Our kids were MADE to take road trips across our state…with one major exception, which I’ll get to later. But seriously, Eastern Washington is actually VERY exciting for two John Deere and farm obsessed little boys. We spent Easter weekend in Spokane with Mike’s family and had a great time…with one major exception…that I’ll get to. The boys were super thrilled to have three ‘sleepovers’ in a hotel with a pool and to see their Aunt Jamie, Uncle Dan and Uncle Harry and Aunt Dolores/Nana. (Matthew combined Uncle Harry and Nana at one point into ‘Uncle Nanny.’ He’s just following the trend I guess. That’s sorta like Brangelina.)

We spent time with the family, eating a lot of great food and trying to get the wiggles out of our kiddles at the hotel pool and the playground at church. On Easter Sunday, after discovering that the Easter Bunny does hop his butt into a Spokane hotel room, we had the hotel continental breakfast – a healthy affair of rainbow Fruit Loops, lime green yogurt some apple and a couple pieces of Easter candy. We went to church to fight the crowds at the 11am Mass. A couple of times during church, Zach said his tummy hurt. We didn’t think too much of it as he’d said the same thing a couple of times earlier in the weekend. And apparently, we are the type of parents who ignore their children’s pleas for help.

When Mass was over, we wanted to let the boys rip around a bit before going to Harry and Dolores’ for Easter dinner. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain, so the playground was not going to work. We decided to visit a McDonald’s in the area that had a great indoor play place. I sat Zach down on the bench to remove his shoes so he could join Matthew on the big rainbow climbing structure when…it happened…that exception that I discussed earlier…the reason why our boys aren’t necessarily the best travelers…they take after their parents. They are pukey. They are a very pukey little people.

Zach proceeded to vomit repeatedly – a cheery Happy Easter vivid and colorful confection of vomit that matched the McDonald’s play structure in brightness but represented all the hues from his rainbow breakfast. And of course, OF COURSE, I was concerned for the well-being of my little one though I did manage to quickly jump back and just hold him with arm extended. I saved my ‘Easter dress,’ however I did get a smattering of brilliant Easter vomit on the toe of my boot. (Good thing I wasn’t wearing open-toed shoes!)

This is why our kids are – yet aren’t – good travelers. The thing is we all tend to get car sick fairly easily, but the great thing about our kids is they handle puke like little puketastic champions. (Yes, they handle vomiting WAY better than I do.) Zach even mentioned nonchalantly later at Harry and Dolores, “I puked at McDonald’s.” Like – no big. Just another day in my life, guys. What up?

Meanwhile, back at McDonald’s during the spectacular moment, I stood there frozen not knowing what to do. Mike was in the main part of the restaurant so I was solo with the boys. Thankfully (but unfortunately for them), another family was eating nearby. (Mmm, bet they enjoyed the last part of their meal). The mom jumped up and said that she’d let someone know what had gone on. Mike arrived and stopped in his tracks. His look said something like, “Ahhh, snap!”

We stripped off Zach’s shoes and pants and jacket. He saved his new Easter shirt at least! We wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a mang—…no wait, that’s a different Christian holiday and a different baby all together. We wrapped him in my coat and sat him on the bench.

Within moments a young (maybe 16 year old) dude came in with his McD’s mop and traveling bucket ‘o soapy water. He was the coolest kid EVER. When I started to apologize for the mess, he cut me off and said, “I have a little brother…I’ve had this stuff all over me. And once, when I was little I ate my entire Easter basket of candy in an hour. I puked rainbow ALL NIGHT…oh, sorry, you’re eating, you probably didn’t need to hear that.” We assured him that we could definitely handle it and continued with our cinnamon roll as if we’d been discussing the weather.

After a bit, Zach had perked up substantially and asked to play on the big toy. “Hmmm,” we said, “the sign says socks are required; it doesn’t say anything about pants!” But we opted to keep our little puker contained with us on the bench.

The rest of our Easter trip was great…until…the LONG drive home. Apparently the return trip through Eastern Washington just isn’t quite as magical and exciting as on the way there. By the time we neared Ellensburg (a little over half-way to home), we heard the dreaded words – this time from Matthew: “I think I’m going to throw-up now.” But then he didn’t. We were worried when we stopped for lunch at Taco Bell.

“Let’s see,” Mike said, “we’ve vomited in a Jack in the Box [after a road trip with Matthew, once] and now a McDonalds…I guess we should give Taco Bell a chance.” Thankfully, Matthew’s upset tummy never did amount to anything though we did forego swim lessons yesterday afternoon. The thought of Matthew puking in the pool with all those kids in there…yeah, we just didn’t think we should go there.

Ahhh, just another vacation with the Martins!