A Long Journey

When we learned last summer that Eric would be attending Squadron Officer's School (or SOS for those in the know), I started planning a long visit to the midwest.  The fact that this would mean I would drive alone with my three children did not faze me because it was a long way off.  As the trip grew closer, I admit to some feelings of anxiety.  However, as much as I appreciate the compliment from people that I must be a super mom for taking on such a task, it wasn't like we were setting out west with just a covered wagon.  We had plenty of digital devices to distract everyone, and, frankly, I prefer listening to Children's Place Live on XM. 

We headed out the Sunday after Thanksgiving, dropping Eric off in Montgomery and drove on to Birmingham for a hotel stay.  The following day, we drove to St. Louis and stayed with my aunt and uncle who we impose on every time we travel west.  The kids are very comfortable at Rocky and Jane's, which I appreciate.  Though, Will had some issues with the amount of days it would take to get to Kansas.  He wanted to get there sooner rather than later.  Here is the conversation that occurred the Monday morning:

Will:  I don't want to go to St. Louis, I want to go to Kansas.
Mom: But, we have to go through St. Louis to get to Kansas.
Will:  I don't want to go through St. Louis.
Mom: Will, I cannot get to Kansas without going through St. Louis.
Will (slight pause):  Can Dad?

However, Will settled down for the drive and enjoyed watching "Return of the Jedi" with Rocky into the night.  As a nice bonus, my Oma recently moved to an assisted living facility not far from Rocky's house, and we were able to visit her the first evening.  Molly had a great time pushing her walker around and the boys colored pictures for her.  Hopefully, visiting her will become a new part in our road trip traditions!

The next morning we headed out to Katie's and made it in time to meet the girls after their school day.  What followed were some wonderful days and nights of hanging out with Katie, Robert,  and their kids.  Dom and Will basically disappeared each day with Peter when the girls went to school.  And then played into the evening with the girls once they got back.  Molly fell in love with her newest cousin, my namesake, Margaret.  Who is amazing (as most Margarets are).  And beautiful (see earlier statement).  I know she wasn't thrilled with me at first (due to the instantaneous screaming when I held her), but she warmed up to me in the end.  I think.  At least she stopped screaming.  Dom also loved her.  One morning he excitedly came and woke me up with this:

 Mom, Margaret smiled at me!