This was our first road trip after having Benny completely potty trained. I knew that 6 hours through the desert was a lot to ask of him, as we don't typically get a whole lot of warning to get him to a potty once he starts "dancing." I had thought that maybe we should have him wear a Pull-Up for the car ride, just in case, but of course completely forgot about it when it was time to go. So, we just went for it. He went potty in Wickenburg, but every other time he had to go, it was immediately AFTER leaving any civilization where there was no place to stop or even pull over to let him go, then when we would stop, he wouldn't go. He had 3 accidents by the time we got to the hotel. To say it was frustrating was an understatement.
But other than that, the boys were absolutely perfect on the long drive. There was no crying and no complaining. Josh, who is now in a booster seat instead of his 5 point harness, was a big help as he could now reach things on the floor for him and Benny. It appears that these boys have gotten acclimated to these long car rides. They find ways to amuse themselves without vegging out in front of a DVD player. Joshua got a big kick out of seeing the Joshua Tree Forest along the way. Benny didn't quite understand why there weren't any Benny Trees, so Joshua told him the bushes were Benny Bushes. There were also Mommy Mountains and the Daddy Desert.
When we rolled into town, we saw that down the street there was a park with a nice little playground. How perfect for two little boys who had been cooped up in a car all day!
The next day we took the boys down to the Las Vegas Strip to see some of the sights. As we were driving up Las Vegas Boulevard, Joshua saw the Excalibur, which looks like a castle, and said "There's something wrong with that castle! Castles are supposed to have flags, but that castle doesn't have any flags." Alert the authorities! :) The best part of the strip as far as the boys were concerned was the M&M World store, a 4 story gift shop of nothing but M&M merchandise. They even had a big M&M greeting the patrons outside. Ben thought he was pretty cool, but Josh, as usual, wanted nothing to do with him.
We did a little walking up the strip, then stopped at the lion habitat in the MGM Grand. Whenever we see the lions at the zoo they're always so far away, but these lions were so close! Couldn't really get any decent pictures, but it was pretty neat to see them so up close and personal.
After the strip we headed out to the Jones' for Adria's birthday party. It was a great party and so fun to spend time with that part of our family, and of course Grandma and Grandpa B. Adria was the prettiest little birthday girl!
Saturday night we were able to meet up with an old friend of mine from high school who I haven't seen in almost 12 years. Jennifer and her husband, Dennis, live about an hour outside of Vegas and they were nice enough to drive into Vegas to join us for dinner. I was a little worried about how the boys were going to behave, having had such a long day, but they were awesome. They sat and ate some of their dinner, pretty much without making a peep, and then promptly conked out, buying us some time to have some good adult conversation and catch up on the last 12 years! When we got back to the hotel I realized I didn't get any photos of us together. :( I guess that just means we'll need to do it again sometime! It was really great to see her after all these years.
Our trip home was so much less stressful, as far as Benny's plumbing goes. We bought a package of Pull-Ups and had him wear one on the way home. It seemed like taking the pressure off of him made it so much easier for him. He did all his business like a big boy all the way home with no trouble. It was another very pleasant 6 hour drive.
We had so much fun this weekend. It's so nice to have these little opportunities to get away. I hope these trips will make for some fond memories for the boys. I know they will be for us.
1 comment:
I'm glad you guys had a good trip and survived the long car ride - that's a feat in and of itself!
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