AKA: The Road Trip from Hell.

Actually, the road trip itself wasn’t that bad. We took 13 hours to get from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, with approximately 5 hours of that being rest stops for the kids. Timothy has an impressive set of lungs, and by the end of the trip there was simply no consoling him. We heard his anti-car-seat & road-trip protest loud and clear.

After about 6 hours of driving, Sean was pretty exhausted, so I got my first opportunity to drive in Central Thailand. It really is a different style of driving to Chiang Mai and the North. I surprised myself, as I enjoyed the drive. I’m not a fan of high speed Indy 500 driving, alongside tailgating semis and sideswiping speed demons. Of course, as we approached Ayutthaya, I let Sean drive again… no way am I gonna drive in Bangkok.

So, aside from the crazy drivers and a screaming baby or two, the drive was quite pleasant. At one rest stop, Samantha invited herself into the home of a family to play in the sand with their little girl. They invited us to come and stay with them any time. We bathed her there and headed out. And at out next stop, she made friends with a couple of cats, who let her torture them incessantly for a full hour.

When we finally arrived at the YWAM Thailand National Office/ Nancy Ross Training Centre (NRTC) at 10pm, the kids were sound asleep. We were ready for bed. Sean parked the car, turned off the engine. Timothy woke up, then Samantha. The nightmare began.

As we settled into our room, two wide awake babies explored every inch of it, including the stairway to nowhere. After being pent up in car seats all day, the kids were bent on punishing us. And my kids don’t just play quietly. If they don’t want to sleep, it’s full on, full contact, full attention time. So, Sean and I are ready for bed by 11:30, Timothy is finally settling down and drifting off. But Samantha is literally bouncing off the walls, declaring, ‘I’m not sleepy’. Sean went to bed, and I was still up with Samantha, telling stories, when I took a slice out of my foot on a nail sticking out of Samantha’s bed. Which started a new round of bouncing off walls. I think we finally got The Girl to sleep sometime after 1am. And then Timothy woke up at 6am. Oh Joy. I don’t do mornings well on the best of days…

The NRTC is very impressive. I was surprised how nice our room is. Kudos to however designed and renovated it. We have a nice view of open fields, complete with goats and water buffalo. But we’re all suffering cabin fever. The front of the building is right on a busy street, and the back is a huge overgrown field. Right outside the back door lives a head-butting billy goat.

I feel like I’ve become one of ‘those’ mothers. I just want a place where my kids can play. We did get out for a couple of hours today, but are now back in the room going crazy. I’m so exhausted, that I am tempted to load the kids on a plane and go home. It’s just the lack of sleep and the need for some alone time that makes me feel that way.