The Opposite of Moroccan Time

After being a little annoyed with myself for not sticking to my intended timeframe, I woke up to my alarm at 5:00am, managed to only hit snooze once, then repacked, got my daughter and I dressed, and we had checked out of the hotel and were on the road by 5:25am. Not bad.

Around 8:00am (just past Stockton), I began looking for a place to stop and eat breakfast. There is fast food off of nearly every exit on I-5 from Canada to Mexico, and I swear I must have picked the three exits in California that have NONE. Finally, we found a place to eat.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, fast food not a good breakfast. I could go into my list of excuses, but essentially it came down to easy and fast.

Although not as fast as I'd hoped as my daughter took her sweet time, but we were back on the road and I was guessing we'd be at my sister's house between 2:30 and 5:00, traffic and stop-time dependent.

Just before the mountains north of LA, we stopped at a Panda Express (where we'd stopped about 3.5 months ago on a road trip with Grandpa). Exiting, my daughter headed north to the parking lot and when I asked where she was going (our car was to the west), she commented, "But that's where Grandpa parked. I want to see Grandpa!"

Pretty good memory for a kid who wasn't even 3 last time we were there. I'm not sure if I should be impressed or scared.

Anyhow, we made it to my sister's house at 2:30 on the dot. She answered the door wearing a nursing drape made from fabric I'd brought down for her on the last trip. Once my niece was done eating, my daughter got to see her and fell instantly in love.

I spent much of the rest of the day helping cook and clean, as well as fending off "so when are you going to have another?" and "See? Your daughter would love to have a little sibling!" comments.

My sister and I have very different perspectives on having kids. She knew all along she wanted to be a mom. For me, it took some serious bargaining and personal tragedy to do the convincing. However, for us, one is enough, and as I'm fond of telling people, "We did it right the first time--we've got a great little girl, and why mess with fate and screw it up?"

Of course, my daughter is not a teenager yet, and I may question the first part of the statement when she gets there, but she has been such a good, easy kid so far that I am really grateful.

My daughter even managed to stay "dry" (we have had an interesting potty training journey) the whole trip, including overnight at the hotel, and in the car, even though right as we entered the north LA area (about one hour from our destination), she said, "Mama, I have to go pee-pee!"

She had a great time with her cousin and then fell asleep early.

Although I had a good day, I got in no exercise (unless I try to count housecleaning) and I hurt from all the driving. And my countdown meter I swear is just sitting there laughing at me.