seward with the whole family

This past weekend we decided last minute to take a family road trip to Seward. To kick it up a notch we decided to do something we haven't done yet. We decided to sleep in our car. Our cousins have done this for 4 mounts now, how hard could it be?! BIG MISTAKE!!! Well, at least the sleeping in the car part...

When you cram 5 people and 3 dogs in the back of a mini van a lot of things can go wrong. In our case it was a baby that decided to not sleep, 2 big dogs that thought the entire car was theirs, our big girls flailing and punching everyone in their sleep all. night. long. and a super tired mom and dad.

But you know what? We woke up and everything was better. Yes we were all still tired but we made it. We look a little walk along the dirt road, my hubby and I had about a ten minute long hug and we got back in the car to drive the rest of the way. 
Oh yeah, and we totally let our kids eat potato chips for breakfast because we are good parents like that...

Once we made it to the beach everyone literally ran to the water. We were all so excited to feel the sun, the tiny warm rocks under our toes, the freezing water on our feet and just be able to stretch out as much as we wanted! It was not totally bliss due to our dogs decided that it was a good idea to not listen to us, but man, the kids my husband and I tried to soak up and cling on to every second of joy that we could. At one point my baby girl fell asleep on my chest, the big girls were playing happily and no one was needing anything from me. If you are a mom you know that is pure bliss!

After the beach that we would go to the aquarium then out to lunch. While we were doing those things our dogs exploded bodily fluids ALL over the car. No joke. It was crazy, frustrating, draining, and just plain ridiculous. There were so many highs on this trip, so many fun experiences, and so many just plain low moments. It was on of those trips where on the drive home, once all the kids fell asleep my husband were kind of all stripped down emotionally and really fell on each other (emotionally). It then hit me just how big of a blessing the trip was for my husband and I. We had to rely on each other for strengthen, and boy did we need as much strength as possible. I feel like we came home not only with a car that smelled like pee and throw up but we came home more unified. So often it can start to feel like my husband and I are co existing, We are just taking care of kids but not each other. This trip we had to uplift each other constantly. He was my rock and made the trip so much better than it would have been if I was alone.