I really think we've almost perfected the art of road-tripping. I don't know that Ryan would agree but I'm feeling good about it. How many people could travel with 5 kids (ages 9, 7, 4, 2, and 6 months) for over 2700 miles and 43 hours in a matter of 16 days and feel good about it? I thought it would kill us but we're still here and sort of smiling. I think the following tips were what made it work:
1.) An incredible husband that thinks it's his man-duty to drive the whole way and pump all the gas in the freezing cold while you wrangle the kids in the car. Also, he's a master car-packer. That's a very important skill. You've gotta love a man with skills. I love you, R.
2.) DVD player for the kids to watch movies. And Redbox is fabulous, in case you've been living in a cave and didn't know. Paying $1 a night to rent a new movie the kids aren't sick of that you can turn in at any Redbox location wherever you are is a wonder in my book. Santa also brought a few new movies to help in that department.
3.) Pac man game that plugs into the car so the kids can play en route. Santa brought this and we didn't even realize the kids could play it on the drive. Bonus! Santa was inspired.
4.) Lots of snacks for the kids but not too many beverages, for obvious reasons. Adults, on the other hand need good beverages as well as snacks. This trip's favorite snacks? Donuts and pumpkin seeds.
5.) The ability to somewhat ignore the cries of a 6 month old while she's trying to soothe herself to sleep and make peace with the fact that she's been strapped into her car seat for hours on end. For the record, she only cried a couple of times for a few minutes and we all knew she would be okay. She's a great traveler.
6.) Great destinations with cousins and grandparents. I don't know if we could have made the trip if we didn't have our fabulous Favero cousins halfway in Denver to break up the trip each way for a few days. Lots of jumping in bouncy places, sledding and snowball fights helped to expend the kids' extra energy so they weren't super crazy in the car. Thank you, thank you Brooke and Aaron!
7.) I have to give some kudos to the kiddos for just being good travelers. There were only a handful of times we thought about packing them up in the car top carrier but we resisted the urge.
8.) The ability to make interesting, engaging conversation when your husband is getting sleepy. This one can be tricky but thankfully Ryan didn't get sleepy too often and a game of "twenty questions" was usually enough to wake him up.
9.) A Christmas Miracle. Having no car puking, poo-mergencies, accidents, car malfunctions, or misbehaving children can only be attributed to a Christmas miracle and lots of prayers. I think we'll actually attempt it again. Just probably not for a few years. :)
2 comments:
I don't know how you did it! We can barely manage with a 12, 10, 6 year old and 6 month old. Way to go! (also, Travis and Ryan have the same jobs in the car - but I contend that OUR job is much, much harder!)
Wow - that is a long trip. We took a much shorter trip and were so grateful for the kids' DVD player and earphones. Nick and I downloaded an audiobook from iTunes that kept us entertained :)
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