By way of summary, here are a few facts and figures.
- Miles traveled: 2,684
- Relatives & friends visited: approx. 50
- Different places stayed: 6 houses, 1 hotel
- States visited: 6 (AR, MO, IA, SD, ND, MN)
- Trips to doctor: 1, for Gus (diagnosis: unspecified virus)
- Applesauce pouches consumed: about 4 dozen
This trip was both harder and easier than our only other previous long trip, to Oregon. Since we were driving this time, we were able to bring more of the kids' own stuff along. I think it helped them to have familiar pack-and-plays and other accessories for sleeping. We have travel booster seats for meal time, and those were handy, too.
In an attempt to live out our childhood dreams through our children, DF and I purchased not only a minivan, but also a two-screen DVD player for said van. Will these kids ever know how lucky they are? My sister and I had to pass time on family road trips playing the alphabet game and kicking each other! (I should probably note that we never took a road trip outside the state of Oregon...)
The DVD player was a big hit with the boys. With a combination of toys, snacks, DVDs, and cat naps, we manged to go 2-3 hours between rest stops. They did better than I thought they would in the car. And now I have 20 episodes of PBS kids shows embedded in my memory!
Staying in so many different places was kind of stressful. I think we might have bitten off a little more than we could chew in that regard. We probably were able to visit more people the way that we did it, so that's a plus, though I know we still missed a few folks along the way. No one we stayed with had little kids, so their houses were not baby-proof. That meant DF and I were constantly on our toes, chasing the boys around, keeping them from hurling themselves down the stairs, breaking knick-knacks, chewing on power cords...you get the idea. Even nap time held its hazards as we had to learn to move everything out of reach of little arms popping up over the sides of the pack and plays.
At home, we hardly ever take the boys out to restaurants. It's just too much work. That belief was reinforced on this trip! Our worst restaurant experience was trying to get pizza after a long day in the car. We let the kids run around outside while we waited for the food to be ready, and they did eat a little bit at the table. But as soon as they spotted a sit-in-the-car video game, they totally refused to stay still and eat anymore. Instead, they both tried to crawl up in the (adult-sized) seat simultaneously, bonking their heads on the steering wheel/joystick and causing a screaming meltdown. It was...loud and...flail-ey. I scooped them both up and whisked them out to the parking lot while DF paid the bill.
But, on the other hand, we did have some non-disastrous restaurant experiences. For example, we took them to Perkins (with 4 adults:2 children, better ratio), and the only damage they caused was dumping their water cups on the floor. Not so bad! Plus they had fun walking around the tables, waving at everyone, and pointing at cookies in the bakery display case. We also had success finding places like McDonalds and Chick-Fil-A that have kids play areas, for a nice break on driving days.
By the end of the trip, my arms were really strong from carrying kiddos! At home, I don't usually spend extended periods of time holding them. If they are fussy, we can all sit on the couch together or something. But with all the new environments, both boys really wanted to be held a lot on the trip. When Gus was sick, he was suuuuuper clingy. There was one day I pretty much held him all of his waking hours. I did bring an Ergo carrier, which I put him in so I could eat dinner. Poor kid :( He finally started feeling better when we got home. I think he's more of a home-body. The trip seemed to stress him out more than Gibson.
This is the sort of experience that I'm glad to have done. I don't mean any offense to the people we visited, because everyone was so kind and accommodating of our family's needs. And I'm glad our kids got to meet so many relatives and have new, fun experiences. But it was just a lot to manage, and I had a hard time enjoying it while it was actually happening. It's nice to be home, and we took lots of pictures!
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