This weekend we drove to Moab, Utah for the wedding of our close friends - Spence and Margarita. The 3 1/2 hour drive was stretched over 5 hours to offer necessary breaks for eating, diaper changes and stretches. Overall, the trip was very bearable and MUCH less painful than we had prepared ourselves for.
One main reason for the ease in the trip was the decision to bring along the portable DVD (or DVD We-We as Harper refers to it) that Nanna and Papaw so graciously got him for Christmas. I think we could have driven to New York City and back and Harper would have never noticed that we were still in the car. What a lifesaver...I highly recommend it to any desperate parent.
Collier was content as long as his belly was full. But, as soon as his body had expended the last bit of energy from mama's milk he went from happy baby to "get me the hell out of this carseat NOW!"
If you have ever driven to Moab from Salt Lake, you know that your choice for eating is limited once you are out of the Wasatch Front (Provo area). The halfway point is Price, UT - a tiny cowboy town with fast food places. Then, once you pass Price, you have to wait until you get to Moab for almost anything - including gas, food, houses and life in general. So, we made our lunch pit stop in Price. Hmmmmm..... what should we eat - McDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Subway (in other words YUCK, YUCK, YUCK, and more YUCK).
Since Collier was screaming to the top of his lungs we pulled off to eat at the closest restaurant to the freeway - which happened to be Wendy's. We walk in and notice a family that looks as if they are hauling around a preschool class. But, it doesn't take long to figure it out that they are a typical LARGE UTAH family of 9..... yes, you are reading this correctly NINE! Seven kids probably all under the age of 11 years old - three boys and four girls.
One thing I learned about Harper during this eating extravaganza is that he is more like his mother every single day. Neither Harper nor I could concentrate on eating our meal because we both were staring at this family as if they were from Mars. Matt and Collier stood in line behind the mom and dad of the family and ordered our meal while Harper and I watched their kids as if we were being paid to do so.
You know what was most baffling - they were so well behaved. In my mind I was expecting them to tear the restaurant apart at any minute, to lay down in the floor and throw the biggest tantrum, for each of them to argue and bicker over nothing and scream and cry at the drop of the hat. But, nothing of that sort ever happened. No, the two older kids (a boy and girl) sat at a table with the youngest child which was about 8 months old. The girl played surrogate mother - bouncing the baby on her knee and feeding him as if she had birthed this baby on her own. She was so confident in her mothering skills that I would have taken her home in a heartbeat and let her be my nanny. Matter of fact, I thought about going over to the table and offering free room and board along with the guarntee of cable TV and an occasional trip to the mall but I thought I would have to take the whole "fam damily" including the mother. So, I just watched.
Another table had the 4 smaller kids that ranged in aged from 1 1/2 to 7. The were just sitting there politely waiting on their food as if they knew that Jesus himself was watching them.
When Matt decided to interrupt mine and Harper's peep show by bringing our food, he offered some entertaining info that the couple had spent almost $70 at Wendy's. Wow, I was impressed that they even decided to buy every kid who had teeth something to eat. Kudos to them... had it been me I would have probably bought 4 kid's meals and split them. So, this must have been a special occasion.
As we sat and ate our meals, we continued to watch this family in action - mainly Harper and I. Dad and Mom bring over several trays of food containing 6 kids meals and food for the parents. It took two trays to just carry the drinks. Everything was so organized and almost rehearsed. They had less chaos passing out 6 hamburgers, 6 orders of fries, 6 frosties and 6 drinks than we did for 1 kids meal. Dad fished into each bag individually and delivered the meal to the respective child. It was like an assembly line. Not one child moaned that they didn't have their food yet. They sat patiently, waiting their turn. After emptying each bag, the dad would place the kids meal prize in a separate location and fold the bag neatly. I could only wonder if he was saving the toys for after mealtime or if he was going to sneak them out without their knowing and use them for stocking stuffers. I am confident that either way, the kids would have never complained. I imagined that he was going to use the leftover kids meal bags as lunch sacks for the coming week- I know it seems far fetched for someone like myself, but they were just that type of family. I bet they never waste anything.
As we finished up our meal, the family still hadn't completed the process of handing out everyone's lunch. I was exhausted just watching the process. But, there was part of me that wanted to go and ask the mother if I could get their phone number to see if she could offer some advice for my tiny family of four but I didn't want to mess up their rhythm.
We walked out the door and headed on our way to Moab - thankful that we weren't having to drive a BMW (Big Mormon Wagon for those who don't live in Utah) full of kids. Thankful that we didn't have to spend $70 for lunch at a fast food joint and thankful that our entire family could fit in one hotel room-in one king size bed. But, I couldn't help but wonder how they do it and make it look so easy. I guess I'm just not brave enough go at it 5 more times to find out.
