there. are. no. words.

I got a call from Matthew last Wednesday night at about 11 pm. The girl leader that he had lined up to go on the Sr. High ski trip the next day had something come up and I was the only person left to fill in. I love skiing. Actually, I love blading...the really short skis that can go through any snow-covered trail through the woods on the Giant's Ridge Resort. Under any other circumstances, I would have signed myself up to be the girl's leader. However, a 4 year old, a 2 year old and a nursing 8 month old are not conducive to skiing. I got off the phone and started laying out the boy's winter stuff, got overwhelmed just thinking of everything that had to be packed and started making out a list.

Matthew had to leave the house early the next morning as he was leaving with the group earlier in the day so that left me to take care of the boys, pack, load the van and close up the house for our 4-day trip. I waited until bedtime to leave so they would sleep the 5-hour travel to the resort.

DISCLAIMER**Our boys are really good kids. On a normal day, we have tons of smiles and a pretty easy-flowing routine. However, when that routine and sleep go out the window, so do the smiles and good kids**

I got out my list and started piling the stuff on the couch on the porch. The pile got higher and higher...very tempting to 2 little boys. I walked in one time to see the boys jumping in the blankets, pillows, winter clothes and every day clothes and throwing them in the air. You can imagine how happy I was at this point and it wasn't even nap time yet. Piper had a cold, Ollie had a cold and I had a cold and sinus pressure. We were a very crabby group. There were two times in the day when I called Matthew just to tell him that it was going to be nearly impossible for this to be pulled off. You may think that sounds incredibly negative, but sometimes you have to just look at the logistics and reality needs to set in. Both times I was reminded that if I didn't go, then the 4 girls who had signed up to go skiing couldn't go either.

Got everything packed and stuffed into a large suitcase and set it out in the porch to put in the van. Got all the pillows and blankets and added that pile to the suitcase. Got our food together in a cold/hot bag and put it in the pile. While Piper and Oliver cried and Finn got upset because they were crying, I got everything loaded into the van before it got dark. We left at 6:30.

Best case scenario--the boys would sleep all the way to the resort, we'd carry them in asleep and would lay them down asleep. Reality--The boys slept all the way there and then didn't want to sleep when we got to the resort at about midnight. Not only that, but Piper spiked a fever after we got there. One thing you have to know about Piper is, when you give him Children's Advil or Tylenol he gets very agitated as his fever is coming down. He also can't sleep for the next few hours after getting the medicine. It happened exactly like that. At 3:00 he finally was able to settle down and fall asleep. Ollie gave us an early wake up call at 7 (I usually have to wake him at 8). The resort mixed up our reservations and they didn't have rooms for us for the remainder of the time so we had to check out of those rooms at 11 and couldn't check into our hotel (30 minutes away) until 3. Afternoon nap time was spent in a busy room where all of our group put their suitcases and coolers. There were so many times that Piper and Oliver got woken up during their nap that it became a routine thing for the kids to exit the room and then report to me whether they were asleep or not. Needless to say, I had 3 very crabby/sick kids late afternoon. I left the resort with the boys and traveled to the hotel, checked in and then unloaded the van...running the whole time so as not to leave the boys unattended very long. Your mouths have probably dropped open now at the thought of me leaving the boys unattended in a hotel room, but there was no other way to do it. I needed diapers, wipes, clothes, medicine, pack & play, special blankets, the stroller and my clothes as I had been vomited on. The boys were antsy at being stuck inside all day and to put them in a closed up room was too much for them. Piper fell apart first. Then Oliver. Then Finley. Then me. The next 3 hours were some of the worst of my life. I tried taking them "on an adventure" through the hotel pushing Ollie in the stroller and Piper and Finley walking down the halls, but Piper ran from me up a flight of stairs and onto the next floor. Again, I had to leave Finley and Oliver to rescue Piper. Apparently, taking a walk through a hotel was too dangerous, so back to the dreaded room we headed. We were at the Holiday Inn Express and it was a very nice hotel, but somehow a 4 year old, 2 year old and 8 month old don't care how nice a place is. If there's only 1 room with a closed door, they won't like it. Ollie had a bad diaper when we got back so as I was changing him, Piper thought it would be a good time to open the baby Vicks container and smear it all over his shirt (first time) and then touch every button in the room while I was busy with Oliver.

At 7 o'clock Matthew got a friendly call from me. I told him that the kids were crying so loud (like he couldn't hear them) that we were going to get kicked out of the hotel. He was with the youth group and left them when he could to come help. More friendly conversation took place and he left to bring the group to the hotel and get Finley to go swimming. I calmed Piper and Oliver down for bed after Finley went to the pool with Matthew (which he absolutely loved). Matthew and Finley came back, gave Finley a bath and got him in bed. He was asleep in just a couple of minutes. I was climbing into bed when Matthew came back and asked me if I wanted to go to the Bible study that was starting in a few minutes. YES! GET ME OUT OF THIS ROOM! We went just a few rooms down to the great room in the hotel. From there we could hear the boys if they woke up. Sat through the Bible study and was talking with the girls afterwards when I heard crying. Walked to our room and Piper was standing at the door crying. Got him to bed and went to bed myself. Got up many times in the night to calm Piper down. He cried a lot of the night.

Next morning, 3 boys woke up hungry and thirsty. I made 3 quick trips to the breakfast room to get the boys their food. While they were eating, Matthew came in to tell me that there was a huge storm headed our way and that we could either beat it home by leaving that afternoon (leaving a day early) or stay 2 more nights and wait the storm out. Matthew had gotten sick the night before and so he wanted to leave early. PRAISE THE LORD!!! You've never seen someone throw so many clothes, toys, blankets, pillows and food into 1 suitcase so fast...praising Jesus the whole time. During this time of power-packing and feeding Oliver, Piper got back into the baby vicks (second time) and smeared it over his shirt and then called 9-1-1. While I was nursing Oliver, the manager of the hotel knocks loudly on the door then opens the door and asks if everything is okay as someone had called 9-1-1 from our room. I was so embarrassed. She was very understanding though and kind. Oliver got his morning nap at the hotel and I took the boys to the pool. The pool with 2 boys who don't know how to swim turned out to be the easiest part of the whole trip! They loved it and it was relaxing to see them having fun and smiling. We got back to the room, woke Oliver up and waited for Matthew to get back to the hotel with our van (the other leaders didn't want to drive the church's 15-passenger van so Matthew drove the big van and one of the leaders followed behind him with our van so that Matthew could get back to us at the hotel). It was a mess. Matthew got back, we packed up the van and I took Matthew to Urgent Care where they gave him meds for strep (second strep infection in a month for him). I dropped him off at a gas station to wait for the group to pick him up and I hit the road in time for afternoon naps. Got through Grand Rapids and about half way to Bemidji when Piper and Oliver woke up. Of course, this was not a peaceful waking up like at home. It was crying and wanting out of the car NOW! I drove for 30 minutes through the crying, trying to find a place to pull off. There was a lone road snow covered that led to a resort a few miles down. I didn't want to try the road, but pulled off just enough so that we could get back on the road easily, but still take the much-needed break that we needed. Pulled a little too close to the side of the road and had to wade through shin-deep snow to get to the back of the van. Got Oliver out of his seat and gave him his wipes box to play with while I was working on getting the other boys out of their seats. Finn had to pee so I told him we were going to stay in the van, but that I would open the side door and he could pee from inside out into the snow. He thought that was a fun idea so I opened the door, but forgot that Ollie had dropped his wipes box down between the seat and the door so when the automatic door opened, it cracked the box into 10 pieces. Finn peed out into the snow and then while his pants were down, he slipped and fell into the pee-snow. I picked him up while hanging out of the van-holding Oliver in the other arm and told him to stop crying and put him back in his seat. Piper was hungry and thirsty but there was no restaurant around. All I had was chocolate, so I gave it to him. (Please understand that I was certifiably insane at this time--seeing mirages of psychiatric hospitals that I could admit myself into). Piper doesn't like his hands dirty, so when his hands got melted chocolate all over them he wiped them off in his hair. I fed Ollie a bottle and put a very chocolaty Piper back in his seat. Stepped out of the back of the van into the pee-snow and wade through it to the front of the van. We drove the rest of the way home through the whining and crying and I put the boys to bed early.

I didn't take one picture during this trip...probably a good thing to not have any physical reminders of it.

When trying to talk about the trip, I explained, "there are no words to describe it."