Another Detour or Two or Three?

After having such a late night I was hoping the boys would sleep late, but no such luck. We had a long day of driving anyway so up and at’em it was.

Originally, our plan was to head up around the Great Lakes and into Michigan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, tour a lighthouse, and then head to Mackinac Island and then down to one of Mason’s buddies from school who recently moved to Michigan.

Detour 1- When we were planning, we had to be in Green Bay on Thursday for the game. Unfortunately, that meant we would head over to the Island on Saturday. We decided we would just suck it up and be there with the hoard of people until we started hotel shopping. The prices for the hotels around that areas were double or more for the exact same hotel. We were going to end up staying at not so great hotels for really nice hotel prices. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. So we started looking for cheaper hotels in other areas.

This process lead us to Sault (pronounced Sioux like the Indians) Ste Marie in Ontario, Canada taking a scenic train ride into pristine Canadian Wilderness. That moved Mackinac Island to Monday when it would be less crowded with MUCH cheaper hotel rates.

Detour 2- We left the hotel in Appleton with our new plan in place. Weather’s good. Life is good. The boys were drawing and then we started working on school. It started out okay but after about an hour Tuck decided to pitch a fit. At that point, I was done and I told the boys that we were done with school today in the car and that we would do school at the hotel another day. I was quite frustrated at this point. Tuck is a lot like me. We are emotional and selfish and lack much needed self-control. Not my finer traits to pass on, mind you, but there it is. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an amazing kid. He’s smart, and kind, and extremely entertaining and I love him to pieces. I don’t want you thinking poorly of him just because I wrote about his fits. I say all that to say, I was aggravated and told the boys to put away their schoolwork and they could play on their iPads or draw or whatever.

This is when Mason, all of a sudden, gets very upset and starts to cry because at that very moment he recalls a memory from this morning where, as we were leaving the hotel and filling up our water bottles, as we are accustomed to doing, he puts the case carrying both their iPads down by the microwave in the breakfast area of our hotel and forgot to pick it back up when we left. Yep, that’s why he was crying; his brand new iPad- gone! Did I mention that today was another big travel day and we had about 6 hrs and 45mins of travel to do and we had already been in the road over an 1 hr and 30 minutes, not to mention we would lose an hour crossing back into the eastern time zone? Yep, that’s why I wanted to cry.

So we pull over and I called the hotel. Thankfully, someone had turned the case in and both iPads were inside. Now our dilemma was the hotel could mail it or we could turn around. Neither were optimal. We weren’t sure where to have them mail it to and what if something happened and we never got it. So, we turned around, and drove all the way back to the hotel. Uuuuuggghh!

Which leads me to detour 3.

Detour 3- We didn’t make it back to the hotel, where our long day of driving was originally supposed to start this morning, until 2pm. This meant we had to cancel our stop at the shipwreck museum and the lighthouse tour in order to make up some time.

I have to be honest here. This stinks!!!! We’re missing out on some cool stuff, it just added over three hours to an already long day, Mason feels terrible, and Trev and I are upset. Here’s the thing, the mature parent in me is saying, “Mason, son, everyone makes mistakes. Let’s learn from them so they’re not wasted.” The ticked off immature part of me is wanting to kick and scream. I’d love to say I smiled and calmly talked about responsibility to him. But I couldn’t. I was running on little sleep, already upset with Tuck, and now this. I had reached my breaking point. I knew what I needed to do but I just couldn’t do it without a tone that would break that sweet child’s heart; a tone that he did not deserve. Mason is my rule follower. He doesn’t like to get in trouble. It truly was an accident and I could so see myself doing something like that. He felt bad enough as it was so Trev took over. I love that about Trevor. He’s very calm and collected when things go sideways. So I just got quiet. Trev would say sulled up. But I know myself. I know I would say something that shouldn’t be said in a tone that shouldn’t be used.

It was one of those moments that if I were talking to another parent about this, I would be calm and instruct them on how to calmly handle the situation. What a hypocrite! I wouldn’t want to do that on purpose but it’s so much easier when you’re not the one going through it. I know how to act, I just don’t do it all the time. What a missed opportunity to model how to handle a disappointing situation. How’s that for brutal transparency. I’m glad Trev and I are in this together. My kids would be so messed up without him.

Things like this always seem not as big of a deal in the morning, so I’m hoping we make it through customs and to our hotel tonight for some much needed rest. I’ll write you from Canada!