Are We There Yet

Four simple little words. Alone they are fine, but used together they will strike fear in the heart of any parent. Especially if they are repeated ad nauseum over the course of a road trip.

Yesterday was one such day for us. Our cousin who got married in Las Vegas a few weeks ago was having a reception picnic at a park near her house in Illinois. We decided to go so we could see some relatives who weren't at the wedding. We also decided to bring Bunny along because the family hadn't seen her in about a year.

Now we live in Milwaukee which is about 2 hours from the greater Chicagoland area. B.B. (before Bunny) we used to think nothing of driving down for the day. Well we really didn't do it that often but we could have if we wanted to. But adding a toddler in the mix always complicates matters.

We had Chinese class in the morning. We decieded to have lunch after that and then hit the road. This puts us at about noon, which in theory should induce napping. In Theory.

In reality, not so much. We made the mistake of telling her we were going to a party. So the conversation in our car went something like this. "Let's go to the party." "I'm not gonna nap." "Let's go to the party." "I'm not gonna nap." Lather, rinse, repeat. For two straight hours.

I refused to pull out the DVD player to entertain her because I was hoping she would give up and fall asleep. Man am I stupid.

So we finally get to the party to see all the family. It was nice to see people we hadn't seen in a while. The park where the picnic was was on a river and really pretty. It was a beautiful day, 75 and sunny. The food was catered. It was worth the two hours of torture we had just survived. It was perfect, almost.

Almost because the pavillion where the food and tables were was covered with those little Asian Beetles (lady bugs) that are everywhere now. Now I may have mentioned my intense dislike of all things bug. If you get one or two of those Asian Beetles in your house, no big deal. But hundreds, nay thousands, yeah that is a big deal. And they were flying everywhere, getting in your hair, on your face, down your (my) shirt, on your food. Oh yeah and they bite. Not fun.

Bunny lost it. She loves all things bug. Except for flying bugs. Those she hates. So she wouldn't eat her food. She just kept saying "I don't like flies, go away flies. Make flies go away momma."

So in order to fend off a total meltdown, grampy took her for a walk and all was well. She found a bench under a tree where she proceeded to collect acorns, leaves, bark and wood chips. Yeah, that's my kid. If mommy were to venture down to her little oasis, she was told in no uncertain terms to go away. Only grampy and grandma could be there. Well alright then.

When it was time to go, we went back to the pavillion to say our goodbyes. Bunny gave hugs and high fives like a champ. And then she noticed the lady bugs. But this time they were on the ground, and she wanted to stay so she could watch them crawl around. "I love lady bugs momma."

Luckily for the sanity of all involved, she fell asleep as soon as the car pulled out of the parking lot and we managed to survive the trip.

Later that night, I turned to my husband and said "That was nice, let's not do that again."