On the road again

Over the weekend we began our journey home.  For some strange reason, I find it easier to listen to crying, whining kids at the beginning of a vacation... rather than the end.  As we left my parents place the cries began.  "I don't want to go home... I want to stay with Papa!!"  and then (15 minutes into the drive)... "Are we almost there yet?"  which was soon followed by "I don't it to be a long drive, I want it to be a SHORT drive!!!"  Granted, Eme wasn't making these statements... only her brother... but words were not needed.  Her cries said it all.

Self portrait to document the moment.  At this point I agreed with Caleb... I wished it was a short drive too.

But we did stop.  At the best place on earth... according to this kid.

And we were not alone.  Somehow we managed to convince my siblings to join us for a quick trip to West Edmonton Mall.  It was a tough sell.  not really.

We all drove up to Edmonton after dinner on Friday night, checked into a hotel, and the next morning we hit the mall bright and early.  The boys went to the waterpark while the girls shopped, and shopped, and shopped some more.

Eme came with the ladies.  While she looked like this on occasion...

For the majority of the day she looked like this.  Angry, distrusting stares.  Followed by cries.  She was tired and unfortunately doesn't nap well in a stroller.  

Or maybe she just wished she was at the water park too.

So it was Auntie Angie to the rescue.  She kept that stroller rocking.  Good practice... I think :)

Favorite stop of the day.  Athropologie.  I could have spent hours in that store.  There is so much beautiful stuff to look at.  And the way it's all displayed... oh my goodness.  I, of course, couldn't help but snap a few pictures.

Aren't those hand towels glorious?  They come in every color.

I spy...

decorpad

But for $22.00 each?  No thanks.  Not in my budget.  Home Sense has a lookalike for a much friendly price tag.  My mom has them.  They're amazing.

Trish, you're pretty cute... but so is that mirror.

They displayed lots of their stuff in these rough rustic wooden boxes.  Doug... guess what your next project is :)

This cabinet was FULL of the cutest bowls, dishes, and glasses.  I couldn't help but make one little purchase.

And finally, the piece de resistance... this little number.

So the ladies shopped till they dropped.  And after over 5 hours of swimming-- we soon found Caleb, head resting on the table beside his chocolate milk... fast asleep.  He ended up sleeping through most of dinner.

So then what did we do?  Well... Doug and I had planned to throw the kids into the car and drive to Hinton after dinner so the drive on Sunday wouldn't be as long.  But... the kids were just SO tired and we were feeling a little too energetic in the moment... so we decided to just keep going.  All the way home.  Through the night.

On our way out of town we made a quick pit stop for gas... I ran in to grab the essentials for a through-the-night drive.  Lots of coke, chips, candy, chocolate... you know... those essentials.  The cashiers looked at me funny when I went to pay for my snacks.  In an effort to rationalize my purchases I told them our plans for the night.  Those funny looks kept coming and soon began to say... "you're crazy."

But we did it.  And the kids did awesome.  They slept the entire night... waking only momentarily when we stopped for gas.  This picture was taken at our midnight stop,

 In the moment the kids didn't say much.  They just looked at me with these dazed and confused expressions on their face.

And sometimes they looked at me like this.

We rolled into town at 6 am.  Everyone went straight to bed... except for Caleb-- he said he wasn't tired--  so we turned on Treehouse and hit the hay.  5 hours later... Doug walks in to the living room to find him on the floor... a puddle of drool on the carpet, crazy sleep marks on his cheek, a confused look on his face.  Apparently he was quick awestruck over the fact that he had fallen asleep on the floor.  I was more awestruck over the fact that Emerson slept until 2:30 in the afternoon.

And now we're home.  While it was fun to be on the road, on vacation... it feels nice to be back in our house... and sleeping in our own beds :)