Les Mis & Les Kids (and Motorcycles in Mexico)

I recently went on a spur-of-the-moment trip to my parents' house in CA. I went because Jeremy decided to go on a spur-of-the-moment motorcycle trip with his friend, Jason. They went to Mexico, which made a lot of people more nervous than me (I only pretended to be nervous when I heard other people's reactions to their plans)...they even slept on the beach a few times and the only people they ran into on the beach were not banditos, but Japanese fishermen.

But this post is not about their trip (though I will post photos at the bottom), and it's not even about my trip...just my car ride out to CA.

I had planned for the kids to watch DVDs the entire way there and I was going to listen to talk radio or whatever I wanted and all was going to be well and quiet and happy and smooth.

Until I discovered that the DVD player just wouldn't work. Really, I spent a lot of time that I should have been packing messing around with it in desperation...which means that when I finally got around to packing an hour before we were supposed to go, I did the technique where I basically dump every drawer of my kids' dressers into the car and then pile toys and bikes and scooters on top and then throw the contents of the refrigerator into the passenger seat and feel thankful that no other adult is going to be riding in the car because it's really embarrassing to see all my STUFF rolling around.

So, instead of a DVD player, we resorted to playing I Spy and Car Bingo and talking and telling stories and it was actually pretty wonderful. As the sun was setting and I was heading into the Exact Middle of Nowhere (the 3 hours of desert between Needles and Barstow...and I know it's The Exact Middle of Nowhere because I have broken down there, become very sleepy there, and also almost run out of gas there), I was feeling nervous about getting sleepy and driving off the road and crashing and all my STUFF scattering everywhere, not to mention possibly killing my children. So, I decided to do a little music appreciation time with my kids where I took CDs randomly out of the case and put them on and we rocked out to whatever played. We enjoyed some Garth Brooks, No Doubt, Mongolian Nose Singing, and then I put The Original Cast Recording of Les Miserables in the player. I thought the boys would say, "Naaah" as they are accustomed to doing to things I like, but they instantly asked me to turn it up. Here's how the next 2.5 hours went:

Overture & Prologue: I tell Sam and Evan about the characters and the story, about the tragic past of Jean Valjean and the cruel police chief Javert. They like the song about the prisoners ("Look Down").

Act I: I tell them about Fantine and Cosette

We SKIP "Lovely Ladies" (ahem).

(Act I continues:) I keep thinking the boys are asleep but they keep shouting (because I may have had it turned up really loud in my excitement about telling them one of the greatest stories I have ever read and my favorite Broadway musical that I have seen twice on the stage) "Who's singing now?" so I keep telling the story. Sam reminds me of what happened the last time I got excited while playing a CD in the car--it was Prince of Egypt and I was telling them the story of Moses and I got so excited I was going over 80 MPH and got pulled over. I slowed down.

(Still Act I) Annie starts screaming that she needs to go potty and I tell her to go in her diaper because we are in The Exact Middle of Nowhere but she refuses until she cries herself to sleep. Sam sticks with the Les Mis story, Evan's voice sounds sleepy and we lose him in the next song. I am so impressed with Sam's maturity to be following the complex storyline, I almost forget that he is just 6...then, during "Do You Hear the People Sing" he starts to tell me about how they could build the barricade and how they could fight the Clone Troopers and use their missiles, etc. and I remember that he is just 6.

Intermission: Sam melts my heart when he asks me if we can get dressed up and go see Les Mis on Broadway someday.

Act II: I throw some candy at Sam so he'll stay awake with me because I'm having so much fun, I don't really care about his health or sleep at this point.

Two Thirds of the Way Through Act II: We both get really sleepy (which always seems to happen to me during Broadway musicals, no matter how excited I am to see them...something about the long, slow, soliliquy-songs as the antagonist or protagonist learns an important lesson about him/herself). Then I find myself explaining Javert's suicide, and I realize that I have just filled my son's head with thoughts of the French Revolution, scavenging for bullets and weapons from the bodies of dead people, thieves hiding in sewers, and now suicide. Oh well, we're too close to the end and too close to my parent's house to stop now.

Final Number--"Do Hear the People Sing?": I tell Sam all about the themes of the law and grace and heaven and fighting for freedom and the sadness of war and then he falls asleep the minute the last note is played.

30 minutes later, we arrive on my parents' driveway, open the doors, and all my STUFF explodes onto the concrete.

The next morning, I hear Sam asking my mom if she knows about Jong-a-Zhong (Jean Valjean) and remember the story I told Sam the night before and think, "What have I done???".

Curtain closes, The End.

Jeremy's motorcycle, packed for the trip...I have to admit
that the gas tank strapped on DID make me a little nervous for some reason.

Motorcycles in Mexico

Sunset in Mexico

Is this a pile of stuff or someone sleeping?

Oh, someone sleeping...and my husband's hairy chest in the foreground.
But if the other lump is someone sleeping, then did Jeremy take a picture
of himself and pretend to be asleep? And if so, can I make fun of him?

This is why they went to Mexico.

And this.

And this.

And especially roadside taco stands.

They should have taken video footage and made some documentary
like "Motorcycle Diaries" or something. Or not.

Here's where they stayed one night.

Or maybe here, I don't know...he didn't tell me much about that.

One thing I do know is that they definitely took more pictures of their motorcycles than themselves!

El Fin.