The Great Trek North

We had to sit on pins and needles waiting to see if Mason’s leave would be approved for holiday travel. The squadrons are required to have x amount of crews in the local area that would be ready to fly if need be, yet most families like to take time off during the holidays. It’s pretty much the only time Mason ever takes leave and as a result he has quite a few days stored up. There was also the problem that his squadron had just returned from deployment so many families were on R&R and wanted extra leave attached to that. We never assume that leave will be approved so we didn’t buy plane tickets like that like some people we know. We pretty much knew driving would work out better for us anyways. It all worked out and we were approved to take leave from December 16^th-January 3^rd. And thus begins, the great trek North.

I had a half-day teacher work day on the 16^th and my mom was still in town (leaving that afternoon at noon) so we packed the night before and Mason spent Friday trying to pack the car. We tend to shove a lot in the car on road trips mainly because we can. This time however, we needed to consider being able to crawl in the back seat in case Theo needed food or attention immediately. pumping equipment, pillows, snacks, the diaper bag, and Theo’s milk all needed to be readily accessible during the drive. Originally we thought that we might be able to lay the back seat down on one side so we’d have more of a “bed” to sleep on, but we had too much stuff. I got home, scarfed down some food, did a quick pump and we were on the road by 4pm.

Now I know my husband. He had been almost crawling out of his skin with excitement to get home, be on a break, and introduce his family to Theo. This meant, as much as we probably know stopping is a better choice on the drive, we would be driving straight through. And we did, all 17 hours. And when I say, we, I mean I drove 3 hours in the beginning and 3 hours towards the end, and slept a lot in between while Mason pressed on the other 11 hours! Theo was an AMAZING traveler! He fell asleep around 3:30 and we put him in the car. Luckily he does really well in the car and doesn’t seem to mind his car seat. We stopped around 7pm for a stretch/feed dinner/grab food/change Theo break and when we got back in the car theo went to bed for the night. This was another reason why we drove straight through. We arrived around 9am on Saturday, just as Theo was waking up so I crawled in the back and fed him and as soon as we arrived at my parent’s house Mason hit the hay. I followed shortly while Theo played with Gram and Grandpa. Keep in mind we showed up at their house just 20 hours after my mom had left our house, where she had been for two weeks.

We spent the next 15 days visiting relatives and friends. Too many to name, I started to and then decided just to let that alone. When we weren’t visiting or sleeping, we were definitely eating our shard of Giordanos Deep Dish Pizza, Buffalo Joes, Jamba Juice, and Thai. Diets start in February. Theo was a trooper. We had him in the car A LOT. Because he’s so adorable he was held a lot too, so at the end of each day he just wanted to lay down on the floor and kick and wiggle. He’s so active these days. And, despite the HOT summers of Shreveport, I think I’d take that over having to keep my babies warm in the freezing cold all of the time. And really it wasn’t even that cold. We only saw some snow flurries on the drive up- come on weather gods- some snow would have been nice.

We spent Christmas Eve at Mason’s grandparents house and enjoyed a Beef Burgeon dinner with ice-Cream cake for dessert. Cousin Griffin didn’t seem to notice Theo too much, but they did get along well. I think next year will be fun when Theo is able to run around with Griffin. I think that Mason’s Grandma really enjoyed being able to snuggle with little Theo, I mean after all, who wouldn’t enjoy that? Theo was spoiled with gifts by Mason’s family and came home with lots of fun new toys and clothes.

Christmas Day we spent at my family’s house opening presents and lounging around. We went out for a few hours to Lincoln Park Zoo to walk around with mason’s family and then headed back for brisket dinner with my immediate family and aunt and uncle. It was also the last night of Hanukkah, so we lit the candles as well. The day after Christmas we headed further North to Cedarburg, WI for my family’s annual Christmas Party. I think there were around 31 of us there and that wasn’t even the whole side of the family. Growing up we always got together with cousins and aunts/uncles so that’s a hard part about living far away. Anyone can come visit us in Louisiana anytime.

We had a very busy time. As Mason said it was lots of visiting and not quite a sit on the beach vacation. But we’re really glad to see everyone, although I’m not sure if we are going to be as willing next year to travel that long with a 1 year old. It’s a LONG drive. We drove in two days on the way back which worked out well. It was nice to be home on the 2^nd since we didn’t go back to work until the 4^th. It gave us time to unpack, spend time with just the three of us, and get ready for the upcoming weeks.

Now we’ve just been back in the grind of work, play time with Theo, sleep, repeat. Some days are harder than others, but mostly we’ve got a great little system worked out for our family.