The Best Laid Plans

Jay and I are meticulous planners. We err on the side of overthinking most things, but we would rather be over prepared. So when we were planning our trip to California, we decided to leave our house about 2:30 am. Jay is freakishly able to go to sleep at the drop of a hat so he was going to hit the hay around 9 pm and set the alarm for 2 am, thus getting him a solid 5 hours of sleep. Then we'd transfer the kids to the car and start driving. In our fantasies, they would sleep until about 7 am. We'd all yawn, smile at each other, and stop for breakfast in Cedar City, happy to be in each other's company and as well rested as you can be after spending half your night in the car.

Yeah, right.

It worked perfectly, until we actually put the kids in the car (at 2:20 am, 10 minutes ahead of schedule). They didn't go back to sleep. Not one of them. We figured that, at some point in time between 2:30 and 5:30 am, they were all asleep for maybe 30 minutes. William did the best and Henry and Tessa tied for the worst. The good thing was that they didn't talk. They whispered occasionally but were quiet. Quiet and awake. For the better part of the rest of the night.

By the time the sun came up sometime after 5 am they were awake and asking for food. So I distributed cereal and juice and we still stopped for breakfast at Cedar City around 7 am. They played at the playland at McDonald's for a while to shake things out and Jay and I kept saying, "I can't believe they didn't sleep."

Anyway, the rest of the drive was fine. We at lunch in Barstow and were at Philip and Carol's house by 1:30 PDT, making it almost exactly a 12 hour drive, counting a 1 hour stop for breakfast and about 30 minutes for lunch. The kids did fine. The picked at each other a little. They watched DVD's and looked out the window and read books. Tessa did stickers in her little scrapbook. She even fell asleep for a whopping nap of 30 minutes.

So far we're having a great time. We went to church with Philip and Carol today and drove over to see the Redlands Temple. We've played games and eaten ice cream. Tessa is loving hanging out with her girl cousins and they are so cute with her - reading her stories and helping her choose stickers.

Tomorrow we are heading to the beach. Lots of pictures to come.

Oh, and for the record, the kids get silly when they are tired. As in, crazy silly. And Henry has a hidden mean streak that comes out when he is up for the day at 2:30 am on Saturday and 6:30 am on Sunday. I am calling him a "mean drunk". So if anyone has any ideas about spiking his apple juice, think twice lest you catch the wrath of an angry Henry. Consider yourself warned.