Successful Trip

We took a trip to Arkansas to look for a house to rent over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Here's the driver.

He drove the whole trip.

Love it! 

The front seat passenger.

It must be said that I did offer to drive.

The driver just didn't (or wouldn't) take me up on it.

He prefers to drive and I prefer not to, so it works out great.

Thank goodness for a DVD Player.

We were only 2 hours in on our 12-hour drive when the movies began.

Saved us.

Seriously!

These poor boys spent the better part of 6 days strapped in their carseats.

And movies were only allowed on the long parts of the trip.

Okay, mostly.  I admit we gave in here and there.

We all had our moments (parents included), but these adorable boys did remarkably well.

What Champs!

A little boredom is setting in.

Not for Luke, though.

Caden actually preferred not to use the headphones and spent most of the trip mesmerized by the screen alone. No sound, except the music we were listening to or the conversation we were having.

He is soo tired in this picture.  This is a kid who normally takes a 2-3 hour nap every day.

Not on this trip.  No naps.  Not even one.

He refused to fall asleep in the car (his only opportunity for some shut eye).

We are currently paying for the loss of sleep.

This too shall pass!

A rare moment to lounge at the hotel.

More lounging.

Porter is just glad to be out of his carseat.

He spent the most amount of time strapped in his seat.  At least the other boys could get out and stretch at each house we looked at.

I think this little guy (or big guy) gained a full pound in 6 days.  There were no calorie burning opportunities allotted.

He ate, then sat in his carseat, then ate, and sat, ate and sat.

I think we'll just call him "cheeks".

They sure are cute cheeks, though.

After driving around in the car all day, our evenings were spent watching the boys exert their energy by running all around our hotel room.

Luke ended up with a big goose egg on his head from hitting some wooden object.

A desk, I think.

The scratch above his eyelid is from stabbing himself with a straw.

Nice!

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at the Texas Land and Cattle Steak House.

YUM!

David was the only one to order turkey (although I couldn't help but sneak some off his plate).

Luke, our pickiest eater, ate steak for the first time.  It was the only item on the kid menu that didn't contain eggs.  Strangely, the boy who usually doesn't like meat, ate it up!

Sleeping arrangements.

I love that little kids don't mind sleeping bags.

Or the floor.

Luke got a sleeping bag and a hide-a-bed.

It was big enough to share with Caden, but then we would have had only awake children.

I prefer sleeping children.

More energy releasing activities.

Getting ready to head home.

We took 2 days going back, which was a little more leisurely.

Sort of.

This is what it takes to travel with 5 people, Alsop style!

David and I have not learned the technique of traveling light.

Not sure we will until forced to do so.

At least we have a mini-van to haul it all!



Best of all, we found a place to live!

Wahoo!

We were discouraged at times and even thought we were going to leave empty handed, but we found a place at the tail end of our last day there.  We signed a rental contract the morning we left town.