Driving, Driving

During last night's drive home to Massachusetts, Madeleine proceeded to completely conk out at 6:30pm, and was down for the night.  Julia eventually fell asleep as well, but not before shouting out her various observations from the back seat. 

Ever the anxious one, Julia also remained on high alert for what she thought was a warning to drivers.

JULIA: (in high pitched nervousness) Uh, Mommy?  WHY does it say "FLOOD exit 17??"

Yes.  Why does it say Flood Exit 17, and then show the logos for Subway and McDonalds?  Are those particular restaurants flooded?!?

ME: Food, Julia.  F-O-O-D.  Not FLOOD.
JULIA: (visibly relieved) Oh!  Whoops.  I thought I saw an 'L'! 

We lucky Rowe girls got to spend a good few hours in the car once again today, because we certainly didn't get enough driving time in yesterday.  Thanks to all sorts of fall festivals in the towns surrounding our church, almost every possible major road leading back towards our town had some sort of closure or detour.  It took us almost two hours to make the usually 30-minute drive home.  I was sore, tired, and extremely hungry, itching to get back home so I could eat some lunch and kick back in my pajama pants.

The girls didn't seem to have the same pressing desire, however.  Throughout the course of our drive, these various requests came up.

MADELEINE: Mommy?  Can we go to Yiayia's house today?
ME: Uh, no, we can't, honey.  We just went to Connecticut yesterday.  We're not going to drive all the way there again today.
MADELEINE: But why NOT?


MADELEINE: (pointing at a playground near our church) Hey Mama!  Can we go there?
JULIA: (chiming in) Yeah!  Can we go there?
ME: Uh, some day we can.
BOTH GIRLS: Right now??
ME: No, some other day.
MADELEINE: (disappointed) But why not right noooooow?


ME: (pointing out the Museum of Science, which is not normally on our route home, but was today, due to our detours and alternate routes) Hey, look, there's the Science Museum.  Should we go on in?
JULIA: (delighted) Yes!  Yes!  Yes!
ME: Oh, I was only kidding.
MADELEINE: (disappointed once again) But Mamaaaa!  Why NOT?
JULIA: I wanna go there right now!
ME: No, girls, we gotta get home.
JULIA: But please can we go?
ME: Not right now.
MADELEINE: Please Mama?
ME: No.  Not today.
BOTH GIRLS: But why noooooot?

I should have kept my idiotic mouth shut.

At any rate, we finally arrived home at nearly 3pm, and the girls got a little outdoor play time before settling in to watch "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" for the first time.  Julia seemed to enjoy it, while Madeleine opted to act out various scenes on the dining room floor instead of actually watching.  There was a really long, extended period during which Madeleine was trapped under the water during one of the Tri-Wizard Tournament tasks.  Even when I tried to break her out of her pretend-play mode to ask her a question, I couldn't shatter the spell.

ME: Madeleine.  Madeleine.  Please come here for a minute so I can ask you something.
MADELEINE: (crawl-swimming across the hardwood floor to me)
ME: What pajamas do you want to wear tonight?
MADELEINE: Mmmpkmmmm.

Apparently, when you're under water, "mmmpkmmmm" is how you say "pumpkin pajamas."

And now Madeleine is fast asleep in her mmmpkmmmm pajamas, but not before having lamented to me that she has lost one of her ten million bedtime stuffed animals.

MADELEINE: Mama!  I can't find Meow-Meow!  I mean...Halloween Toot!
ME: I'll help you find her in the morning.

So I guess when I wake up I will be helping Madeleine search for the cat formerly known as Meow-Meow, temporarily knows as Toot-Butt, and now named Halloween Toot.

And with that, I'm off to bed myself.  Halloween Toot out!