Adventures on the Road

Our vacation to go to my cousin's wedding turned out amazing. We had so much fun.

This was our first real road trip with Sophie. Prior to this, we'd only driven 2.5 hours to Corpus Christi with her and flown everywhere else. This was driving from San Antonio, Texas, to Crestview, Florida, which is a good 12-14 hours. AND Sophie was newly potty trained, so we had no idea what to expect. However, Sophie did not have any accidents on our trip and, best of all, every place we stopped was an exciting adventure for her.

Carseat, oversized sunglasses, princess blanket...just how I roll.

We left out at 6:15 a.m. and drove across town to beat San Antonio rush hour traffic, then stopped to have breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana. Sophie was excited for tacos and excited to point out all the suns on the wall! She was excited to go potty!

Then, we drove over halfway to Houston and stopped for gas in Weimar, Texas. When we walked in the door, the convenience store had a bull that you could ride for $1, so after we went potty, Sophie rode it and loved it!

Hilariously, the song "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins played
during the entire bull ride. Only in Texas.

At truck stops, she marveled at the big scales you could weigh yourself on in the restrooms. She pointed out when we were shown on the security camera TVs-"We're on TV, Mommy!" She napped a little and watched videos and played games on her Fisher-Price iXL while we drove. She never complained once. What normally would've been a long, ho-hum drive was actually fun since we saw it through her eyes. :)

We stopped in Biloxi, Mississippi, and spent the night at one of my favorite casinos, the Beau Rivage. When we went down to have dinner, Sophie saw all the slot machines and wanted to play. I told her those were "Big Girl Games." After a delicious meal, I went to play slots and J took Sophie to the Kiddie Arcade, aka the "Little Girl Games."

Amazingly, after losing almost $80 on quarter slots, I hit it big and won $1350 on one of them! It was so exciting! I've never won that big before. When I went back up to the room, I told Sophie, "I won at the Big Girl Games!" Sophie ran and got some little plastic fish and a ball and said "I won at Little Girl Games, Mommy!" LOL. We were all winners!

Sunrise, Gulf of Mexico, Biloxi, MS

The next morning we went for a swim in the beautiful pool and looked out over the ocean, then got dressed and checked out. We headed to Mobile, Alabama, about 30 minutes away, to meet my cousin Cindy for lunch. It was great to see her and catch up. Then, we drove on through Mobile ("We're in a tunnel, Mommy!") and Pensacola, Florida, and finally arrived at our destination: Crestview.

Several of my cousins and aunts and uncles live in Crestview, but the wedding was actually taking place in a little town called Florala, Alabama, which is 25 miles north. It's where my parents grew up and I'm related to most of the town on one side or the other by marriage. The only place to stay in Florala is a bed and breakfast, but that is where my cousin Caitlin was having the reception and her wedding party was staying there, so we had to drive back and forth from Crestview everyday.

Main Street, Florala...small town, big chair!

After checking in to our hotel, we drove up to Florala and checked on my dad and uncles who were putting up lights for the outdoor reception at the B&B. Then, we drove to my grandparents' farm to see my mom and aunts and the bride and her sister, who were working on wedding decor. Then, we drove back down to Crestview to have dinner at my uncle's house.

The next day, J and I had planned to take Sophie down to the beach in Ft. Walton, 25 miles south. I was born there and the beaches there are some of the prettiest in the world, but I can hardly ever break away to go when we visit. My cousin's wife, Ashley, and her four-year-old niece Kelsey, ended up coming with us, and actually directed us to the exact stretch of my beach my parents always brought me to when I was Sophie's age.

Nothing like the white sand beaches of Ft. Walton. I played here at Sophie's age.

After our fun beach excursion, we drove back up to the farm for dinner. It was fun to see Sophie playing and running around and enjoying the farm. I only wish my grandparents were alive to see it. She's more of a farm girl than I ever was, for sure. :)

Sophie runs around on the farm her Papa grew up on in Alabama.

My grandparents would've loved to see her enjoying the farm so much!

The next day, Sophie and J stayed at the hotel to swim and hang out, while I headed up to the farm to help prepare wedding decorations. My aunt does interior decorating as part of her job, so she literally made every flower arrangement, bouquet, corsage, and table decoration, with our family's help! It was A LOT of work, and I remember now why I paid someone to do all that FOR me, but it turned out beautiful. And it was fun to hang out with my cousins, my aunts and uncles, and my mom and dad and work on all of that together.

That night, we attended the wedding rehearsal. Sophie and her fellow flower girl Zoey followed directions well, but got a little bored standing up front while everyone worked out the ceremony details, so they began swinging their flower girl buckets around a little, much to my chagrin. However, when I tried to tell Sophie to please stop, my aunt, the mother of the bride, told me to let the girls do whatever they wanted to...swing their buckets, sit down, whatever. It would be cute no matter what.

Finally, the big day came. Sophie and I had to be up at the B&B at 2 p.m. to get her hair done. The wedding didn't start till 6. I was a little worried about keeping her entertained and out of trouble for four hours, especially when the lake and a playground were just down the hill from where we would be.

Getting her hair done. This was the first time she had ever had her hair curled,
a fact my cousins, former child pageant girls, couldn't believe!

I needn't have worried. Sophie was in the zone-very focused on her flower girl role! She played games while the stylist did her hair and then hung out in the B&B, either playing games or going with me to check on my cousin Caitlin's progress and see her in her dress. I ended up running around doing things for Caitlin and Kenna, her sister who was the Maid of Honor, or my aunt. Everyone was impressed with how well behaved Sophie was-frankly I was pretty impressed LOL.

Waiting to go down the aisle.

At 5:20, we got her into her dress and at 5:40, we crossed over to the church. I thought Sophie would run to J and my parents when she saw them seated in the church, but she merely waved and said, "Hi Daddy! Hi Nana and Papa!" and continued to her spot on the side of the church. In. The. Zone.

I was seriously proud of her! J, smiling at right, was too.

She waited patiently and then, when it was time, went sweetly down the aisle throwing flower petals like a pro. She got into place by Kenna and Zoey and quietly stood there holding her bucket for the first few minutes of the service, looking out at all the people who just a few months before would've made her cry from shyness.

Success!

And then, probably getting a little bored, she began to swing her bucket. One of the bridesmaids, thinking she would nip that in the bud, reached out and grabbed the bucket mid-swing, and attempted to take it away from her. In the audience, J and I froze and silently freaked, "Girl, what are you doing? If you get the bucket away from her, she will cry and ruin the wedding!"

Never fear...Sophie just looked at the girl and tugged the bucket back away from the bridesmaid without making a sound. The audience, made up of mostly our relatives, burst into laughter, totally on Sophie's side of the debacle. The bridesmaid turned red, completely embarrassed. I felt sorry for her. Sophie didn't swing her bucket again and kept one eye on that girl for the rest of the ceremony!

Zoey, the other flower girl, had her own moment of levity when she kept patting a pillar standing up behind them and knocked it over! Kenna caught it and had to stand it back up while everyone laughed. Then, Zoey sidled right up to Sophie and began pulling feathers off her dress. Sophie just stood there and looked at her silently and bore up well, considering she was besieged on all sides LOL.

Zoey, Caitlin, and Sophie

The moral of the story is, don't have little kids in your wedding if you want all the attention on you. :)

Sophie, Nana, and Papa after the ceremony.

Now that Sophie had performed her job beautifully, I could finally relax and enjoy myself (being the mother of the flower girl is kind of stressful!). We headed back to the B&B and spent the next three hours dancing up a storm! Sophie stayed out on the floor dancing with J, me, my parents, and trying to do all the line dances and everything!

Ashley (my cousin's wife), me, and my cousin Cari at the reception.

J, Sophie, and me get the party started!

My sweethearts.

Boogie-ing with my little dancing queen!

Thankfully, Sophie isn't old enough to be embarrassed by us yet. LOL.

The next day, we began the drive home. We drove all the way to Lake Charles, Louisiana, and spent the night at another fun casino, the L'Auberge du Lac. Sophie and I spent an hour at the gorgeous pool, and Sophie kept showing me her new dance moves in the shallow end until the pool closed for the night. J got her ready for bed while I stole off to the casino for a little bit (good thing I don't live close to any casinos or I might have a problem LOL), My lucky streak continued-I won $283 on quarter slots, only investing $40 to do so.

We arrived home safely the next day. The entire trip went better than I expected at every turn, especially Sophie's performance as flower girl in the wedding! Sophie continued her trend of growing up and showing us new sides of herself on every trip we take. I look forward to more adventures on the road with her and J in the future.

What has been the best road trip you've taken with your kids?

Sophie in Bloom

Everything is in bloom right now in Texas-bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, and other spring wildflowers, bright green grass, and my daughter Sophie.

It's the spring of Sophie.

Sophie's always been a pretty reserved baby and child, much like my VERY reserved Canadian husband, J. While she talks at home, when confronted with a stranger in public asking her questions, Sophie's the kid who doesn't answer. And this is kind of okay with me on the stranger-danger front, but as a person who is a people-pleaser by nature, I find myself answering FOR her and excusing her silence with the comment "She's a little shy!" Which I know is bad and I shouldn't make excuses for her and call her shy-it's OK and that's just her personality. But the people-pleaser in me can't help myself sometimes.

At the Japanese Tea Garden, one of my favorite spots in San Antonio

At day school, her teacher has worried about Sophie all year, because Sophie never talks in class. She always knows the answers, does pretty much everything she's asked to do, and is generally well behaved, but she's quiet as a mouse.

Any time when she's not quiet is generally because she is uncomfortable in a new situation and full-on freaks out for the world to see. She cried every week the first six weeks she was in soccer class. In December, she freaked out at her dance recital and couldn't bring herself to dance with her class ("Mommy, everyone was LOOKING AT ME!"). In fact, she freaked out at her own birthday party last year among all her friends when she realized everyone was looking at her during the birthday song!

BUT! A change has come over Sophie in the past few months and it is amazing and delightful to witness.

She is talking more and more to her teacher in class, and not just talking-talking without being prompted BY the teacher to talk. She's also talking more in public, even to people she does not know. Now, when a lady in Target compliments how cute she is and asks her how old she is, she readily volunteers her age, complete with three fingers held up for the lady to see. This never used to happen!

Monday, at the doctor's office, Sophie told the nurse her age without even being asked. Then, when the doctor came in, she informed the doctor that her ear was bothering her, totally unprompted. She chatted away with the audiologist giving her a hearing test about the stuffed animals making noises during the test.

Sophie and her soccer coach!

In soccer, she is now completely confident in her skills and does every single part of class without getting upset or melting down. She's often the first to score a goal! Unlike most of the other kids in class, she no longer needs us to be on the field to help her during class, we only have to be nearby so she can high-five us when she does something well!

A reward from her teacher! Potty training is almost at an end for us! SO PROUD!

And y'all, to top it all off, in the last two weeks, not only did she finally begin going poop on the potty and doing it consistently (after several months of peeing on the potty only), she began GOING TO THE POTTY WITHOUT ANY PROMPTING FROM ME. Now, she just goes to the potty. On her own. When she needs to. Without me reminding her. OK, I still remind her occasionally, because I am trained to at this point, but she's going when the mood strikes her and not having accidents. THIS IS FABULOUS.

Now we just need to work on getting rid of the overnight diaper, but this is HEAVEN compared to the HELL potty training has wreaked on our life for the better part of the last two years (take note, Moms, don't start too early like I did!).

As a mother, I've just been so blown away with how she has bloomed into this tall, confident, sweet, funny, independent, polite little girl in the last few months. She climbs in and out of the car and car seat on her own. She eats without getting it all over herself. She talks and talks and talks. She says "No thank you" politely when you ask her if she needs help with something. And then does it herself! She lets me help her get dressed in the morning and do her hair without ANY fuss. She is a far cry from the tantrum-y two-year-old of last year.

Cowgirl Sophie has no fear! Don't you love the boots?
She loves things that sparkle, just like her Mama.

Another change is even more wonderful for me. Sophie, who has always been a complete Daddy's girl, practically J's shadow, who always wants Daddy for everything, has now turned her favor to me.

We've always had our Friday Fundays together when I'm off work, and she's always been all about me on those days. But any other day or moment when Daddy is around, it's always been all about him. "I want Daddy to do it! I want to sit by Daddy! I want to go with Daddy!"

Now, the tide has turned. She still loves J and probably still loves him best LOL, but I'm the one she wants. "I want Mommy to do it! I want to sit by Mommy! I want to go with Mommy!" I think this change has a lot to do with the fact that J moved offices recently. Now, instead of him taking her to school and me picking her up, as we've done for years, he's working 25 minutes away, so I take and pick her up from school every day. She's spending more time with me and I'm the one who's there more, so I'm the one she wants. And I love it!

On April 14th, Sophie's going to be a flower girl in my cousin's wedding. When I asked her if she wanted to do it last fall, Sophie said yes and has been really excited about it, but based on how she reacted to the dance recital and other situations, I was terrified about how she was going to do.

This is Sophie's flower girl dress. I call it the Bjork Swan Tutu,
although I think she looks beautiful in it. My cousin is a former pageant girl,
so I wasn't surprised the dress she chose was, um, over the top. Sophie loves it!

Now though, I'm excited, because Sophie has been in bloom all spring and walking down the aisle as a flower girl seems like an appropriate way to cap off this wonderful season. No matter WHAT happens at the wedding, I'm so proud of her and I love her so, so much.