
We made it to Dutch county, PA! From central New Jersey, it took us about 2.5 hours by car. It was a very intense day.
Prep work. On Tuesday we were off so we had time to prepare: picked up the house, packed our bags and placed everything in the trunk. L packed her small pink rolling backpack and a shoulder backpack (she was adamant about bringing books). R stuck with his tractor “carryon” and nothing else. I did a small duffel bag and my regular backpack that I bring to work. We are only going for two nights so we don’t need a lot of stuff.
The logistics. On Wednesday morning, the day of the trip, I dropped R off at his preschool, Charlotte took L to her school, and I went to work, with all the bags already in my car. I still felt a bit “off” so I wore a mask to school.
After dismissal, at 2:50, it was intense. I picked up L from her school, then picked up R at his school, and we started driving to PA without stopping by the house since everything was already in the trunk. Behavior was haphazard. The laughed, they fought, they cried, they sang songs, and the cycle repeated itself about seven times.
I was hoping to make it to the farm before dark but that was not meant to be. When we got on the highway, it was already 3:45PM. By the time it was 5 o’clock, only very little light remained. We had to make a bathroom stop, and a dinner stop at Olive Garden. With all said and done, we arrived at 7:30 and it was pitch black.

After Olive garden dinner, we checked in to our cottage, cleaned faces, feet and teeth, they played for a bit on their bunk beds (very excited!) and by the time I was done taking my shower, there was absolute silence in their room. An intense day for them. An even more intense day for me!

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