Sunday, July 22, 2007

One Cranky Little Girl - One Long Day

We made it from Nashville, Tennessee to Alma, Arkansas just in time to fall in to bed. We're lucky we didn't pull the car over and just stop somewhere in the middle of Arkansas, however. We are also lucky we still have six children.

We weren't 45 minutes into our journey when our youngest decided she'd like to try her lungs and our patience at the same time. She screamed, I kid you not, for several hundred miles today. At first we thought she was in pain. You know, gas, constipation, whatever. But when she stopped herself in mid-scream at one point early on and said, "Done. Sorry, Mommy." We knew she was just throwing a tantrum.


We crossed the Mississippi at Memphis (that's a photo looking North) and thought, perhaps she had stopped. Nope. A bit later she started up in lengthy spurts. Alternately screaming her lungs out and pausing to catch her breath, build up her strenght and start again. If you asked her, "Do you want to get out of your car seat?" She'd stop screaming and say, "Yes." She's done.

There were a few bright spots in the day, but not many. (I won't even tell you my latest AT&T story which only added to the joy of the screaming.) The kids were ALL great at dinner... that was a bright spot. And we were graced by another amazing sunset. I'm amazed at how beautiful the sunsets have been on this trip.

It would have been more enjoyable if the littlest one were not screaming like she was being burned by the setting Sun itself, but it was beautiful still. I wish these photos could show you just how beautiful. But it's hard to take a good sunset photo under the best of circumstances. Now, imagine driving, holding the camera in one hand, the steering wheel in the other while a 2 year old is raising the dead in the back seat. Given those circumstances... these photos rock hard!


Click on the photos to view larger.

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