My aunt Betty retired this week after serving as an elementary school librarian for over 23 years.  The family threw her a surprise retirement party on Monday night and Gage and I decided to take our first solo road trip so we could be there.

My aunt Betty was a huge influence on me when I was growing up.  Before I could stay at home by myself I spent my summer days with her.  She is fun and energetic and I know from experience that the kids in her school were lucky to have her.  She was always there to throw slumber parties for the 8 of us grandchildren and it because of these parties and other outings that I am as close to my cousins as I am.  Thank you, Betty!

My family lives 2-2 1/2 hours away and on the way down I waited til Gage was ready for a nap and we were off.  He woke up with about 25 minutes to go and didn’t get angry until the last 10 minutes, so I think it was a success.  On the way back, we had the flip side. He napped for the first 25 minutes and then was NOT HAPPY.  We stopped and walked around a hunting store (having never been in one before I was just as interested in all the new stuff as Gage :)) and then got back in the car.  He lasted about 5 minutes before he was NOT HAPPY.  We tried walking around again at the next rest stop.  He seemed happy again…until we actually got back on the highway.  The next 20 minutes were spent with me trying to go to my happy place and still drive safely.  Blessedly, Gage wore himself out and finally fell asleep.

The moral of the story?  None.  I’m sure I’ll make the trip again and I’m sure that it will have mixed success.  Do any of you moms have any good advice for our next trip?

And a bonus picture just to show that he recovered from our trip.