Home Again

We made it back to Marshfield this afternoon after a rather stressful ride home.

Throughout the entire vacation, Amanda and I had been fighting a cold. Last night, Eva started coughing and it continued through the night. I had a bad feeling.

This morning we got up early and checked out of the hotel at 6:45 am. Things were looking good, kids were in fine spirits and we were making really good time.

We were fighting the clock, as Dave had a 2:30 pm meeting. He either needed to be in the office or at his home computer. We figured we could get home in time for him to call in.

As the hours passed, the girls appeared more and more miserable. The combination of sickness, a lack of sleep and a six hour car ride do not make for happy children.

A few hours into the trip, Eva threw up. Luckily we got her out of the carseat just in time. She seemed to be better so we thought maybe she had just gotten car sick.

Just about halfway home, I said to Dave,"Did you remember the activity mat?" This is Liam's favorite toy, a simple cloth mat with hanging toys overhead. He is just starting to master the grab and pull motion and get great delight when he captures one of dangling toys. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal to have the hotel ship the left behind item, but this is an awkward shaped thing with 2 bendable cross-arms... and of course, it is more expensive to ship things across the border. I try to push the thought out of my head and keep going.

We managed to abort a few potential meltdowns with the girls, through the wonders of music and audio stories. Finally, in the last hour of the trip, I pulled out a bag of gummy bears that I had been saving for emergencies.

I should have known something was up when Eva said she refused her share. In a last ditch effort to make her feel better, I queued up one of Eva's favorite songs, Raffi's "Apples and Bananas." She began to sing along and I relaxed a bit.

But about 30 seconds into the song, she suddenly started to cry, complaining that she couldn't breathe!

Just as we had before, Dave pulled over on the side of the freeway. But unlike last time, it was not in time. Poor Eva. It was like a scene from "The Exorcist."

We immediately sprang into action, with me getting Eva undressed and dressed in new (previously worn, dirty) clothes while Dave did his best to clean the carseat with Wet Wipes.

All the time we're getting more and more worried, wondering if we were really going to make it home by the 2:30 deadline.

Thankfully, we pulled into the driveway with no more than two minutes to spare.

To think that in three months, we will do this all over again as we make our way to Wisconsin is a little bit daunting. I need to put a little more time behind me before I think about it.