I use to love traveling. Andrew use to backpack and camp. We use to be wanderers. And I am sure some would still call us that. We are still renting and are going to move for our third time, since we came to Austin, coming this summer. We are still the type to not having everything planned out perfectly. But sometimes I really miss a more adventurous lifestyle. Sure we have plenty of adventures, but we are always home with the kids in bed by close to nine. I know it is the stage of life we are in. It is good for the kids to be home and in bed by nine. They melt down otherwise. But I also think Andrew and I are realizing you just having to start writing things on the calendar and taking days off and saying, "This is what we are going to do!" Because no matter what life happens.
We decided in the last month that we wanted to see Andrew's family in Corpus Christi and my own family in Missouri before I was in my third trimester with this baby. Andrew has help in his leadership now, and we can finally plan a few trips ahead of time. I told Andrew one night when we were lying in bed that I just had to mentally prepare myself for a few meltdowns while traveling. Because meltdowns happen at home. So why wouldn't they happen on the road? Probably the all time high of our trip down was how everything was going so well until it wasn't anymore. Right after dinner we found ourselves cleaning bright red slushy off the van floor while I changed Rosemary's poopy diaper on the parking lot (yes I said parking lot) ground. It all happened so fast. Blanche spilled the slushy... there was no changing table and I opened what I thought was a wet diaper in the front seat of the van... well then there was slushy and bags and Andrew was trying to clean it... and I had an open poopy diaper. So on the ground she went. I looked for glass and bugs. Hopefully no one else saw me.
Life happens. It can be nuts but we made it. Actually the thing I hate the most is the late and tired crying by Rosemary in the car. I just don't know how to help her... which frustrates me and is probably the main reason I wouldn't do long car trips too often. And then of course after she did sleep... for two hours and then was up until after midnight once we got there. I think after the fact, those were probably the hardest things about the entire three day weekend. Which is really pretty good. Oh yeah, and Rosemary got carsick on the way home... but ANYWAYS, lets talk about vacation and the fun things.
It was so refreshing to be doing something different for a few days. Andrew's sister has such a nice home and was so kind to let us stay with her. I know it was tiring for all of us at some point, but I am sure it was more so for her, being the hostess. Mainly because when you put our kids together we have a 4, 3, 2, and 1 year old. Everything is an adventure. Just a couple of posts back I posted pictures of the girls with their cousins, and talked about how fun it is to see them together. This trip was just an extension of that. It is fun to see the kids growing up and starting to play together.
By the end Jonathan and Blanche were playing really well together. Blanche didn't want to go and Jonathan didn't want her to leave either. There were lots of cute moments during our time. Like when Blanche told me, "Caroline said okay to me. She can talk now!" Or watching Rosemary follow Caroline all over the house. All four of them were even playing together alone in the playroom at times. We went to the beach, out to eat, to the aquarium, to Mass, and had an Easter egg hunt. Normally during each outing someone had a meltdown, but that can be expected. Overall it was a fun time. Some of my favorite relaxing moments were the breakfast tacos delivered to me each morning by Ozzie, and the ice cream delivered every night by Andrew. A pregnant lady's dream really. I hoped to have a better sunny day at the beach, but with small children I think we did what was long enough for them anyway. I also talked a bit and shared pictures of Blanche and I walking to buy her a new dress one night along the beach on Instagram. She had gotten hers wet before dinner (the restaurant was beside the ocean) and the two of us missed dinner walking to a tourist shop. It is fun to make memories even now with my children on vacation.
I never mean to "not be in pictures." I just really enjoy taking them. But I do love the last one I captured with my phone after Blanche's and my adventure along the beach. I also love that no one wanted to smile on Easter. It cracks me up. They were all happy that day, just not for the camera. Hopefully this trip was the first step for the Nycum family in being more bold in traveling. Or maybe I can look back at cute pictures and remember that it was worth the chaos of getting there.
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