Road Warrior!

So while sweet hubs is out working again, I decided to take little man down to his grandparents' place yesterday.  His great uncle was in town to fish with his Papa, so I figured that'd be a prime time to visit- and have some more family come to meet Hayden as well.  I was a little nervous about driving the two hours (or more) by myself, but it was a relatively event-free trip!  I had the car and the baby all packed up and ready to go at halftime of the UK/WVU game and we hit the road just around noon.  I brought his pack-n-play and enough formula, diapers and changes of clothes (for him) to last 3 days...  Hey, better to be prepared, no?

I've been making the trip to my in-laws' place for 11 years now.  I'm pretty familiar with the route.  Take 65 South to Montgomery.  Catch 85 North to the Mt. Meigs/Mitylene exit and drive till that road ends.  Take a left and follow that road till it ends.  Get into Union Springs, take a right, another right and drive to the end of the world.  Take the first left at that little bend in the road and their house is the first one on the right after the road turns to dirt.  Think I'm kidding?  I'm not, I swear.

Anyway, my first fun detour started when I was getting hungry.  I pulled off the road at Clanton to get some McDonald's.  The line was wrapped around the building and the parking lot was full.  Duh.  This is a prime stopping place on the way to the beach- and it's spring break time.  It was a Saturday afternoon.  I should have done that math before hand.  I circled the building and left...  With an empty stomach.  Boo.  So we soldiered on southward and pulled off at the exit to Prattville.  There was a Wendy's nearby and that struck my fancy much more than Mc D's.  Except the Wendy's didn't have a sign posted out front.  So I drove on out the road about two miles before I realized that I had probably driven past it.  My first clue?  The cow pasture on the left...  So I u-ied and Googled the Wendy's on my iPhone.  Where was it?  Right next to the bloody interstate.  No sign, as I said.  Morons.

Back on the road, we get through the no-longer-under-construction zone and Mom calls just as I'm throwing my hamburger wrapper away in the bag.  Just as I'm reaching the 65/85 split.  And I missed my exit.  After all these years of driving to my in-laws', I've never missed that exit.  So I find an exit, turn around, and get back on the road again.  All the while, Hayden is just a-snooze in his little car seat, completely oblivious to his mommy's ineptitude.  Just as we get off the interstate and start to make our trek into the boonies, little man- shall we say- filled his diaper.  Rather loudly.  Parenting dilemma:  pull over to the first clean-looking place and change the diaper or just wait till we get to our destination, in hopes that this was just the first salvo in what is normally a longer battle.  I chose to soldier on.  He didn't fuss.

His Nana was sitting out on their porch waiting for us when we got there...  He was a perfect angel most of the time!  He let his cousin Amanda hold him and give him his bottle.  He let his great aunt Sue burp him.  He let his Nana hold him and play with him.  But his great uncle Larry was afraid to hold him, and his papa actually had a cold...  So the men left little man alone.  But we had a great time visiting.

I felt really accomplished by the time I got us home last night.  I made the four hour round trip without incident!  He slept the entire time in the car and I didn't do anything stupid, like forget our camera or the baby bag!  Or the baby...

Nana burping Hayden

With cousin Amanda

Enjoying his new swing!

Sleeping in the same crib his daddy did