Road Trip!

So, I never mentioned it on here because I wasn’t ever 100% sure it was going to happen but everything fell into place and right now Brian, Oliver and I are on day three of a ten day road trip that will take us from Austin all the way to Richmond, Virginia to see our friends Jennifer and Tom. I wasn’t sure it would happen because I kept thinking that maybe we were crazy to plan such a long trip with such a little kiddo but we decided to be brave and go for it. Although we never would have gotten everything done and packed and ready if my mom hadn’t helped us out so much. She came up on Wednesday of last week and did laundry, ran errands, watched the kiddo, bought diapers, etc. so that we’d be ready to go. If she hadn’t come up and helped I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep on Thursday night. Because of her I got 8 hours! Thanks, Mom!

On Friday we left Austin and drove all the way to Little Rock, Arkansas (about an 8 1/2 hour drive it took us from 9:30 to 5:30). Oliver was a total champ in the car until we were about 20 minutes outside of Little Rock. Then he melted down a bit but it was all forgotten by the time we pulled into the hotel. I drove most of the day on Friday and Brian split his time between the front seat when Oliver was napping and the back seat when Oliver needed someone to entertain him. On Laurie’s advice, we packed TONS of toys and books to keep Oliver busy. And it worked like a charm. Here he is at a little past the halfway point. Perfectly content and playing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” on his stereo for probably the fiftieth time that day.

We slung all of our stuff (and trust me, it’s a LOT of stuff) into our hotel room and headed out to let Oliver stretch his legs. Our hotel was right on the banks of the Arkansas River so we headed down to the hike and bike trail that ran along it. We weren’t expecting much but after walking about a quarter of a mile we found what must have looked like an oasis to Oliver... a splash pad! We didn’t have his suit with us but we stripped him down to his shorts and bare feet and set him loose. I’ve never seen a kid so happy to get wet and run around.

After he’d run around for awhile and worn himself out we loaded him back into the stroller and made our way slowly back to the hotel, passing a Korean gate along the way.

We changed him into his swimsuit and then headed to the hotel pool so that Brian and I could cool off. Back in the room we fed Oliver some dinner, gave him a bath and then started bedtime.

I had been nervous about trying to share a hotel room with Oliver since he’s slept in his own room since he was a month old but my mom came up with an awesome contraption to block off his pack n play from the rest of the hotel room. It’s an engineering marvel made of PVC piping and a custom sewn cover and it is the most amazing thing ever. Oliver goes into his pack n play, with an iPhone playing white noise directly underneath the crib, I draw the cover closed and he doesn’t even notice that Brian and I are in the room. He’s gone to sleep super easily both nights so far and has slept through the night just like normal. He’s napping in it as I type this. After O went to sleep on Friday night, Brian and I had an amazing pizza delivered from a restaurant nearby. We ate and drank wine and read and talked until we turned in a couple of hours later.

On Saturday, we got up early-ish (Oliver slept in until 6:45) and headed out to the Farmers’ Market that we had seen signs for the night before. It was at a place called the Little Rock Market, which is open seven days a week. Inside there are a bunch of different types of food booths - bakeries, middle eastern food, cajun food, bbq, etc. Brian and I had shrimp and grits and beignets for breakfast and Oliver had a biscuit. Yum! Outside they had the traditional farmers’ market which is only open on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We saw lots of beautiful fruits and veggies and great crafts, etc.

Then we headed back to the hotel and loaded up the car. I had wanted to see the Bill Clinton Presidential Library while we were in Little Rock but had decided against it since I couldn’t see wasting the money to get in when Oliver would probably be bored and we wouldn’t enjoy it. So I had decided that we would skip going into the museum but that we would check out the building and the grounds. On Friday night, I checked the museum’s website to get the address and noticed that Saturday, the 14th, was Bill Clinton’s birthday and that Bill Clinton’s birthday = free admission to the library! So, we go to go in and see the exhibits. It was perfect because it was super crowded and loud and Oliver didn’t bother anyone. (It’s weird how your definition of a “perfect” visit to a museum changes when you have a 16 month old).

After an hour at the museum we loaded into the car and headed to our next stop - Oxford, Mississippi. Just a short 3 1/2 hour drive. Along the way we stopped and had a picnic:

Tales from Oxford will come soon.