Things I have learned from this trip....
- Children watching DVDs in the car is the BEST! Our kids were late bloomers for watching movies/tv shows, so we are in awe of this new found distraction.
- Said children watching movies with headphones is PRICELESS! Dan and I can carry on a full conversation and I don't need to know what is happening on Clifford, Star Wars, or Boz.
- Traveling from TN to MI, then MI to MO, then MO back to TN within 10 days is a lot of driving, especially since the longest trip we did overnight.
- Explaining how many miles we are from Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan means nothing to a 4 year old. Explaining that we reached Michigan but still have more time until we get to Grammy & Papa's house was even harder. {on a side note, I remember our yearly drives to Florida from Michigan as a kid. I remember never understanding how we reached Florida, but it STILL took so long to get to my Aunt Nancy's house! So I do feel bad for the boys.}
- Pack easy/fun/not sugary snacks for the trip. We had fruit leather, peanut butter crackers, cheese-its, and raisins.
- 2am when you have three half-asleep cranky kids because they woke up when you stopped at a gas station.... you don't care what snacks they get. 2 of mine picked skittles, and the other whoppers from the gas station and happily chomped away at their snacks and actually fell back to sleep while eating.
- ice water, ice water, ice water ALL AROUND! No more rationing when they get drinks. I fill their cups with ice, top with water, and they keep them in their seats. If they are thirsty, I DON'T HAVE TO HEAR ABOUT IT! They can drink when they want. But they don't drink too much! Has cut down on the whining for drinks, and on the potty stops... for ALL of us!
- Don't leave for a celebration trip (Christmas, birthdays, etc) with the car already at full capacity. It is quite hard to re-pack when you accumulate even more stuff!
- Ziplock XXL bags are a GODsend when traveling! One will fit all three pillows, blankets and stuffed animals for the car ride. Pull out when needed, shove back into bag when not needed. BONUS when traveling while it's cold out. We don't travel in the car with coats on, so we stuff all our coats in a bag and have it easily accessible when we need them.
- listening to The Office on DVD in the middle of the night while three boys are sleeping makes the show quite funny! That's a lot coming from me, I used to hate the show. I now mildly like it. Well, I like some episodes a lot, others give me that sick stomach feeling like I was back working at Chase and banging my head against a wall trying to explain something simple to someone that was not getting it.
- finding three pairs of shoes in a packed car for a potty run while half asleep is not fun.
- Grammy & Papa in Michigan are wonderful distractions for the boys so Dan and I were able relax and even get a little extra sleep. (now if they were in Missouri after our all night travels, that would have been nice too!)
- Southwest Missouri gets light later in the morning than where we are at in West Tennessee. This works in my favor when we got to Missouri and I convinced my kids it was still the middle of the night at 6:30 am and they had to go back to sleep. They agreed and gave me 1 hour of extra glorious sleep!
- Taco Bell is not a car friendly meal
I have lots of pictures to upload, but they will have to wait until another time. I am enjoying a new Wii game with my husband since the boys are in bed, and it's my turn to play :)
