No Thanks in Thanksgiving for me!

Where is Norman Rockwell when you need him? For reasons I am not entirely sure of now, I decided to drive to be with the family for Thanksgiving and I did it on the Wednesday before. Yeah, the heaviest travel day of the year and I think its a good idea to load myself, the kids and 2/3 of our house (required items when traveling with small kids) into the MomVan and head out, leaving hubby to follow later with all the stuff he had to bring - long story, doesn't matter here. My plan was to have everything packed Tuesday night so we could just load and go on Wednesday as soon as I ran a few last minute errands. Yeah, that was a great plan. Didn't happen, but it was a great plan. I ran around like a mad woman, did the errands, grabbed lunch for the kids and parked them in front of the TV, yes the horrible TV, and went about packing, prepping, cleaning and loading. Next thing I know, it is 2pm and I am still at home!! I planned to be in Gainesville by 3 -guess I will be late but I know I make the drive in about 2.5 hours so still not a big deal. Yeah. Well, almost 5 hours later, we get off I75 in Gainesville, having sat completely still and crawling along for much of the southern part of the trip. The DVD player went loopy on us just south of Wildwood which was SO helpful. I did find out that I can make a bottle while driving and I don't mean pull one out of the diaper bag. I did that too, but the trip was so long that Zane needed another one so I had to reach back and find the now empty bottle, some bottled water, the can of formula powder and mix it. I did it, no traffic issues to report. So I get to Gainesville, call the family to say I am in town finally and should I pick up anything to add to dinner as we will be there shortly. Dinner? Oh they ate already. I should just get whatever we will need during our stay as they are all on diets and don't buy carbs, sugars, etc. I am looking in the rearview at 2 kids who eat pancakes, chicken nuggets, PB&Js and muffin tops and drink Juice or OJ. Lets not forget the required chocolate milk. So I hit Publix, end up having to do a basic grocery run for our 4 night visit that had I known in advance, I could have brought plenty from home for. There goes $96 from our budget for that visit. My Mom did come meet me to help with the kids in the store plus I had absolutely no room for groceries at all so she drove ahead of us to my Aunt and Uncle's place where we were staying. I pull in a bit behind Mom, she does drive a bit fast plus her car was not weighed down like mine. I get the kids out of the carseats, Zane is soaked now and SO ready to get out of the car as are we all. I have him in one arm, the 30 pound diaper bag on the other shoulder and Macy on that arm, no way to open doors or anything. Walk in the back door, my Aunt and Uncle are sitting there, watching TV. I come in with "Hey, we made it!" No response, no one gets up, no one offers any help....so I put Macy down before my arm just gives up and I drop her, head down the hall to the guest rooms and said "Sorry to be rude but he has to be changed really badly and I have a ton of stuff to unload as well"..... no greeting, no offer to help still, nothing. I am getting a bit pissed, but I have 2 crying kids now and they need dinner. I go back out for another load, still holding Zane as he will not let me put him down. Macy is hiding in the bedroom. I asked my Aunt if I could please get her to fix a Kid Cuisine for each of them while I keep unloading. She seemed a bit put out but did it. Finally get the kids at the table, no help putting groceries away, nothing. Still no one has said 'Hi, nice to see you guys, how was your drive, kiss my ass' nothing. By now I have put the groceries away, both kids have eaten all they will and both are crying because we are in an unfamiliar place and they sense my mounting anger. I am fairly sure the blind and deaf guy across town could sense it too. I walk back to the guest rooms to try and set up sleeping gear so that will be out of the way. My Aunt comes back with, "Are you guys planning to use both rooms or will M be able to use his old room?" (he rode up with Lon) Lets see, 4 people in one room with a play yard, an airbed and a double bed, plus suitcases. Sure, no problem. I decide to assert myself a bit and said "Well you did say that M could use the office with an airbed so the kids could have a room to themselves, so that is my plan" and I went about setting it up that way. I start assembling the pack-n-play....discover it reeks of gasoline, which was spilled in the shed and is why I keep asking for the gas powered stuff and extra cans to be stored elsewhere, AND is heavily mildewed which brings to mind the open windows to air out the gas fumes that were allowed to remain open during a rain storm. I did my best to wipe it down and proceeded to make up Zane's bedding in it but as soon as I sat him down, just to give me some free hands time to settle the rest of the stuff, he began screaming like he was on fire. I knew there was no actual gas and he was on a mattress covered with a sheet and a waterproof pad was under all that but the smell was likely making him freak. Then Daddy calls, "hey, just got off I75" and my exact words were "I don't give a damn if you get a $5k speeding ticket just get your ass here" which clued him a bit. To his credit, he did get there in less than 20 minutes and walked in to find me pacing the room in tears with all suitcases piled on the bed and my first in-person words to him were "we are going to a hotel NOW". Fortunately he had a calmer head and he got Zane and Macy to settle down and asked me what I wanted to do about the pack n play. It was 20 til 10pm and K-Mart was open until 10 if we needed to go get a new one but we wouldn't use it hardly ever again so maybe there was a way to fix the old one. He went and laid on the big bed with Zane, got him to sleep. Macy was happier now that Daddy was there so she hopped on the big bed in their room. Oh yes, knowing we were coming and knowing we let the kids watch TV to go to sleep, the TV in that room had been disconnected and no one bothered to hook it back up before we got there so there was a hulabaloo about that when I asked if it was okay to use, as we have always done. My Aunt went thru great exasperating sighs and grunts and then YELLED to the other end of the house for my Uncle to come connect it back. Oh, and prior to Daddy getting there, I did get Zane quiet in the pack n play but he was not lying down, rather peeking over the edge at the doorway across the hall where I was getting Macy changed for bed. My Aunt walks down the hall, goes to the door of the room where he is, shoves her head in his line of sight and shouts BOO! Great for soothing kids. I could have strangled her. I did remember to bring the kids' blankets and sleep toys from home so that helped some. At least I am telling myself it did. I also remembered my Xanax and that did help some too. Ah, home for the holidays. Sometimes I forget why we moved away, then it all comes back to me in great rushing clarity.