Riding in the Car With Abby

Taking car trips with Abby are always an adventure. It's tough for such a "live wire" to be contained for much more than an hour, and even that's pushing it some days. It usually helps, though if she is going to one of her favorite places. Luckily, today we were.

I have been in desperate need of a haircut for quite some time, but this usually takes some planning since the only person I really trust to take a scissors to my hair lives a good two hours away (she really does a great job).  We typically make a family outing of it by stopping off at my in-laws, which is about half way. So, this morning, before seven we all trotted out to the car and buckled up to head to Nana and Papa's.

Abby, who was still garbed in her p.j.'s, was is a super mood, happily chatting away about going to see Nana and Papa. It was just after we'd been in the car for about ten minutes that she announced she was hungry. We were still in town, and had planned to pick up some bagels to bring with us, so this wasn't a problem. What she asked for was though, she wanted french fries and a shake. I explained to her that those things aren't served at the crack of dawn, but she might be able to get a muffin instead. She wasn't really down with that so she made another suggestion: birthday cake. I figured that going into the fact that a muffin and cake weren't too far off wasn't worth it, so I told her that would work. I heard her make a clicking sound from the back seat and then she told me that she was ready - because she'd put on her birthday hat.

This was about the time she started commenting on Jason's driving. We would hit a bump and hear a loud, "Woah!" from the back. She had wanted her booster seat in the middle of the back seat, and this afforded her a wonderful view of the road ahead of us. It was after about the third, "Woah!" that she added, "Look out, cars!" We weren't sure if she was warning Jason, or the others on the road that we were coming. We thought that by getting her some breakfast it might cool off the comments from the back, but they just kept coming. It was around a big bite of chocolate chip muffinette that she warned Jason to be careful as he got on the highway because, "There's a big truck!"

Breakfast kept her occupied for a short while, but then she was ready for some serious jams. Now, Abby tends to take after her father when it comes to her choice of music, it is rather....eclectic. Let me share with you her song choices of this morning:

Abby jammin'

• "Day-O (Banana Boat Song)" - Harry Belafonte
• "Pharaoh's Story" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
• "Be True to Your School" - The Beach Boys (To which she insisted she needed her pom poms. Since we didn't bring them the pretend red and pink ones I handed her worked well. - Whew!)
• "Poker Face" - Lady Gaga
• "Waka Waka" - Shakira
• "Calcutta" - Lawrence Welk Orchestra
• "Dancing Queen" - ABBA
• "The Monkey Dance" - The Wiggles

With each of the songs she broke out her best moves - entertaining us so much that at one point she stopped and said, "Mom. Dad. Settle down!" Thusly chastised, we contained our amusement for the rest of the trip.

I'm happy to say we arrived safely, and Nana and I went off to get our hair done as the boys watched out for Abby. By the texts I was getting I anticipated the tired bunch that I came home to, so we packed up quickly and headed back for the hour drive home. While Jason dozed beside me, exhausted from the games of baseball, chalk drawings, playing in the yard, errands, and two baths that Abby had required, Abby and I belted out some Disney Princess Christmas carols. I'll bet we were the only ones on I-94 that were singing about having a holly jolly Christmas in 78 degree weather.

We arrived home, all a bit tired from our adventures, looking for a bit of peace and quiet, and happy with the knowledge that there was no need to get back in the car today.

Abby doing the signature Wiggles hand move.

I hear she has a mean swing.

Nice form!