Road Trip Lessons

There are a few things you need to know before traveling over 400 miles with your kids in the car.

1. They will cry for McDonalds every time they see one. And you will give in at every meal time because they give toys. Which will keep them quiet for 30 minutes.

2. Legos, Play Dough and Puzzels are awesome. But not on a road trip.

3. The only thing more annoying than hearing "Are we there yet?" is "Mom I have to pee." Because you have to stop. And once they know you have to stop... they have to pee every twenty minutes.

4. You will spend half the trip telling them "Ok. I heard you. But there is nothing I can do about it right now!"

5. No matter how organized you are, you will a) not be able to get to what you need or b) you will have forgotten it.

6. You must wear sweatpants (or even better yoga pants) because your ass will grow an entire dress size in one trip. Because you are stopping at McDonalds every 4 hours.

But hugging the people you traveled twenty hours, seventeen happy meals, and countless pee breaks to see? Totally worth it.

Road Trip To Do:

We are going on a road trip for Thanksgiving. The kids, my 24 year old cousin and myself will be driving to Chicago. The drive is almost 17 hours not including breaks for peeing, breastfeeding, eating and playing. I have been planning, sorting, listing and packing for three days. Wanna know what the list looks like? I thought so....

1. Wash winter clothes.
2. Pack Little Britches clothes.
3. Pack Mini Boots clothes.
4. Pack Mighty Mouse clothes... crap. He has no winter clothes.
5. Go Shopping for Mighty Mouse winter clothes.
6. Wash new winter clothes.
7. Pack Mighty Mouse clothes.
8. Repack Little Britches because I can not shop for clothes without buying her something new.
9. Wash my clothes.
10. Start to pack, remember that I have to take the car in before they close.
11. Take car in for oil change and tire rotation. Wish Super Boots was here to deal with car crap.
12. Clean car. Find 22 french fries, 2 half empty juice boxes, 67 cents. Wish even more Super Boots could take over car stuff.
13. Pack toys for kids in the car.
14. End up sorting all of toys they own just to find the Leapster. Realize half their toys are broken, out grown or annoying.
15. Bring sorted toys to Goodwill.
16. End up buying more toys at Goodwill
17. Pack kids toys.
18. Pack for myself. Realize everything I want to bring doesn't fit or is dirty.
19. Wash my clothes again.
20. Pack snacks for the road.
21. Go to the grocery store because we have nothing that qualifies as "road food."
22. Realize I left my laundry in the wash and now it has a slight oder. Re-wash.
22. Pack snacks.
23. Clean house.
24. Find 34 things I need to bring on the trip and repack.
25. Pack my clothes, finally.
26. Load car. Realize I suck at this and kinda hate Super Boots for being gone. (Because he totally would rather be there than going to see family for Thanksgiving with his family).
27. Have a nagging feeling I am forgetting something but know that can not be possible as I have almost the entire contents of my house loaded into the mini van.
28. Get Gas.
29. Remember I did forget something. Shoes.
30. Feel thankful for Walmart, get shoes, more snacks and a Christmas decoration for the car.
31. Put on Christmas music and try to forget that we are going 1100 miles for Thanksgiving with three kids... and no Daddy.

Yeah, I love road trips... once we are on the road that is.