begins crying at about 8:25.  it wasn't until after 9:30 that my husband and i were finally able to just breathe and really take in the entirety of this day.  and then we laughed.  a lot.  at the asinine attempt to do this in one day.  at the idiotic addressing of the GPS (by yours truly) for not entering NW (and forgetting that i did enter NE).  for having two children, one of which cries more than she doesn't.  for traveling with said children almost 500 miles and a total of just under 10 hours in the car- all for a one hour visit with friends and an hour and fifteen minutes at a bouncy birthday.  we laughed and we fell in love with each other and our girls and the stories that we will tell about this day to come.  and when we were done laughing, and the girls were finally done crying (and were even more finally asleep!) we turned the radio up and drove home on that open highway that we so much adore.