All the clothes washing and folding, the searching for swimmies and digging out of sand buckets...
It's gotta take a few years off of your life.
It's horrible.
As stressful as all that packing is, I have to say that it absolutely pales in comparison to the stress of a 452 hour Car Ride O' Doom with a toddler and infant.Ya'll gonna make me lose my mind up in here.
All car rides start out the same way: with everyone happy, excited, and ready to go. A rookie parent might be fooled into thinking that this blissful experience will last for longer than the first hour of the trip.
Oh foolish, foolish newbie.
You're lucky if it lasts to the end of the street.
The fact is, the short-lived "calm before the storm" is just a terrible, cruel joke of nature.
El Avery-o is a storm that few survive.
Preparation is KEY.
Thankfully, our drive to Florida wasn't our first one.
We've already payed our "stupid tax"(as the lovely Dave Ramsey would say) in that department.
This Mommy's got skills. And a little "bag of tricks" loaded with books, markers, crayons, cookies, and lots of coloring books.
If bribery and begging were tangible items, they would be in there too.
We waited to pull out the "big guns" (a.k.a. DVD player and strawberry gum) until things got really challenging.
The combination can only lead to Toddler Bliss.
Trust me.
It's powerful stuff.
Diego normally makes me want to stab my eyeballs out, but after hour six in the car with a 2 1/2 year old and an infant, he is the most beautiful sound on earth.
Second only to complete silence, of course.
So - after what can only be described as the longest car ride in the history of man, we arrived at our condo.
I'm surprised that the neighbors didn't call the cops on us for ramming carts and dragging screaming babies down the hallway at 4:30 am.
We slept for a few hours of sleep and then ventured out to the beach.
Last year, Avery was horrified by the sand.
She wouldn't even put her feet down in it, but look at her this year...
What a difference a year makes.
I love vacation.
Love it.
And We don't have to drive back home for 4 more days...
10 comments:
Sounds like the drive went well! Your arsenal is amazingly similar to mine (and i make several 12 hour trips with my children every year. Last time it was with a 3yr old and a breastfeeding 5mo old. FUN.)
Caramel corn rice cakes. Sweet in taste and cruncy in texture. My kids love them and it takes them FOREVER to eat just one. Plus, they arent as un-healthy as cookies. and nuggets. and fries. and.. and.. and..
Have fun on your vaca! hope to see more pics!
i love seeing them in their beach duds. so cute!
benadryl...puts the finishing touch on my arsenal!
actually i'm not very practiced in longer than 2 hours trips. those kill me.
we survived a what was supposed to be 12 hour trip when lily was 8 weeks...turned into 20 hours though. not kidding.
enjoy the sand and sun! no pigs on the beach, right?!?
My kids were raised on 9 hour car trips, but even when they're traveling veterans a Mom's got to appreciate the [little g] gods of the Goodie Bag.
Ditto Diego, but any port in a storm, right?
(Is "Any port..." dirty? I didn't want a dirty idiom [this time, chortle!])
Anyhoo...
You posted while on vacation... this means you love us.
Your pix are great. I'm happy for you and your lovely fam and can't wait for our own summer vacay.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Thank you, o wise one, for the helpful advice. What? You weren't intending to give advice? Well, everything you said was noted in my big ol' head. Right now I'm trying to convince hubby to book a cruise for our 5th wedding anniversary, which will include bringing our future 7 month old along. Mwah haha.
Smart momma, you are! I agree, the DVD player is the big gun around here on car trips, too - I make her go as long as I can without it until she is just bored out of her mind.
Growing up my folks took us, all 5 kids to FLorida almost every year. I remember thinking some semi-murderous about my brothers after being cooped up with them for like 20 hours straight. Such good and awful memories all mixed into one. :)
Love it! What did parents do before DVD players? We would never survive a road trip without one. I think they just relied on the old trusty Benadryl. Have fun!
I sooooo know what you mean! At least the DVD player waorked this time! :) I am dreading the 16-18 hour car trip coming up in our near future!
So glad you guys are having fun!! See ya soon!!
(Now I have that song in my head...) Where did you go in Florida. We did that drive last year...16 hours. The DVD players was my hero, as well as all the snacks. I'll have to try the gum trick next year.
we do the 452 hour car drive too! and, well, with 6 of us, it's always interesting, but getting to the beach is always worth it!
and you all look like it's a total blast!!! those sweet babies are too precious! can't wait to see more pics!
Again, I am super jealous of your beach trip. We want to go in the fall, but are already thinking how hard it will be to take a 6 month old and the gear. You will have to give me all of your tips!
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