Definitely Worth the Trouble

Ahhhhh, our road trip to Houston. We were very excited about our first road trip with both kids. Eddie has been on several road trips from Southern CA to Northern CA, but this was Sophia's first. There is a singer/performer who does Christian music for children named, Jana Alayra. We heard about her when we lived in CA and we took Eddie to see her when he turned two. He loved her right away and we bought a CD of her music and a DVD of one of her concerts for Eddie to enjoy. Eddie knows the words and hand motions to all of her songs. Recently, I showed the DVD to Sophia and she was instantly hooked. She loves music and she picks up lyrics and tunes really quickly. She was singing every word to every song in no time. Previously, Jana only did concerts in CA, but I checked her website and saw that she was planning one in Houston! So, we decided to plan a weekend road trip. 

The actual drive to Houston went smoothly with no problems. The kids were in great moods and enjoyed the drive. It was the first time we had a child old enough to ask, "Are we there yet?" every 5 minutes, so that was fun. We had booked two joining suites so that Eddie and Sophia could each have their own room and also a kitchen so that we could prepare our own food when necessary. The plan was to arrive right after lunch so that the kids could have good naps. But when we arrived a little after noon we were told that two joining suites was not possible, and that no rooms would be ready until at least two o' clock. My thoughts: "What??! These kids need naps if they are going to make it through the concert tonight!!" The front desk guy was unsympathetic to our plight and just told us to check back at 2pm. Ed and I tried to stay positive. We briefly thought of getting back in the car to see if the kids would fall asleep there, but after 4 hours in the car we knew that wouldn't go over well. So, we walked to the nearby mall and just walked around for a couple of hours. The kids were in that obvious overtired crazed state, but there was nothing we could do! At 2pm, we checked back at the front desk and our rooms were still not ready. We sat in the lobby with the kids eating snacks and me singing songs to them until 2:45pm when the front desk guy told us ONE of our rooms was ready. We go up the elevator, happy to at least get Sophia a nap, but when we walk in, it is just a normal room, not a suite! So, with only a single room to work with, we first attempted to put Sophia's pack 'n play in the bathroom but she was not fond of that plan. So, I laid with her and Eddie in the bed while Ed sat in a chair. We tried to keep everyone quiet and Sophia eventually fell asleep. When the joining suite was ready, Ed and Eddie snuck out to that room and left Sophia and I to have a nice nap. Without all of this delay, our nap time would have been over by 3pm to give us enough time to get ready, have dinner, and be at the concert a little before 6pm, but instead nap-time didn't start until 3pm and we had to wake up a very sleepy and grumpy Sophia at 4:30pm. We got a little turned around trying to locate the church and ended up having to go straight to the concert, so the kids had no dinner! We arrived right before the concert started, and you will never guess... they only took cash for the tickets, which we did NOT have!! Thankfully, they let me take the kids in and Ed drove to 3 gas stations before he found an ATM. 

The kids LOVED the concert!! They were so excited and full of joy until the hunger started to wear on them. Luckily, the church was serving everyone dinner after the concert and they let us start eating early while Jana sang the last couple of songs. The kids got to wave good-bye to Jana as we left (we decided not to wait in the long line to meet Jana) and she blew them kisses.

The next day we had fun at the hotel and walked around the mall. After nap-time we took the kids to the Houston Children's Museum and they had a blast. We got on the road to come home around 4:30pm, but we sat in traffic for about an hour. We got home around 9:30pm and neither of the kids fell asleep during the drive, but they were very well behaved. Overall, the trip was a great adventure and experience, especially for the kids. In the midst of the challenges, Ed and I would give each other this look that said "let's choose to be patient" and we made it through just fine. 

On the road

Eddie singing and dancing on stage with Jana

Jana telling Ed and the other dads to follow what she does

Jana led the dads through a "frilly" dance routine to one of her songs. Funny!

Sophia getting an up-close view of Jana as the "Daddy Dance" ends

Eddie giving Jana a high five

Breakfast in our hotel room

At the Children's Museum! Sophia loves trains

Eddie making shoes

Sophia was excited to be able to ring this doorbell to her heart's content

Eddie got to paint his own face! He did his nose and Spiderman on his cheek. Then he asked me to do Spiderman and Green Goblin on his forehead. On his other cheek? Darth Vader, of course.