The tickets are bought and the bags are (almost) packed. Summer vacation is upon us, whether we are ready or not. Instead of finishing the laundry, I’m taking a time out to have a little bitty ‘what were we thinking’ breakdown. While we are no strangers to traveling, this trip adds together some new elements for which I feel just a bit unprepared. Let me lay it out for you.
It’s a 12 hour road trip, the longest road trip we have taken as a family. And check this: we will drive for 12 hours and never leave the state of Texas. When people tell you Texas is big, believe it. So, twelve hours and four kids in a car. It’s daunting, but doable. I’ve packed the earplugs and Benadryl. (Relax, they are both for me.)
For this trip, we will be bringing the dog for the first time. He’s a Shi-Tzu, so he has a long lineage of beauty before brains, if you know what I mean. And, he gets carsick. Yep.
This will be our first long haul trip with our trailer. Let’s not even get into the logistics involved in packing an entire house in miniature. What I keep thinking about is the 8000 pound behemoth that we will be pulling behind us and all of the parts with the potential to self destruct. Let’s just hope that my nightmares of various mechanical failures are a result of an overactive imagination and not actual premonitions. On the plus side, if any of these dreams do come true, I will be using my unbelievable future telling skills to play the lottery.
This will be our longest camping trip to date. Camping requires its own collection of special tools and presents a fair amount of health challenges. Slimy creatures, open fires, and jagged rocks are just a few of the extra special camping treats. I must pack my insurance card.
We will spend our days at the beach for this trip. I’m sure it will all be sun and fun, but I keep thinking about sand and sea creatures. The amount of sand I expect to empty out of the baby’s diaper makes me itch just thinking about it. And did you know that you have about a 5% chance of being stung, attacked or molested by a sea creature. There are six people in our family so, according to the math one of us is guaranteed to come home with a jellyfish sting. Please don’t ask me to substantiate my facts or use proper math; I’m a lady on the edge.
Maybe I should take one of those Benadryl now.
I think the meltdown is justified. I don’t even like taking a 4hr trip to the beach with my toddler. The packing, the arranging, the organizing, the screaming baby in the backseat. Sigh. It’s all worth it though when you get there. I hope you have an awesome trip.
New follower from Thirsty Thursday
Hi! I just found you from the Blog Hop . . . and I totally agree with you on the Benadryl!!! 🙂 Hope you have a fun trip!
I am your newest follower and I would love to have you follow back if you want to!
Camille @
SixSistersStuff.blogspot.com
I say take a Xanax now and then when you get into the car, it might help, lol!
We drove from Iowa to CA last year but my daughter and I flew out the first leg. I knew I couldn’t drive both ways. Plus my sister was on the other end. Driving back was tough. Much laughter but just as many tears and I”m sure they were from me. We only have 2 kiddos but boy they can fight like cats and dogs!
We are heading to Branson this summer so not as far but we are camping so I hear your fear about creatures and accidents.
I wish you much fun and luck!
Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving your sweet comments!
Now following you!
Megan
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I’m now following you back! Can’t wait to see some great pics!
nancy
http://thatsoundslikecrazy.blogspot.com
At least you can know that memories will be created that your children will keep with them for life…all the stress will be worth it 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog and following. I’m following back and looking forward to seeing more. Have a great trip!!!
Sure you don’t want something stronger than Benadryl? The idea of a car trip with D makes me break out into hives right now. Give me a 16 hour plane ride any day. We haven’t driven more than 2-3 hours in over a year with him and we are going to do almost 6 hours this summer. I foresee much screaming. I will be scouring your blog and all the other mama blogs for “Car trips with 2 year old” tips come July.
But you really will be fine. I’ve seen (well read) about you surviving crazier stuff than this. I have also not camped with D yet though, so my fingers and toes are crossed!
This post made me laugh! I just found you through Hip Homeschool Hop and am so inspired by all of your travel. We are a Navy family so I’m used uprooting, driving, unpacking, etc. I drove from southern VA to NJ, from NJ to FL and now FL back to VA on my own…with 3 boys. I laughed because thinking of flying with them is more of a turn off than driving! Seems opposite for you! 🙂 I can’t wait to poke around your site and find travel ideas!
Not sure if you’ll see this comment while you’re traveling, but…how do you find deals on flights? Do you choose an airline and stick with it to accrue the miles?
Thanks! Living the military life provides us with ample travel opportunities, it baffles me we haven’t taken more risks with travel.
Nelie
Nellie,
We accrue miles on American Airlines to use for our bigger trips. We take the big overseas trips once we have enough miles. For shorter trips, we watch for airfare sales. At least twice a year the airlines will announce their next season fares and along with that will be some airfare wars. We just purchased tickets from Texas to Chicago recently for $100 each. We live for those kind of deals.
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