Just when you think you know your own children, you take a road trip with them (from Tucson to Provo) and find out all kinds of new things.
For instance:
-Magdalena is an extremely light car sleeper. I think sometimes even turning my blinker on woke her up. I was all set to listen to some rockin' Evita tunes on the drive but I ended up having to hover over the stereo's volume button to turn it down at any loud moments.
-Miriam gets more and more inquisitive as she gets more and more exhausted. And her questions get more and more nonsensical. The way I knew she was really tired was when she started asking if the water in her water bottle would help her sleep, and if Dad's water was the same temperature, or colder, and could she have some of his if it would help her sleep?
Other highlights:
-We ordered some chicken nuggets at the McDonald's in Flagstaff and the employee asked us if "we'd like some dipping sauce for those nugs." I hereby declare "nugs" to be my preferred term for chicken nuggets.
-Miriam was a lost child for about 2 minutes at a Maverick in Fillmore, Utah. I went to the bathroom but Miriam said she wanted to stay outside and play with Dad on the playground (but she ended up following me without either of us knowing it, as we would see). Right as I was walking in the bathroom door inside the store, I thought I heard someone say "Mama" in a Miriam-ish kind of voice, but I didn't give it a second thought since it couldn't possibly be her. Then, while I was in the bathroom, I overheard a mom and child walking in talking about a little lost girl. When I came out, I found out that the little lost girl was Miriam. Jeremy had found her by then. She was pretty distressed. I hope she remembers that feeling if it helps her not do that again.
-Re:Tucson to Provo preferred driving route. We've only made the drive four times total (including both north- and south-bound), but I think I like the route through Flagstaff best, even if it's not the one recommended by Google or our GPS. We went the Las Vegas way twice and both times we got stuck for a long time in the Hoover Dam bottleneck. Besides that, the Flagstaff way is prettier and has a more varied landscape, which helps keep my interest during the drive. It's also cooler, and therefore easier on the AC in the summertime.
We're glad to be done driving for a few weeks, and the girls are, too.