After much debate about when to leave for our 10-12 hour
journey we finally decided to leave around noon so the boys would nap right off
the bat and stay in Denver for the night. We’d initially planned on leaving
later and staying in Colby or Goodland, but thought it made more sense to take
advantage of their naptime. We fed them right before we left and headed west.
It really worked perfectly. They fell right to sleep and slept for a good two
hours. We made one stop for a diaper change and frappe after their nap and then
made it to Colby for dinner. We felt excited to be on our way just the four of
us!
We decided on Pizza Hut where we could sit down to eat and
stretch a bit. The boys did great at dinner and the servers all complimented us
as we left on how easy we made it look. I always take that as a huge compliment
since I don’t usually feel that way! We had found a little park across the
street that we thought the boys could play on for a bit, but it was raining
when we left so we had to scrap it. We realized we had forgotten travel wipes
and antibacterial wipes so we went by Wal-Mart on our way out of town. We
decided this was the best place to change them into their jammies, although I
was cringing at the thought of my children being naked and exposed in a
disgusting Wal-Mart bathroom, but I suppose there are worse places. We were
pretty worn out by then as evidenced by the fact that I took Blaine into the
bathroom with both pairs of jammies and no night diaper. Of course I didn’t
realize this until I already had him naked and thrown away his old diaper. This
wouldn’t have been too big of a deal, but BJ was away retracing his steps to
find a thrown paci from Pierce. So Blaine was stranded naked in the women’s
bathroom in Colby, KS. I just had to hold him and keep peeking out of the
bathroom until BJ got back. Luckily I had a burp cloth with me that I wrapped
around him so I wouldn’t get peed on. I got him dressed and then BJ walked into
the men’s room with Pierce with jammies and no night diaper. He quickly
realized it though and I was right there to hand him one. Good times in Colby!
We finally were on our way again and the boys fell asleep by
8:45 and slept the way into Denver. I had been communicating with Evan about
trying to get together while we tried to figure out where to book a room. He
invited us to stay with them and after some debate about imposing we decided to
take them up on it. Our plan/hope was the leave the boys in the car, set up the
pack ‘n plays, and quickly transfer them. No chance. They both woke as we
arrived and quickly became wide awake. By this time it was after 11:00 our time
and we didn’t know what we were going to do. Luckily we were in their basement
so we didn’t feel like we were totally disrupting their night. We tried putting
them in their cribs, but they freaked out. I don’t blame them really. A new
room in a foreign place. So we tried letting them play a bit and then putting
them down again. No go. Then we tried letting them in lay in bed with us with
the iPad hoping they’d get sleep and we could just all fall asleep together. No
go. So we finally just had to let them cry a bit. I felt terrible because I
knew they were probably so overtired, scared, and confused. Plus I was so
worried we were keeping the Besperats up. But within 30 minutes they were both
asleep. We quietly slipped into bed and did our best to sleep. It was pretty
hot with a double bed. Needless to say we were pretty tired in the morning.
They boys still awoke at their 6:30 time. We realized later that it was the
first time we had stayed in someone else’s house with the boys. We survived!
We played with Owen a bit in the morning, but the boys were
starting to fall apart by 10ish, so we quickly packed up and headed out. We
decided that we had to fit an IKEA trip in so we headed east towards Centennial
to fulfill my retail dreams while the boys napped. Yes, we decided to tackle
IKEA on little sleep with two one year olds. But it went really well! We ate in
the cafeteria first (Swedish meatballs for us and chicken fingers for the boys)
and then hit the 2 floors. We ended up starting the wrong way and went upstream
the whole second floor. We were smarter on the first floor. We got some
Christmas presents for the boys and few other nick nacks. Successful all in
all.
We loaded up again and headed to Estes. The boys ended up
not napping on the way as we had thought/hoped. Plus we got slowed down by a
bike race in Boulder. It was weird…we had made it to Denver in great time, yet
the journey to Estes felt forever. Two cranky boys, four Wiggles, and two
exhausted parents later we made it. We headed right to Safeway to get some
essentials and the boys rode in their first double car cart. So cute! We made
it to The Woodlands, bathed them, and put them to bed. They pretty much went
right down. It felt so good to shower that night. It had been 48 hours for me.
I was definitely road weary and we slept great that night. Silky sheets and
cool weather!
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