I can’t honestly say how we got on the road. I’m assuming we more or less abided by "the system"
--Prior to leaving, Matt and I had worked out a plan regarding division of driving and parenting responsibilities. Matt drives, Martha parents. Upon arrival Matt passes out, Martha gets kids settled, showers, and gets everything ready to go before going to bed herself. Matt wakes up first and packs the car. We stumble into car. Matt drives some more. And flexibility in all aspects of this plan. Why this plan? Matt loves to drive, I think driving is ok. I enjoy being a passenger in a Matt driven car, he tends to get car sick/paternal when I drive which neither of us enjoy. I am a patient if occasionally neglectful navigator. While in many ways our division of driving duties is mutually beneficial (and irritatingly conforms with traditional gender roles), I acknowledge I get spoiled. I also am solidly a "night" person so staying up later to get things set isn’t too much of a struggle for me. Mornings ARE a struggle for me under the best of circumstances. Matt isn't a morning person either but he does enjoy packing up the car. Arranging our belongings in the most space efficient manner while also ensuring ease of access is an art in his mind. I have on many occasions been asked to observe with awe the packing achievement most recently accomplished.--
So our evening/morning probably resembled the above with the addition of rushing/irritability.
The vista from the road was freshly beautiful. We had traded in rocky, desert mountains for lush green forest mountains and blue, blue, blue sky. Below is a friend we did not meet but wish we could have probably somewhere near NE Oregon. Yes, that dog is wearing goggles!
Yakima
We were able to get quite a stretch in before lunch which we did in Yakima. We stopped at a hipster hotdog place called Winey Dogs and it did not disappoint. There were some fun characters and intimidating dogs amongst the customers. The kids were happy to get out of the car and they showed it by talking up the restaurant owner who later featured them on her FB page @wineydogs https://www.facebook.com/WineyDogs/! And now the Trips are famous by those who frequent the Yakima Winey Dogs Insta (see aforementioned brush with celebrity). Also the food was fun and tasty and the beer even moreso. There was even some funky antiquing around the corner.
She's talking about us!
How on earth did she get them to pose this well in pictures?
This conversation with Winey Dogs owner reminded me of something. -----Warning this is gonna be a tangent, scroll down to next picture if you want to avoid------
Communicating to new people the fact that my children are triplets has been a challenging, fun, and ultimately fascinating phenomenon to be a part of. When they were younger (when their triplet status was more obvious) I almost never started the conversation but was often asked. I then had to negotiate questions ranging from interested to intrusive about boys/girls, identical/non identical, how do you do it? do multiples run in your family? you've got your hands full, did you plan them? are they natural? All parents of multiples have similar experiences. I usually had a pretty good attitude about it, sometimes was stressed and wished we weren't drawing as much attention to ourselves, but ultimately tried to take it as validation that we were doing a difficult thing and a compliment that my kids were the most cute and special in the history of the world.-- I am rarely a part of this conversation any more. Now that they are older the conversation comes up by kind folks asking how old they are or who is the oldest. I get to watch them navigate the ensuing conversation. I watch the tentative smiles and side glances as they nonverbally decide who is going to say it and how (usually by saying Eva is the "oldest" or "we're all in 3rd grade"). Then more smiles watching the puzzled faces transform in to understanding and surprise. Then giggles, pride, and almost "gotcha!". As though the person asking what grade they are in should just know they are triplets and are silly for not realizing it right away. I assume the internal thought process is something like "I'm only a kid and I've known I'm a triplet my whole life and you are a grown up and it didn't even occur to you, ha!". Right now they usually like the attention that they get and love answering questions. They have their birth order memorized and like to point out that being oldest and being biggest do not always go hand in hand. I will be fascinated to watch how this phenomenon changes over time. --------
End of tangent.
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Farthest from home....
We finally made it to our half-way point! University Heights, WA! Becknikovs. Our hosts for the next 3 days are another dear, dear friend from Graduate School, T, her generous hubby B, daughter T, and son K. This was my first time meeting 6 month-old K. I've met 5-year-old Little T at least a handful of times and the kids had met her once but they were 3 and she was 1 so it was definitely more like meeting a new friend. Little T was excited to show them her brother's bed and her impressive collection of my little ponies and her almost life sized ridable pony and they were fast friends. I had billed this part of vacation "Little T's house which will have a ton of toys" - to help the trips get pumped and it worked! It took the kids awhile to get to bed due to excitement, different sleeping arrangements, and time changes. Little T graciously allowed the triplets to stay in her room, but that required some relocation of some precious stuffed animals for the evening.The adults stayed up a couple minutes after we finally got the kids settled for a little catching up and reminiscing but after almost falling asleep in our beer, made our way to bed pretty quickly. And good thing because the next couple days were EPIC!
