The Move

Someday Jane might want to kill me for posting this picture. But I have to (and she should pardon me for not posting some of the other angles I also took). I'm sorry Future Jane, but people must know for their posterity that when attempting a cross country move with young, potty-trained children, a $4 IKEA potty is an invaluable traveling necessity. Also, I didn't take ANY other pictures. I had every intention of doing so. I left the camera out the whole time the guys where loading the truck and a few of my friends (OK, so most of them where younger than 14, they are still my friends) where helping me inside. I was really going to take pictures. And then I even wanted to get one of us all outside in front of the U-Haul, our last family picture in Minnesota. But then we were 2 hours behind schedule and there was a bitter wind and I was impatient. And the good intentions kept dying in their goodness until we were on the scenic (meaning narrow and windy) highway between Bozeman and West Yellowstone. Jane had to go potty now! We pulled over and it was just such a scenic moment, I had to grab the camera.

Like I was saying, the potty was invaluable in crossing the midwest and less populous states. We used it four times in two days! Yay for no accidents in the car!

So the nitty gritty: The lovely gents from our church starting coming over to help at about 6:30 Wednesday night. Things were going full blown by 7:30 and pretty much by 9:00 it was all over. The U-Haul was packed tight! My sister flew in at 11:00 and we went home and tried to finish getting ready. My sister was PHENOMENAL the whole time. She just quietly rolled up her sleeves and jumped right in to helping out with cleaning, packing the food, whatever it was that needed to be done. It was like there was two of me. On the drive she was wonderful. She's already got a mother-mentality: she just did what needed to be done and didn't complain and was positive but communicated, too. To think I was considering driving by myself....ha!

The original plan was to get up early to miss traffic so I could get used to driving the trailer (yep, I was totally terrified of that one!) When we didn't get to bed until 2, we decided to just wake up when we woke up and call it good. So Thursday morning, we were on the road just after 8:00 am, which is pretty darn good all things considered.

Thursday turned out to be a 17 HOUR DAY! When planning our trip, and agonizing over where and how to buy a hotel (went with Billings and Priceline, turned out just fine) I neglected to figure in the fact that we couldn't drive 75 mph in the trailer, most of the time no more than 60. Had I not already bought the hotel room, I would have been tempted to stop much earlier. But we wanted to have a shorter second day (the last 4 hours of a long trip are always the most painful) and I'm glad we pushed through. Even during the snow storm in western North Dakota. Even when looking for a gas station in Medora (or an open one, anyway. Thank you ornery, but good-hearted clerk!)

The girls had done REALLY well most of the day. There were a few moments for each of them, but for the most part, there were no major freak outs. That is until we were about 20-30 minutes outside of Billings.

Emiline had woken up (did I mention they both went to sleep in their carseats exactly at bedtime??) and was disoriented. She cried herself into a fit and by the time we pulled into the parking lot of our Super 8 at 2:00 am, she had completely melted and fully freaked out. It took a while for her to calm down. And then she wanted me, and only me, right there every minute. When I did get her calm enough to sleep, I was able to put her in the hotel's crib. But she wanted to play (because she's used to being in a room by herself to fall asleep. If she sees me, she thinks its playtime). After wrestling with her for an hour and a half (GOSH that was a long hour and a half!), I had the brilliant (I think it was inspired) idea to put her down in the bathtub. I put lots of cushioning and laid her down, she sighed, rolled over on her side and went right to sleep! I had a moment standing outside the bathroom worrying she might hurt herself somehow or something. And then this weird mixture of exhaustion and peace set in and it was like "what else can you do? Nothing. So say a prayer and go to bed." And I did.

Day Two we were on the road in good time as well. I was up at 6:30 for some bizarre reason (over three days I had three and a half hours of sleep each night...still catching up!) After stopping to get gas, we were on the road again before 9. The drive to Bozeman was difficult because of the fierce wind. The stop to get gas in Bozeman was also eventful. Let's just say those posts next to gas pumps serve a valuable purpose for protecting the gas pump, not so much for the vehicles or trailers, etc they could come into contact with.

We made it to Ashton, Idaho for a late lunch and let the kids crawl around and play at the little dinner we ate at (they had kid toys! So perfect!). And before we knew it, we were at my parents, before 8 pm even! Yes, Jane had a small meltdown in the carseat about 20 minutes from my parent's house (I want to hold you, Mommy! Hold you!) But we did it! Lo Hicemos!

Overall, though, my kids did great! I was actually surprised by how well they did. My sister was amazing! And my back survived! And now we are here, still not quite moved in, and the kids are still adjusting (accidents, whining, hyperness), but it's going to be great! Because what else would we make it, right?