Gone for the weekend #1

We have a lot of traveling planned, so this is the first of several posts about our weekends out of town. This weekend, we came to Helena for a Family Readiness Group (FRG) meeting. This is an exciting time, because we got to learn the information about what will be happening, and what to expect when Jason comes home. Yes, I know it's still a ways off, but it's still exciting. The trip to Helena from Billings is about 3 hours, unless you have kids. : ) Elliott was a challenge (ok, a huge pain in the ass) on our way up. He decided he didn't need to take a nap before we left, which was fine, I assumed he would sleep the whole way. No such luck. He SCREAMED almost the whole way because the sun was in his eyes. It was miserable so I stopped in Bozeman to feed the kids, thinking for sure he would pass out after he ate. NOPE! Once we were on the road again, it was dark so he screamed because he couldn't see anything. Arg! To make matters worse, once we were in the hotel room he couldn't go to sleep because if he stood up he could see us. He was awake until 9:30. Luckily, he did sleep well. Today was a much better day. The FRG had a daycare provider come to the hotel, and Ethan had a great time, and Elliott was even good for them. He ate well and napped well, and played with the other kids. What a relief for me to be kid free for a day. We took a stress test during our meeting, and I scored incredibly low. I must say, it did not ask about my drive. Haha. I am lucky though, life could be so much worse. After our meeting, we came back to the room and Ethan got ready to go swimming. We went for a walk on the Street Mall, because there is a bead store, then after dinner went to the Dip-n-Dots ice cream parlor that has all sorts of gaming systems set up. We definitely have to go back there! We had dinner with a couple of the other wives, one of whom has 20 month old twins. Needless to say, it was an interesting dinner out. It's so nice to be able to talk to other wives who are going through the same things, having the same feelings, and really just need to talk, just like me. Now we are back at our room, with all the lights out, watching hockey and listening to Elliott toss and turn in the porta crib, trying to stay awake. I really hope the drive home tomorrow is less trying.