Road trip to Charleston with me and my boy

Last week, Matt got to go to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl (which unfortunately did not have the turnout we were wanting or expecting), so Ryan and I decided to go on our first Mama-Son getaway to visit my friend Meagan and her two girls in Charleston.

Matt with his parents getting ready to head to the game

Being that the trip would take us 5 1/2 hours without stopping, I was prepared for Ryan to get a little tired of the car (I mean I get tired of being in the car for that long and I'm not strapped down tightly in a seat), so I pulled out all the stops in hopes of making it the best trip possible. 

I had a bag of toys in the passenger seat ready to be passed back when whatever one he was holding fell or got old. I bought extra pacis and had a bag of them inside the toy bag for easy passing when one fell out during the transition to sleep time of our drive. 

In case the toy bag was not enough, I removed the cover and arm cushion that usually drape over his carseat and strapped a few (understatement?!) toys to it instead. :)

I replaced his regular mirror with this fancy one that we bought him for Christmas (more on that here). He was quite fascinated with it! I don't think you can see this without zooming in, but on the left he's almost asleep and on the right, he's got a big smile on his face. Sweet love.

(Don't worry... we were stopped for both of these pics.)

And just in case all of that failed, I downloaded three Fisher Price apps on the ipad and bought this seat attacher strap so that he could watch the colorful pictures dance across the screen if push came to shove.

One way or the other, I was prepared for the trip to be a memorable one. 

Here's a picture of Ryan and Tally hanging out together on our bed the morning we left while I gathered the last minute things for our trip- sweet buddies. :)

So now the amazing/hilarious part of the whole thing:

We took one stop for lunch, made the best time I've ever made on that trip, and Ryan didn't cry once. Not once! HA! Toward the end of the drive, I think we had about 45 minutes left, I thought to myself, "Even if he starts wailing now and keeps it up til we arrive, this trip will still have been way better than I was expecting!"

Lunch pit stop

I think I even laughed out loud to myself at one point when he was sleeping. I was SO so thankful for a such great drive!

The four days we spent there were so fun and relaxing. We "got ready" one time, and spent the rest of the time in our comfies with no makeup on. It was glorious. And also why the rest of these pictures are of the kiddos. ;)

Checking out Ryan with her magnifying glass. ;)

The first morning we were there, our friend Brittany came over with her three kiddos and all six of the kids played for a couple of hours while us mamas surprisingly were able to catch up with each other. 

Ryan and his lady friends :)

5 month and 8 months

5 months and 10 months

Loves his Aunt Mea!

I looked over and this sweet one was rubbing Ryan's head. Precious.

I asked the girls to pose and this is what they did. hahah- love.

We actually got this! Best New Years Eve yet. ;)

Now that's a way to wake up from a nap. I'm pretty sure Ryan has his first crush. ;)

Love these girls!

I brought my Mickey Mouse waffle iron so I could make a fun breakfast with this sweet girl. She was so excited about making them and asked if we could eat ours together before we made everyone else's. And then she danced in between each bite. Love. her.

:)