Road Trip!!

Every year Busch Gardens in VA hosts a "passport holders only" day sometime in March. This year it fell on Palm Sunday and we decided that we would make a weekend of it with the family. We thought it would be fun to surprise the kids and just take off and go Saturday after breakfast. We packed the car the night before and tried to act as laid back as possible Saturday morning letting the kids sleep in and letting them hang out in their pj's for awhile before sending them out to play. The two older kids figured out what was going on awhile ago, but they had fun keeping our secret safe!
We ate lunch and drove down through Washington. Dave took us right by the front of the capitol building, the Washington Monument, tons of museums and right by the Pentagon. He often works in D.C. so he is pretty familiar with all of the "important" places.
Once we got through Washington I put on a movie for the kids and we actually got all the way to Williamsburg before the kids figured out what was going on! It was great watching their faces when we pulled into the hotel and told them that we were going to the park the next day. They were very excited!
Since our family exceeds the fire hazard limit for a hotel room, we had to split up for the night. The girls in one room and the guys in the room next door. I couldn't tell you what went on in the guys' room - I'm not sure I would want to know - but the conversation in the girls room was pretty amusing! I'll leave out who said what, but if you picture our room with me (the mom), a teenager, a 10 year old, a 4 year old and a 2 year old, you can probably figure it out. :o)

"Can we watch Disney Channel?"
"Sure."
"Alyssa, get out of the fridge."
"Hey, move your head. I can't see."
"Alyssa, close the fridge."
"I'm hungry."
"Have some chex mix."
"Alyssa, don't jump off the bed!"
"Move your head, please."
"Move over. You are in my personal space."
"Mom, Alyssa is in the fridge again."
"I don't really care if she opens the fridge."
"Mandie, lay down."
"Alyssa, want to snuggle?"
"Hey! My personal space just got cut in half!"
"Can I have a juice box?"
"Your head is in my way again."
"Alyssa, don't put that in the fridge."
"You are taking all my covers!"
"No, I wasn't. I was just rolling over."
"Alyssa! Get out of the fridge!"
"Alyssa, come get in bed."
"When are we going to Busch Gardens?"
"Can you please roll over? You are in my personal space again."
"Well, you have all the covers!"
"Did you all brush your teeth?"
"No, Alyssa, don't eat the ice out of the freezer."
"Is anyone tired yet?"
"I don't want to sleep."
"Can we get a cot?"
"Alyssa, come away from the fridge."
"What time is it? 9? Okay. Turn off the TV. We are going to sleep."
"Alyssa, out of the fridge and into the bed right now."
"Move over away from my space."
"Can you all PLEASE be quiet?"

Well, it went something like that! We prayed and eventually everyone fell asleep. It's not something I would want to do every night, but I would definitely do it again if it meant spending time with my girls!