Traveling with Children

Last Tuesday, we returned from my parents lake house on Lake Huron in Michigan. We were away for about two weeks (it's an 18 hour road trip, so we try and stay as long as we can to make it worth the drive).

First of all, if you've never taken the opportunity to visit Northern Michigan, you are seriously missing out. I am not getting paid by Michigan's State Tourism Board, when I say that is has some of the most spectacular places to visit and explore. It's one of those well kept secrets...those who know about it don't want the masses descending upon the area and messing it all up. Seeing as most of you live in NC, I don't imagine that you'll believe a word I am writing, and never take me up on the idea. Therefore, I think it's safe to share it with you.

So we survived the drive up, somehow only having to resort to a movie once (okay, maybe twice) per 9 hour leg of the trip. As parents, we sunk to a new all time low with car safety (only momentarily though --- I promise). While I was driving, Mark was feeding the baby a bottle in the backseat, when he realized that a diaper change was definitely in order. Seeing as the diaper bag was on the floor in the front seat, I heard him say "Here, Nora, hold AJ for a minute." as he passed Nora the baby to hold (for a moment, I swear!!) while he wrestled and snaked his way around the front seat, past the dog (who had been throwing up hourly thanks to the steak scraps Mark had fed her the night before), under my purse, a pillow, the camera bag, DVD case, bag of trash from our stop at McDonald's, to finally reach the diaper bag below. I couldn't help but laugh at Mark, who is generally a nut about safety issues and rules, taking matters into his own hands and making things happen, without getting frazzled. Kind of a Mom thing to do. Nice personal growth moment, I think!

I had enough food and snacks to fulfill the Government Preparedness Plan for our family. I think we easily could have survived for a week, much less the three days Uncle Sam recommends. I had my breast pump (with the car adapter), bottles, formula, babyfood, bibs, spoons, sippy cups...the whole set up. About the only thing I didn't have was beer (or any type of alcohol, really), which was a good thing because 18 hours in a car with your husband, four kids and a dog is enough to make anyone drink.

We counted the colors of cars, played I Spy, colored, wrote letters, drew pictures, the kids made me cards (we left on my birthday), read books... The license plate game and the ABC game did NOT finish well, as the two older kids, who are very competitive got into a fight. Every time we played. Brennan, who is a bit of a type A, jumped on each and every letter as if her life depended on it. Brady, two years younger but still determined to win, is a bit more leisurely in calling out the letters that he sees. So in their terms, she's a show off and he's a sore loser. I'm quite sure there are many life lessons to be learned while playing car games however, in the interest of personal sanity, I called a moratorium on the games.

During the moratorium, the older kids listened to their ipod shuffles. Brady, who is not normally a singer, becomes a rock star the moment he turns the music on and starts belting out lyrics. Thank God for the new indie kid rock. At least the songs he sings are interesting, not to mention amusing. I love that the Bare Naked Ladies are doing kids music now. Life is good.

Nora, who is three, does not know her letters yet (as I was embarassed to realize, much less admit, when the doctor asked me at her three year old check up) so she just played the Punch Buggy game by herself, occasionally yelling out "punchbuggy, no buh-vertible" to herself, at the sight of any compact, slightly round car.

I don't think that Mark and I had one complete adult conversation during the whole drive. No one but the baby (and Mark) slept in the car. I do know that it is MUCH easier to be the driver than the navigator/referee/chef/server/janitor/entertainment coordinator. Give me a Red Bull and the steering wheel and I'm golden.

I have to say, having made this pilgrimmage an annual thing, the kids, for the most part, are really good and know what to expect. They know that we're going some place really special (and that they're guaranteed popsicles at least four times daily from Grammy) so they're excited and in great spirits. They did ask the dreaded "How much longer until we get there?" question about four thousand times. My standard answer was "six hours." I thought that after a while they'd stop asking. They didn't.

It's easy to forget how long time can feel when you're a kid, especially when you're looking forward to something. As adults, we get so wrapped up in the "getting there" part that we lose sight of the fun that can be had during the journey. While I didn't do a great job of it this time, I made a promise to myself to try a little harder next time to have "fun" in the car with the kids, not in spite of them. Right now they LOVE "family time" and being together...it won't be too many more years until spending 18 hours in the car with their family will be the very LAST thing they want to do.