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On Tuesday night, with great (no, huge) amounts of relief, we pulled into the driveway. Vacation 2009 came to an end, and not a moment too soon.

It was hard to remember another time when I had so badly wanted a car trip to come to an end. Perhaps the drive to the hospital when I was in labor with Jameson (why, oh why, did those road crews leave BUMPS in the road?) or perhaps one of those short ventures out with Baby Jameson, who hated his car seat and screamed whenever he was put in it. He still doesn’t like his car seat all that much, which is probably why 11 hours of travelling felt like 42.

Of course, this day of driving was longer than anything we had ever done as a family of four. Stefan and I were so determined to make it home, and not sleep another night with the four of us crammed into a hotel room, that we pushed through despite the complaints and the two boys in the backseat picking on each other.

We wanted to be home that badly.


(toddler distraction activities--jumping off the seats outside the American History Museum, photo by Stefan)

And its not like the vacation was SO horrible. It’s just that the three-day stop in Washington DC had its challenges. On one hand, we were all in one tiny hotel room, resulting in less than optimal sleep conditions. And Alex and I were sick with the flu—a flu that left Alex with a fever and both of us with painful body aches. And then there was the whining—Jameson was a little sleep deprived and let us all know by fussing, complaining, and beating up on his brother.


(crossing the Key Bridge, photo by Stefan)

However, we did make it to several of the Smithsonian museums, plus saw my grandmother and two wonderful aunts. We found a fantastic German bistro in Georgetown that brought back memories of our travels in Europe. Alex and Stefan were able to escape for an evening to watching “Night at the Museum II” at an IMAX theater, in a Smithsonian Museum. Alex is still raving about that. The subway never failed to fascinate Jameson. (his mother, carrying him on her back while dealing with massive body aches, wasn’t nearly as fascinated)

So there were some great moments. But still, it was with immense relief that we pulled into our driveway, emptied out the car and marveled at how large our house suddenly appeared to be.

To be continued… the beach (aka, the fun part of the vacation!).