4.20.09
It was so sad leaving Bend! So sad! I felt like we were quite robbed of our vacation, spending 5 of the 9 days with sick
Tian, and of those 5 days, 3 of them were either in the hospital OR in a pediatrician's office. I don't think Trey even noticed my absence on those days, which was a blessing!
My mom and Grandma
GiGi insisted on me traveling with someone else. There is pretty much nothing from Bend to
Nampa, just a few little towns, the biggest being Burns, Oregon (population 3,000) and Ontario, Oregon (population 11,000). If for some reason
Tian's bowels began twisting again, I wouldn't trust any of these towns to have a hospital to fit our needs. (In college, some of my classmates took their rotations at Holy Rosary in Ontario, Oregon and would come to class with the craziest stories.) Justin wasn't up for the 10 hour drive, plus missing 1.5 days of work. Understandable. My grandma had suggested my oldest brother Robert for the job of riding with us. I gave it some thought, didn't know what he would think about traveling with us, and finally thought I would give him a call. Without much hesitation, he agreed to ride along with us. We were planning on leaving late Monday afternoon (around 5pm) and then he would ride the Greyhound bus back to Bend the next morning at 6:50am.
Robert arrived at my parents home at about 3pm and entertained Trey while I packed and while
Tian slept. After saying a few tearful goodbyes (on my part! When Trey said "goodbye" to Derek and hugged his leg, I got quite teary! Trey loves Derek, to see them play and interact together is so sweet!) we were off. We hadn't even hit Highway 20 (which is only a few miles off my parents road. Highway 20 basically takes you to Ontario, which is about 4 hours from Bend. Give or take a few hours, depending on how many kiddos are in your car!) and Trey had already fallen asleep. I drove, which I think drove Robert NUTS, even though he sworn he wasn't bothered by my driving, and this is ALL that Robert helped me with:
-not even a half hour into our drive, the sun started to bother
Tian. I pulled over, and Robert devised this sunshade out of a blanket of
Tian's.
-Robert climbed over the back seat for a blanket Trey insisted on having!
-Gave
Tian his pacifier on more then one or two occasions. This meant for him to turn around, search the seat OR the
car seat for the pacifier.
-When in Burns, Oregon, while I changed a blowout diaper of
Tian's Robert played in the N.A.S.T.Y playground of
McDonalds and fed Trey his chicken
nuggets. (he didn't spoon feed him by any means, but basically made him eat his nuggets. Why wont he e
ver eat for ME?! HUH?!)
-After changing
Tian's blowout at McDonald's, Trey needed to use the restroom. SO, Robert held
Tian while I took Trey to the Bathroom!
*When I was driving through Burns alone, it was so crowded and frustrating trying to change
Tian's blowout (yes, he has them FREQUENTLY! We have finally realized he was wearing too large of diapers! Go figure!!!) while keeping Trey from touching any dirty object in the stall (which was EVERY object) and then helping Trey with his #2 (sorry, too much information I know, but it is the truth! 3 year
olds sometimes still need a little assistance.). SO, Robert was such a huge help!
-While taking Trey to the bathroom, Robert said
Tian giggled and smiled the entire time we were away!
-After our
gourmet meal at
McDonalds, Robert carried out Trey AND my purse, opened my door, the whole nine yards. At this point, I thought to myself, "He is going to make one girl very happy!" I have never really thought of any of my brothers in this way, but this evening, he made me so happy to be his sister, and so happy to have a brother so kind and giving!
-Not even 30 miles away from our home,
Tian insisted on drinking a bottle; which meant for us to pull over at a nasty truck stop for about a half hour. Robert didn't seem bothered one bit. I had just learned what a "Lot Lizard" was a week before, so Robert and I were watching out for them! We laughed and laughed about it! We also talked about The
Duggars and how crazy their lifestyle is! (Little does Robert know I am a little addicted to their show and think they are somewhat amazing!) Trey also told Robert about
Ammon from the Book of Mormon and what an amazing man he was.
Ammon is one of Trey's favorite Book of Mormon men these days.
I saw Robert is a whole new light on this trip. We drove for 6 hours (putting us into
Nampa well after midnight) chatting, listening to some of
his music he found on our
satellite radio (the radio station is called "the Joint" and it wasn't all that bad), we listened to
our music, Radio Disney (which I thought he would turn over immediately, but I think he kind of liked it! He got a great lesson on
Miley Cyrus from Trey!) and then some talk radio shows. His selflessness put my mind and heart at ease as I drove with my two little boys across the state of Oregon. Driving TO Bend didn't seem like that big of deal. I felt confident and strong. But after our whirlwind of events while staying in Bend, my confidence dwindled and I didn't feel as strong. I am a bit disappointed in myself. I want to be able to travel with my boys and not have any hesitations. It will take some time gaining my confidence!
I love you Robert and am so grateful to have a brother like you. Your kindness and selflessness is beyond measure. I hope I can be as giving as you!
