Sand in my eyes

We have made it. We did the long trip up to Thief River again this weekend. It's for one of the most important reasons there is. My Grandfather is turning 80 and we are going to have a celebration. It's just a quick trip...up on Friday and back again on Sunday. For those of you who don't know, TRF is a five hour drive if you can go non-stop...but with two little ones in the back (one of which says "stop...go potty, Mommy" frequently) it can take around 7 hours from start to finish. Whew! That's a challenge.

We decided to start leaving around supper time and stopping to eat on the way. This would give the kids a little break and then by the time we get back into the car, they are getting ready to fall asleep for the night. Two downsides to this: 1) the parent driving (that would be Jason) has to stay awake (preferrably) until we get to said destination which is usually somewhere between midnight and 1:00am...and 2) you have to keep your fingers crossed that once we get to Grandma's, the kids will easily go back to sleep for the remainder of the night.

Well, last night we were one for two. Jason did stay awake the whole trip, which if he didn't we would really have some issues, but for the going back to sleep easily...well, that just didn't happen.

We arrived last night at about 12:45am, Ella had her usual senses in-check because that girl knows immediately when we have turned down Grandma's driveway. I don't know how she does it, but she can come out of a deep sleep as soon as we are 10 feet away. As soon as I opened the van door, two sleepy little eyes looked up at me at cheerfully said "Grammie's house!!" I tried to keep her quiet and assure her that yes, she was right, we had arrived at the long-awaited destination. Upon entering the house, Grammie was there waiting to greet us and Ella immediately sprang into her arms. She walked Ella quietly in the dim lights so as not to wake her up more than she already was. Jason took Ben and put him down and fell asleep right next to him while I unpacked the van.

Aaahhh, ready for bed, or so I thought! I scooped Ella up in my arms, assuring her that Grammie would indeed still be here in the morning and headed for the bedroom. What I didn't realize was that Ella was going to be wide awake for the next four hours. That's right...four hours. Miss Bug was up until the wee hours of 5am and I, unfortunately, was there right along with her...begging her to just close her eyes and drift off to dreamland. It wasn't until I threatened her with putting her in the van and driving right back home that she decided she would give up the fight and succumb to sleeping.

Wouldn't you know it, she was poking me at 9am..."Mommy, time to get up, Mommy!" How does she do it? It's tough when your children require less sleep than you do...and when your eyes feel like there is a pound of sand rolling across them each time you blink. Ugh.