My Car Seat and Me

from Kyri

I had one of those weekends where I had to ask: What kind of crazy family is this?

It started Saturday afternoon when Dad and Mom packed us up and put us in the car. Mom said she was tired and needed a change of pace. She somehow implied that Ben and I had something to do with that.

Ben was very excited. He seemed to know this was no trip to Costco, and he told me that you have to look for things like: "Did they bring extra bags? Did they bring special toys in the car?"

It was really hot and I was all wet from it. It took awhile to get the parent people to understand and then a cool air came in from my window. My bottom was sore and I was thinking I needed to stretch when we stopped. We got out and Ben played on the playground while I sat on a blanket with my hat on. Then we went for a walk and saw a lot of water. I wanted to get in but Mom said it was dirty.

Then we drove some more. I took some naps and I'm not sure what I missed. But we ended up at this place with beds. This is where Ben got really excited. He told me that when they do this thing, he usually gets a really big bed to himself. And sure enough. He did.

I slept really well that night and the next morning Mom and Dad seemed very happy with Ben and me. "Wow! I slept 7 straight hours," I heard Mom say. Funny, so did I.

We went for another long drive and then we went in this place with lots of tall trees. I rode in my stroller for awhile and then Dad took me out and carried me. For a long time. It got a little chilly for awhile. We kept meeting new people who would tell my parents they were "brave" for taking their little ones on such a hike. When we came back to the car, they didn't put me in my car seat. Instead Mom wanted to give me milk while we drove. It was really bumpy and I liked sitting up front and I wanted to see where we were going. But I was sleepy and so I had milk. I was just starting to sleep when Mom said, "End of the gravel. I need to put her in her car seat." And that was the end of that really great time.

Ben and I took naps and played with toys for a really long time and then we were home.

Note from the mother: We spontaneously pricelined a hotel in Port Angeles and went to the northwesternmost corner of Washington, Cape Flattery. It was a short (1-mile roundtrip) hike but pretty rough terrain and uphill on the way back. It was a wonderful time and our kids loved it.