Road Trip...the way of the future.

"The only flying that I ever did as a kid was in the family station wagon. It wasn't to France. We used to have to go over to Aunt Laura and Uncle Arthur's house."

Name that movie.

The cost of gas is bad, but the cost of flying is worse. Especially now that we have 3 crazies. And judging by the trunk full of suitcases, diapers, a stroller, a playpen, pillows, swimming gear, baby food, snacks, etc, etc, etc, our luggage would have cost a pretty penny, too. So we strapped the fam into our gas-guzzling SUV and headed on the road to Utah. Road trips seem to have come full circle and are once again the way to travel with your family. The hotels were packed with traveling families. I remember traveling by plane semi-frequently when Parker was young. Before his second birthday he had already been on five plane trips. Reid has not flown quite so much. And Gray has yet to experience flight.

Between moving and then traveling for nearly two weeks, I've seriously neglected the blogging world. I miss you guys. I scheduled a few reruns before I left town. But it's been a week since I even posted one of those. I planned to do a little blogging from my in-laws, but their computer was too stinkin' slow. And besides, with a house full of people, someone was always using it first. I have so much to catch up on...birthdays, Flashback Fridays, and travel, travel, travel. You can expect a lot of posts coming your way this week. (Providing I have time...yes, my mom is coming in less than a week...I have a lot of blogging, cleaning, and unpacking both boxes and suitcases to do before then. Not to mention Parker's birthday celebration.)

So my first post back in town...the road trip itself. I came up with some genius ways to entertain the kids. I've had good ideas in the past, but this time...everything I packed was a hit. And it needed to be. The drive was supposedly nineteen and a half hours...translated to 23 hours with three crazies in tote. Both on the way there and on the way home we went 13 hours the first day and 10 the second. The kids were surprisingly fantastic travelers in the car. I probably had more melt-downs than any of them. And Spencer and I were the ones who needed to stop to use the bathroom more than the kiddos. They really did great.

For anyone who wants to know...Oklahoma has the nicest rest stops, but Colorado has the cleanest.


Activity: Pipe Cleaners
Cost: $0.97 (for a whole multi-colored pack)

These entertained the boys until they found out what mom could do with them. Then I was stuck making them all kinds of things. The hardest request? A rat. There's a picture included, but it was my worst. I've also discovered a new talent as a hand model.

Activity: Fake Teeth
Cost: $0.88 (for a four pack)

Once again...a HUGE hit, especially with Parker. Who knew?

***While on the subject of teeth...Gray started the trip with 1 and 1/2 and ended the trip with FIVE teeth.


Activity: Suction-Cup Balls
Cost: $0.88 (for a two pack)

The crazies had a great time sticking these to car windows.


Activity: Visors
Cost: $3.50 (visors...$0.97 each, pack of foam stickers...$1.56)

It was funny watching how different my kids are while making these...Parker wanted all the same color fish stickers (blue to match his visor). Reid wanted all the same type of fish regardless of color (all clown fish like Nemo). And Gray just chewed on the stickers.

Activity: Hand-held fans with foam blades
Cost: $0.99 (batteries included)

Fans were especially nice while sitting in a hot car at a gas station.

Activity: Cheese Whiz and Crackers
Cost: I know the crackers were $1.00 plus the cost of cheese spray...I don't remember. (I bought it with snacks, not activities. But it was very entertaining.)

The S is for Spiderman...in case you were wondering.



Activity: Masks
Cost: $2.60 ($0.52 per mask, $1.56 per pack of foam stickers)

I know it's similar to the visors, but they were such a hit on the way there, I needed something similar for the ride home. Anything for them to wear is guaranteed to go over well with my kids.

Gray didn't require so many activities...as long as I constantly kept food in his hands, he was good to go.

Although he was regularly craned to watch his brothers. Who can blame him...they're entertaining.

And I was pretty proud of myself for this...I attached his toys to his seat belt with those little toy rings after too many tears from loosing toys on the ground.

With all this going on, there wasn't nearly enough of this:

My kids are not good car sleepers...especially Gray. He slept a total of one hour in the car the whole trip there. We showed up to Utah with one very tired baby. But despite the lack of sleep, I was pleasantly surprised with how few tantrums we experienced.

There is way more to come with regards to the trip. We had a great time. Between a family reunion, Spencer's on-line summer semester which kept him busy for many, many, many hours while we were there, and so many people we wanted to see, we didn't get to visit everyone we wanted to...not even everyone we normally see. I apologize. We missed you.