family time

Being a parent to young kids is definitely challenging.  There are ups and downs. Highs and lows. But it's all worth it. My patience is being tested. My marriage is being tested. My sanity is being tested. But, it's all worth it.

Our last family trip tested all of the above.  It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon when we set out to visit our good friends in Peterborough.  The girls were fairly happy (as happy as kids can be strapped in and confined to a small space), watching a Strawberry Shortcake DVD - again. I think we all know it by heart.

Throughout the ride, Ryan kept saying that she felt sick. This is not out of the ordinary. She has been known to get car sick from time to time. Not a problem. Kids Gravol to the rescue.  We keep driving, but Ryan keeps crying out saying she feels sick. So we stop to take a break and get some fresh air.  Thankfully, that seems to help and we get back on the road.  Now we all just want to get to our final destination.  The smiles and laughter are but a distant memory. We are all slowly, but surely, turning on one another.

At this point frustration and anger are in full bloom.  I have had it with the "IT'S NOT WORKING!" DVD player. There is only so many times that I can reach back and whack it to get it to work!  Dean, my husband, thinks he may have taken a wrong turn, since this 'short' trip seems to be taking forever (for those of you who know him, he does not take this lightly at all). Andy has started to get antsy and wants out. While Ryan is crying, and for the umpteenth time has said she feels sick!  

AAHHHHH!  

We stop the car one last time. Take both girls out and sit them upfront with us.

Deep breath. 

OK. It's no big deal. We will get there when we get there.  The girls are happy again and playing with all the buttons on the radio and trying to honk the horn.  Frustration seems to have disappeared and we are ready to set out, again on our trip.

We can do this! Almost there. Minutes away from sitting with friends, with a glass of wine in my hands.

My memory is a bit hazy on the details...so I am not sure what happened in what order.  But we truly were minutes away when Dean finally LOST IT and ripped off his sun glasses and squeezed them so hard that they just crumbled in his hands - while yelling profanities of course. And, as I am sure you have guessed by now, Ryan was finally sick.  Very sick. Everywhere.  We kept driving, Ryan covered in her vomit and crying. Andy started crying. Dean has finally composed himself. And all I wanted to do is jump out of the car and start walking home.


I could probably write another 5 or 6 paragraphs, instead I will end it with this; Ryan threw up 3 more times while we were 'visiting' our friends. Andy woke up in the middle of the night and was sick.  We used up all of their laundry detergent. Ran a lot of baths. And went home early.  Was it worth it?

Sorry for the mayhem Ferguson/May family!