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Traveling with four kids probably isn't easy to begin with. Missing your flight with all four of them definitely doesn't help.
That's how Kelly Stafford's trip to Las Vegas started this weekend as she and her four daughters were headed to watch Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams take on the Raiders.
Stafford shared the bad news on her Instagram Stories, telling her followers, "Tough start to the Vegas trip. We missed our flight." Instead of giving up on the trip, though, she decided they were getting to Vegas another way.
That meant loading everyone into the car and driving.
Stafford and the girls ended up making the roughly 300-mile drive from Southern California to Las Vegas. Anyone who has taken a road trip with kids probably has a pretty good idea what that can turn into. Bathroom breaks, food stops and somebody asking how much longer until you get there can make a few hours in the car feel a whole lot longer.
Now try it with four kids after you've already spent part of the day trying to catch a flight.
Stafford continued sharing parts of the unexpected road trip on Instagram as the family made its way to Vegas. It obviously wasn't how she planned on getting there, but missing the flight wasn't going to keep the girls from seeing their dad play.
There's a little more behind that than simply wanting to make it to another Rams game. Matthew is in his 18th NFL season, and Kelly has talked about wanting their daughters to experience as many of his games as possible while he's still playing. She told PEOPLE before the season that the family understands there could come a point where they're watching him play in a certain stadium or against a certain opponent for the final time.
That makes these trips a little different now. Nobody knows how much longer Matthew will play, and the girls are old enough to really be part of everything that comes with game day. They've been around plenty of their dad's games over the years, but there are only so many of these trips left.
The funny part is that years from now, the girls might remember the trip to this game more than the game itself.
They've watched their dad play a lot of football. They probably haven't had too many days where they were supposed to fly to his game, missed the flight and ended up piling into a car with Mom for a drive to Las Vegas.
That's part of what makes the whole thing fun. A day that started with a missed flight and could have ended with everyone going home instead turned into a family road trip.
It wasn't the way Kelly Stafford planned on getting her four girls to Las Vegas, but they were getting there one way or another.