Firstly

I promised a beach vacation post extravaganza over a week ago, and am just now getting to it, but first we must begin at the beginning, which would be the getting to portion of the story. According to Google Maps, Cape May, NJ is 11 hours and 37 minutes from the Nati. Plus enough potty stops for one verrrry pregnant lady and 2 young children.

We strategically left at about 1 am to begin the drive, because we hoped that the kiddos would sleep, and mostly they did. The pregnant person had some....difficulties...getting comfy in the front of the Camry but otherwise, 5 hour energy for the husband and some Dave Ramsey podcasts and we were on our way.

The next morning, Brad said he "could do no more" and I took over as pilot. I used to love long car trips when I was in college; blasting the music, flying along the highway, contemplating life's mysteries...good stuff. Edifying for the soul. So when I hopped into the driver's seat to battle the Philly traffic, the sun was shining and city was glittering and I turned up some music to really get a good thing going. Plus, at the end of the yellow brick road was Mecca. The Beach.

sand chairs made out of...sand

Enter children. Did you know that it's really, really difficult to give a rousing self-concert when there are two small people who ask, every.five.seconds, "Mommy? What's that building?" and "Mom? Are we in traffic???" and "Mom?? Can we listen to Laura??" and, most frequently, "Mommy? Where is the beach????"

Ahh, because you see, I (stupidly?) eschew most forms of electronic entertainment for children in the car (read: DVD players and those video game deals disguised as "educational games") but I was ok with the idea of listening to books on CD. So I geared us up with some Little House series, read by Cherri Jones and on loan from the Public Library of Cincinnati. Only problem is that we don't actually have a CD player in our vehicle.

What we do have is one of those awesome cassette tapes with a cord coming out the back, the one you could plug your Discman into when you were in high school. So we have to put the CD into our laptop, then plug the laptop in to the cassette tape situation. Then whoever is co-piloting has to hold the whole contraption on their lap. So fancy. As enchanting as "Laura" is, it's not exactly the same thing as belting out some vintage Usher. (Should my kids listen to Usher?? I dunno. But isn't it better to do that than perish in car accident along 76-East because the driver fell asleep? At the time, I thought so.)

Then there was the fly that got stuck in the car during a bathroom break. That fly kept Doms occupied and entertained for a good 30 miles before it got sucked out the window. I'll take what I can get. 

Honestly, 11+ hours in the car with my little guys was not so bad. Maybe it's like after you've given birth and the labor pains fade from your mind as you gaze at your newborn. You'll totally do it again. Once you're lounging on the beach, the car ride to get there becomes a distant memory, and you'll totally do it again. Next summer.