The car trip

Ah yes, every parent's rite of passage... the road trip.

For the most part, the trip to and from Sonoma was uneventful if you consider that peace and quiet were rarely known. We did manage to fair much better than the Griswold family.

Myer was fed and content as we pulled out of Monterey around 2pm on Friday. Rory was practically bouncing off the interior of the Element and giddy with delight about going to the cabin and seeing Paul and ToniLynn (whom he has a slight crush on because he gets very shy and mumbles when he first sees her). The last couple of times we have been to the Russian River, Rory was very excited about crossing the Golden Gate bridge but had fallen asleep by the time we reached it. This trip he was wide awake going over both ways, and as you can see he was absolutely thrilled at the prospect.

Myer I fear was in no better mood, he woke up hungry and cranky by the time we approached the City. So it was an alternating fuss fest, in stereo, for about 45 minutes. I was back and forth between the passenger and back seats trying to console him while keeping up idle chatter with Rory, who was vying for attention. Every time I took the seat belt off or got back into my seat, the 'buckle seat belt' indicator beeped - all of this to Matt's great acoustic delight. I finally broke down when traffic slowed to a crawl on 19th Street and took Mymy out of his car seat to nurse in the back (bad Mommy).

The return trip was basically a repeat of the journey there, except the first hour was so blissfully silent we could actually have an adult conversation. Except we had absolutely no idea what to talk about. The way home was also a special treat for me, as I got to introduce Matt and the boys to one of my favorite neighborhoods, Sausalito. We had lunch at a great little Taco Shop just beyond the touristy waterfront.

Whoever said it's about the journey - not the destination - wasn't traveling with little ones. (Hmm, I just Googled that and it turned up nothing. Ah, I know, it was They who said that.)

Then again, the journey wasn't half as bad as I've made it out to be, in retrospect. And the huevos rancheros and mole were pretty good, too - three thumbs up.