Christmas Past...and so is New Year's and at this rate this post will be finished around Valentine's Day.

We had a very busy holiday week. Our 500 mile car trip was, let's just say, not pleasant. In the past we have made the trek in the evening and late into the night. The boys have their snack and are off to dream land. The transfer from car to bed has been made with varying levels of success, however the trip is usually filled with lots of sleep and peaceful time for the adults to read, listen to music, or gasp have adult conversations.

The last few trips have seen a sharp decrease in effectiveness, leading up to this year's disaster. Okay, I exaggerate, not really a disaster, but a trip, leaving me shaking my head, covering my eyes, and begging for children to fall asleep.

We had short naps and then, at about 10:30 we woke up and were raring to go. Evan has become quite a motor mouth. Talking about everything, anything and all the time. He was quite the instigator in the mayhem that filled our Odyssey. We were treated to about 3 hours of the little drummer boy, sung at full voice my Evan, with harmonizing vocals from Ryan. We also had several hundred renditions of the ABC song, A few choruses of Jingle Bells, and the singing of every kind of truck that passed the windows.

About an hour from our destination, the debates started. It went a lot better than the Vice Presidential Debates of 2008, everyone stayed on point.

Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST

You get the idea...this went on with "Evan go with Daddy/Ryan go with Daddy" and several other phrases, for the rest of the trip. Now, had it not been 12:30 AM, a good 5 hours past their bed time, it would have been pretty funny. (Even so, it was pretty funny.) I was getting more and more concerned with the lack of sleeping. Knowing full well that Evan was sick, and Ryan was due to catch it any second, knowing that we had a lot of activities planned, and knowing that they would not sleep in at all the next morning, and knowing that I was already exhausted, I knew this was going to be a long, long week.

There were several activities that made the highlight reel for us. The first requires that I mention that we are now members of two train museums 500 miles apart. Yes, with our two trips in one week, and the trip we took over the summer, we've paid for the membership (0r would have had we purchased the membership over the summer)

The second exciting activity was the trampoline place. It was amazing. There were trampolines all over the floor and the walls. The boys and their cousin Madison had a blast. So much so I had to take Evan back for another visit. (He is still asking to go back to the trampoline place.)

Oh, and yes, I only took Evan back. That day the boys couldn't agree on one place to go. Ryan voted for the Train Museum, and Evan the trampoline place, so we split them up. It was really fun. Each boy got our undivided attention, and they got to do the thing THEY wanted to do. I love this and I think we will make an effort to do things with them separately more often. Plus it's a piece of cake with only one kid! ( I found myself trying to parent random children I had so much extra time on my hands.)

We also went to the Zoo, "World Famous" it is not, but it was great fun. There was a ride on train, that of course, we rode on, and it was a manageable place where the boys could walk the entire time. Next to the Zoo is Fairytale Town, a fantastic place for little ones. Slides, things to climb on, play on, all based on Fairytales and children's stories.

More important than the places we went, was all of the time we got to spend with family. The boys loved having time with their Aunts and Uncles, Grand Parents, Great Grand Mother, and Cousin. For us, it was really wonderful to "show off" our little guys. They constantly surprise and amaze us, and it's nice to see other people's reactions to all the things we see everyday.

This age is so amazing, everything is absorbed so quickly, remembered and stored in those sponges they call brains. I'm so glad we are storing some great memories in there.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The trip home wasn't as bad as the trip there. Except no one napped, and Evan talked the ENTIRE way home. I swear I don't remember what about, just that Scott and I laughed that he would be hoarse the next day. He wasn't.