On the weekend of January 14th, we drove up to Napa to visit Amanda’s parents. Amanda was also helping to throw a baby shower for her cousin Jill, so we had lots of good reasons for a drive up north.
This was Austin’s longest drive by far. He is a seasoned traveler, and has been in an airplane for 5.5 hours at a stretch, but it’s different when you have to be strapped into a car seat for a minimum of seven and a half hours…probably more. It had been a long time since I visited Ivan and Dianne in Napa, and I was looking forward to the trip…although, I confess, I was apprehensive about the drive.
We left LA around 5pm on a Thursday, which we pulled off by packing on Wednesday as best we could, and then taking off of work a few hours early on Thursday. We drove over the Grapevine and we were just approaching the town of Grapevine itself on the other side, when both kids melted down fully. Adria was hungry and needed to go potty, Austin was hungry and restless…it felt like a scene out of National Lampoon’s Vacation or something. Austin was crying, Amanda was turned around backwards trying to soothe him, Adria was repeating her need to potty about every 30 seconds and asking “Where is the restaurant that we’re going to stop at?” about every 15 seconds (the moral equivalent to, “Are we there yet?”). It was getting so distracting that I was having a hard time concentrating enough to drive the last 3 minutes to In’N'Out. But eventually, we made it.
We got everyone fed and changed, put gas in the car, bought some sugar and caffeine for me, and then got back on the road. It was about 7:30pm so we gave Adria the DVD player and let her watch her shows for about an hour. Austin hung in there for maybe 20 minutes before he fell asleep. At 8:30 or so, we took the TV away and told Adria to rest her eyes…she fell asleep quickly. Then we cruised in silence. It was amazing. We held our breath for hours, wondering what was the next fire that we’d have to put out…but both kids slept. Incredibly, we drove Amanda’s car down to empty….5 hours and 0 stops later, we rolled into the Miller’s driveway with the gas light on, and Austin still asleep. Adria was actually awake for the last hour, waking up when we paid the toll for the bridge…but she stayed quiet in the back, hugging her guys, occasionally asking sleepy questions about things that she saw go by.
We really weren’t that late getting in, maybe 12:30 or so, but we were still pretty tired. Mercifully, Ivan and Dianne took the kids for us in the morning (in fact, every morning…thanks guys), so we caught up on sleep a bit. Here are a few cute photos from the first two mornings:
Austin showing off his smile for Campa
Austin napping with Grandma
Adria delicately working some PlayDoh with those long fingers
On Saturday, Amanda went to Jill’s shower with Dianne and Austin…leaving Ivan and I home alone to play with watch Adria. 
When Amanda and I were in St. Helena the day before, I had noticed a park that looked interesting, so we drove out there. They had a huge rope climbing structure that Adria played on for a while, and I took a bunch of photos with the SLR:
Adria climbing the rock wall at Jacob Meily Park
Adria and Ivan at the top of the rope structure
Adria the spider, hanging in the web
On top of the world. 5 stars.
I love the warm colors in this photo
As it turns out, half of this park was being worked on, and was closed. There were no swings or slides that Adria could use. Ivan knew of another park that was nearby, so — having little else that we had to do — we picked up and went from one part to another.
Crane Park was huge, and there were all kinds of things for Adria to do. Slides, swings, a tire swing, sand, things to climb, a see-saw…you name it. I got the camera back out…
Amanda thinks that I take too many photos of Adria with static hair
Great light at the bottom of the slide...5 stars.
She found some toys in the sandbox to play with
Click to see grains of sand (5DM2 at 4 frames/sec; 1/800s at f/4.5, ISO 100)
Hanging on the swings
Running the swings up to their peak and jumping!
After playing in the park for a while, we had a picnic lunch and then went home for a nap. In the afternoon, Ivan and I took Adria for a run in the BOB, which was fun. We went out to dinner that evening, and had one more night of sleeping in…then, sadly, it was Sunday and time to go home.
While Amanda and I packed up the car in the morning, Dianne watched Austin and Ivan took Adria out to the hot tub to “swim” for a while:
Turn the heat down a bit and ... instant kiddie pool!
It was the drive home that I had been dreading all along. I knew that the drive up would go reasonably well, because both kids would be so tired. But on the way home, during the day, I expected Austin to get bored. We left around 10, when Dianne simply couldn’t keep Austin awake any longer. We put him in his car seat, started driving, and…he woke back up. Inexplicably, he kept himself awake for another 90 minutes, then started to get fussy…so we stopped for lunch and a much needed diaper/outfit change.
After lunch, both kids fell asleep for a while. Austin slept for a few hours. The rest of the trip was a blur. We drove as much as we could, stopped when we needed a break, and entertained Austin as much as possible from the front seat. I had packed a bag full of toys, which Amanda gave him one-by-one…he’d play with each for a few minutes and then drop it over the side, and we’d get him a new one. Eventually, we made it home…and really, the trip went as well as could be expected. The sooner we can give Austin his own DVD player for the trip, though, the better… 
That began a very long night of changing her sheets twice and helping her clean herself up every 30-60 minutes (she eventually learned to use the trash can).
