Pictures will be coming soon and I apologize for how very very long it’s been since we’ve posted anything. Really!
Well, vacation started off nicely. We picked up the rental car Friday evening. Finished packing Saturday. We decided a bag o’ toys would be great for Taylor and decided she should have a say in what’s in it. To that end, I told her to pick out some toys to take on vacation with us. Guess what she picked! A blue cup and a blue necklace. That’s it. And she got mad at me when I started putting other toys in the bag. I finally got it through to her that she would want more than just a cup and a necklace and that we were letting her have that AND the other toys – then she was fine.
And off we went – according to Rand McNally, it’s about 6.5 hours from Birmingham to Savannah. But they’re not travelling with a 3 yo who’s only been potty trained for 6 months. It took about 8. I should also mention that part of that 8 hours was in large part due to traffic coming into Atlanta that had us at a standstill for about an hour. At one point in all of it, it was kind of neat. We were near Six Flags and could see a roller coaster and people on it. There was one turn that just barely missed trees we were hoping to see the cars go over, but alas, we crept out of view before it got there. She did great at letting us know when she needed to go. There were only a handful of times that Brian & I stopped for a bathroom break and she insisted she didn’t need to go – we get back on the road, 5 minutes or so pass and she says, “I need to go potty!” Thankfully, when she tells us, it’s not one of those “must go *right now*” – she gives us warning and can hold it a little bit. Thankfully. We sometimes insist that she tries to go, but in the case of being in a public place we opted to trust her (rather than have her screaming in the store). The joys of 3 year olds. 🙂
We were good parents – we brought some of Taylor’s CDs and actually let her listen to them a couple of times! She loved it and it was fun to hear what all songs she actually knew. A few of the lyrics were a little disturbing – Shortnin’ Bread for example (warning, site plays music). Her CD didn’t have all those lyrics but it did have the ones about the 2 babies sick and one ‘most dead. Guess that goes along with those fond memories of Mother Goose Rhymes then, as an adult, reading them again and realizing how very morbid a lot of them are!
We splurged and got the Executive King Suite at the Masters Inn – it had a fold out sofa and a door between the bedroom and living area. Our theory was to put Taylor to bed and then we could be free to do whatever we wanted to do (other than leave the room, of course). Oh, and if you ever go, don’t trust the directions on their website. You take exit 164A off of I-16, Lynes Parkway, that’s true. They fail to tell you about a split after that (go left). After that is when Lynes Parkway become DeRenne… eventually. 3 lights, turn onto Abercorn – yep. 4 lights, turn onto Eisenhower. Um. No. It turned out to be 6 lights. But we made it!
Now for the stories.
First, Brian & I loved swimming at night in the BK days (before kid) and I thought that once she came along those days were over. I was wrong. She LOVES swimming at night. That’s why the above paragraph said, “theory” – most nights she went to bed the same time we did – 10 pm or later! She even slept until 8:30 one morning and would’ve slept longer had we not woken her up (b’fast ended at 9!).
Sunday – went to River Street and watched boats. Visited stores including Savannah Candy Kitchen and a toy store (sorry, can’t find a website!) that had bubbles blowing out its window. At the toy store, we told her she could get one toy. She discovered the little plastic animals. She then discovered there were snakes that matched (coral snakes) and with her being big into matching, that’s what she wanted. She ended up getting 3 of them (they were cheap – and she wanted all 6… we did good talking down to 3). To get an idea of how much she loved this store, when we went back to River Street on Tuesday, she refused candy samples because she wanted the toy store.
Went to lunch at Boar’s Head (*highly* recommended). I got chicken salad (it was okay). Forgot what Brian got but he liked it. Taylor got a hot dog… we tasted and agreed we’d be tempted to get it too sometime! While waiting for food, Taylor whispered something (can’t remember what now). Brian couldn’t hear her and asked her to repeat it. She did – two more times. He finally said, “Honey, I can’t hear what you’re saying when you whisper” and leaned up. (You know what’s coming!) Yep, she yelled. I was crying from laughing so hard. Ah, classic slapstick – and from a 3 yo no less!
Other funny I wrote down happened on the trip home. McDonald’s Happy Meals are currently featuring characters from the movie Cars. For the trip, she had the green van (she calls it a bus) and a blue car. We’re well on our way, she has her shoes and socks off and is playing quietly. All of the sudden, she starts fussing. I ask her what’s wrong and she says, “The blue car won’t go in my sock!” I said, “Honey, the car doesn’t go in your sock.” Very quietly she replied, “The bus did.”
More stories of our trip will come with the pics.