We Have Survived Day One

Well - we have survived the first day of vacation. Although - at this point, it is traveling and not really vacation as far as the parents are concerned. Creed woke us all up at 1:50 this morning and the fun began. We started off in the van at 3:10 am this morning (yes, I know 10 minutes late!) expecting our children to go back to sleep until at least dawn. Well, our children had other ideas. They talked and laughed for the first half hour or so - continued talking for another half hour and then talked some more. About an hour in Creed was asking if we were at Colorado yet, so we knew we were in for trouble. About 5 am Creed decided to take a short 30 minute nap and then by 6 am we decided the DVD was coming on. They were NOT going to sleep. So - we all enjoyed the first few hours of vacation awake. This was NOT the plan - but with children plans are not always followed.
The kids were EXTREMELY well for being up since 3 AM - until our first melt down at about 11 am. We ended up stopping - no not for the first time, we are not that cruel. We ate at a rest area hoping we could get the kids to nap after lunch. Instead, they got in the van and played very nicely for a few more hours. Then, when we were about an hour from our hotel - the meltdown from both parties occurred. But hey, shouldn't we expect it at this point - sleep was needed by ALL (including the parents!). We got to the hotel, played on the playground outside in the sweltering heat, swam in the pool, took a dip in the hot tub, ate some dinner and headed to BED. At least, that is where we are heading! Tomorrow is only a 4 hour trip so after a good night's sleep we all will be ready to go to "COLORADO" as Creed loves to tell us.