Tomorrow...

....is our first road trip.  We leave for Dallas after swim lessons on our quest to see one of my dearest friends and sorority sister, A and her beautiful 3 year old next week daughter, O.  This will be my first time to meet cutie patootie O, and Tate's first time to meet them both.  We'll also get to see a few other of my very dear to my heart friends (All sorority sisters...how amazing is ADPi?!  Yes, I'm 44 and these girls still mean as much to me now as they did when we were 18 and 19 gossiping about frat boys and going rolling).  


And it's a 272 mile drive to A's house.  


272 miles.


Tate and I have never driven more than 60 miles in a car together.  


Those 60 miles were always to Galveston and I always, always, always started our drive right at naptime. (so clever, aren't I?)


My iPhone anticipates it will take us 4 hours and 41 minutes to get to Angela's.


281 minutes.


In the car.


The two of us.


Sigh.


For some reason flying with him has never stressed me or worried me like driving with him is....not even our upcoming 11 hour flights to and from Berlin.  Part of it is now I have to both drive AND entertain him.  And with him rear-facing I wonder if this will be more difficult as well.  (I am not turning him until he reaches the weight limit on our Britax Boulevard which is 35 pounds, and at that point I'll probably get our Sunshine Radian back from my parents which can rear-face to 45 pounds.  The new recs advocate leaving a child rear-facing until at least 2 years of age or preferably until your carseat's rear-facing weight limit is met.  And he has not minded in the least, so he stays put).  


Anyway, I anticipate he'll fall asleep about 90 minutes into the drive.  I'm hoping that he'll sleep at least 90 minutes if not 2 full hours.  


And then what?  


Sigh...I'm making an impromptu Target run in the morning to buy a few Leapfrog electronic toys, some books and anything other little toys that may interest him.  Since I don't let him watch alot of tv save his Thomas for 10-15 minutes in the mornings I'm not really wanting to get a portable DVD player to play DVDs.  I don't want his head in a movie for 2 hours straight.  (ask me how this went on Monday)  I am considering getting the new iPad for our trip to Berlin, but trying to wrap my head around spending $600-800 for a 'toy' for my child.  I never thought I would be that mom.  But he loves playing on my phone, and for that very reason I have yet to activate my new iPhone 4S because he'll be all over it and dropping it as I'll deactivate my 3.  Sigh.  I do not ever take my Mac with me when I travel, so the idea of having an iPad intrigues me, but I'm not a very tech savvy person, so I just don't know.  I can check email on my phone....trying to discern the real advantages of having an iPad not including the larger screen which offers more fun for Tate to color and ummm yeah...makes it much easier for my 44 year old eyes to see.  I struggle with the phone sometimes.  We shall see.  Once I get my new washer/dryer and put aside the funds for our trip to Berlin I'll see how much I left from my tax refund and decide then I suppose.  


Wow how did a post that was going to be 2 lines long end up being a novel?  My worry about driving morphed into an outpouring of my mushy brain.


272 miles.  Each way.


I need to get some rest.


But I do know this...


Tate is going to be thrilled, absolutely thrilled to see Thomas the Train.  Because though I'm so excited to be seeing my sweet friends, our real reason for going is that I'm taking Tate to the 'Day out with Thomas!'  That will make all rest stops, potty breaks, possible meltdowns, complaints and traffic all worth it.


His joy is my joy.