It’s finally that week… where I can catch up on (end of Aug & Sept) posts. 

So much has happened during the last 2 months I feel like I’m still spinning as we transcend into the Holiday season. But at least it’s a happy somewhat controlled whirlwind! 

Today I’ll kick of the catching up, it seems rather great that I’m exactly 1 month behind!! 🙂

So on this 1st day of October let’s back it up…

all the way to…

 Labor Day weekend

When we were young my parents took us on plenty of car trips. One of my favorites was the 2 week cross country drive where we covered at least 8 states and countless landmarks . We also have done the Washington-Arizona and back more than I care to count, which of course means I’ve taken pretty much every route possible. To say I’m a road trip expert is an understatement! They really are as fun as you make them! What’s even crazier, we never (not once) had a video player or way to watch movies… I know GASP! Rather than be plugged in… we got to enjoy the view & play car games. (gosh I feel like I sound old) But the truth is, even with the occasional sibling fights & parent arguments & just being way too tired by the end of whatever the drive, we always managed to have fun! 

This excursion was no exception. 

Cash-man had a little trouble the very first day. In fact, we only drove for 6 hours Ugh. When it comes down to it that’s absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of 24 hours of drive time. But we survived {barely}. We started the day at noon, just kidding we started bright and early packing everything up, eating a good breakfast and had really good intentions of getting on the road in time for his morning nap (10:30ish) but we were not quite packed up so instead we let him sleep in his own bed and got the car all ready. This meant we actually got on the road at noon. And all things considered we were impressed. After only a few hours we hit rain storms & a very antsy baby so we stopped for food & gas but in the downpour we couldn’t really let the little guy stretch his legs.

But he could drive!

Are you sharing that with me mom?

happy boy when we were stopped & out of the carseat

Onward we drove only to hit more rain and more fussing. Which meant it was time to make the ultimate decision, power through and pray he goes to sleep or cut our losses and try again tomorrow. We figured to give the little guy a break and stopped for the night at a neat little individual cabin lodge in Alamo, Nevada. It was great at first, Cash cruised all around the room and the we all got to take a tub in the super cool jet tub (Cash had a normal bath then we took fancy ones). He really didn’t want to sleep though. I’m pretty sure at that point the poor kid was just so over-tired and confused where we were that he wasn’t going to sleep. He eventually fell asleep on me in the lazy boy for about 2 hours and I finally got him to lay down in between us and sleep for a few hours intermittently in the bed.

The next morning, all us were completely sleep deprived. But there was no stopping the fact that continuing on just had to happen so, we ate a good breakfast and loaded up into the car again.

Of course once we were off in the car, Cash was out almost instantly. Little turkey.

A few hours later after he woke up and played for awhile on his own, we stopped for a lunch break and some playtime on a blanket. Which was just perfect for all of us.

After we ate and relaxed, back into the car we went, Just in time for another nap.
After a few more hours of driving & baby playtime in the car we stopped off in Oregon at this pretty sweet bridge because mom & I were sure we had just seen a guy jump off of it. Sure enough we had. This is one of the most popular places for base jumping in the States apparently. Oh so scary to watch!
But such a pretty view!

 Look really closely you can kinda see the next guy who jumped

with Grammy B

Lion King Style

After that adventure we drove just into Baker City, Oregon for dinner and got a room. This time we got 2 beds so it was Cash & I in one. He fought sleep for awhile, which only makes sense after being cooped up in the car all day. It took him until about 11:30pm (only 3.5 hours past bedtime) to fall asleep, he had a brief 3:30am wake up but by 4:15 he was out again until 7:45. All things considered it  wasn’t to bad of a night for any of us. Don’t get me wrong I still felt like death the next day!
Back in the car the next morning and little man was a trooper. He entertained himself until he was just too tired and then took a nap until we stopped for lunch.

Where he quickly became a cute little straw thief!
Around 12:30 on Monday, we crossed the border into Washington! Hit minimal holiday traffic but made it to my parents house around 5:30.
Not too shabby!!

I would say after this experience I think I could handle another expedition with just him!
Adding in another kid now that’s an entirely different story. But really, for his first cross country haul he did pretty amazing! And I’m super proud that now he’s officially a seasoned road-tripper! Yay!

Of course once at my parents house he got into everything imaginable. Sure enough he decided the potted cactus would be fun to play with,

not near as much fun for Mommy & Grandpa to pull out of his knee & hand though. Oh well… he survived! Crazy Boy!!

Hope everyone had a lovely Tuesday… See you tomorrow!
-xo-