Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Sanity Vs. Insanity

Wow, I look back on the posts and realize that I haven't done this in a long time. I did warn you in advance that with twins and a toddler that I may not post that often. I have a few posts on the go, but haven't had time to just sit down and write.

Last weekend was a long weekend and my husband and I thought that we needed a "family vacation". Since the boys are 9 months right now it's really hard to figure out where to go that will be good for us and the kids until we realized that we are parents now and what kids doesn't love the zoo?

So this is where to Sanity Vz. insanity comes into play...We decided to pack everyone up in the car just after lunch and take the 3 hour drive to Calgary and spend the weekend (2 nights) to go to the zoo and then to the Tyrell Museum (2 hours away). The kids did really well in the car to Red Deer where we unpacked them and went to Starbucks for a coffee fix and a chance for the toddler to go to the bathroom (working on toilet training while traveling is tricky) and the twins to burn off a little bit of energy before being strapped in for another car ride until our destination for the night in Calgary.

We made it without incident and settled in for the night where within 20 minutes of arriving I had a screaming kid in my arms who's fingers just got closed in the bathroom door, and the other twin is quickly locating the telephone book and deciding that it doesn't need a few pages. My little girl was happily playing with the nintendo ds that I brought for "emergency". I felt really sorry for our neighbours and hoped that the boys wouldn't be heard very loudly as they cried for 30 minutes before finally falling asleep for the night.

The next day we went down for our breakfast and hogged the only 2 high chairs that the hotel had but I wasn't about to have one on my lap and try to feed cereal backwards while the other gets into trouble with exploring. The boys actually went down for a nap really well and slept for 2 hours before we ventured out to the zoo. Our thinking was that the boys would have a nap we would go to the zoo have some lunch and they would be ready for a nap...Nope. We went the entire zoo with the boys looking around and they didn't fall asleep until 3pm (their usual nap time is 130). Our daughter loved all the animals and wanted to see everything. She was exhausted by the end but couldn't stop talking about the animals.

That night I was done physically and David decided he was so overtired that he couldn't sleep so from 1am until 3am (when I had had enough and dosed him with Camilla) he decided that every 20 minutes or so he would cry. Since the boys were in our room I woke up and tried my best to keep him quiet, but as soon as I put him down and got comfortable myself he decided that it was time to cry again. By the morning I was exhausted but for the good of the children I put on my happy face and we got everyone ready to travel to Drumheller for the "Dinosaur" museum. I was totally different than when I went about 20 years ago but exciting none-the-less. Again the boys would not sleep their normal afternoon nap until 3:30pm, and then it was only for about 1/2 hour. Our daughter wanted my husband to read her everything about every dino (which was great, but after a bit was a little tiring)...he still needs to learn that until she can read herself, he can skip over lots without her knowing :) I am glad that she has such interest in dinosaurs.

And now for the insanity part. We packed everyone up for the final drive home and thankfully the boys decided that it was finally time to sleep. we had an hour of quiet with our daughter coloring quietly in the car. We stopped for dinner and then about 20 minutes outside of red deer David decided that he had enough of being strapped in (I don't blame him) and cried (screamed) for 40 minutes straight. It passed the drive time, but we could have done without the noise.

All in all, the trip was a success and everyone had a great time, but I have learned a few things about traveling with twins. I have traveled with a baby and a toddler before but not twins in a 4 hour car ride...

1) Even though you think that traveling during nap time is a great idea...usually the baby/babies think differently.

2) Make sure you have lots in the car in the way of things to drink, eat and things for the toddlers to do. Coloring books are a good suggestion.

3) Take lots of breaks so the kids and yourself can stretch. Babies have a lot of energy that needs to be burned off and without activity they will just be miserable.

4) Go with a good attitude, you will not get a lot of down time and will probably ready to snap, but thinking that you rarely get to go on a holiday will get you through the trip in one piece.