I have to say, that while my little family has no plans for a summer vacation anywhere further than the nearest public pool for swimming lessons, and some "spa days" with some of my girls, I have been curious to know what you all are doing...so share your grand adventure plans with me...
Along those same lines, I must add that I remember fondly our trip to visit family the summer I was 5...before starting kindergarten, when we packed up our van, loaded up the camper trailer, and hitched it to said van, and drove from Colorado across the United States to New York, and down the coast to North Carolina, and then back home...in one summer...
We were gone for like 8 weeks (seriously, y'all, this was "The Big Trip") and during that time we visited nearly all of the rest stops, campgrounds, and tourist attractions as could be found along the highways and bi-ways along which we traveled.
We somehow ended up somewhere there was an active mine field, and some random strangers assisted the groups of families that were there to get across and back safely...nothing like being lifted and tossed from one adult male to another when you're 5 and cute and innocent, and know that Daddies don't hurt their children...(see how innocent I was???) In between camping, and cooking on the road, we sat in our full-size conversion van, and played travel games. We had come cool magnetic/static versions of Scrabble, Parchesi, Sorry, and I think we had a travel Yahtzee set, but I may be mis-remembering that one. We also were loaded up with books to read, and for myself, coloring books. I was also allowed to take one Barbie, and one little doll suitcase (which was actually quite large all things considered) of clothes/accessories. I also had my favorite stuffed animal to keep me company. My brothers and I had to deal with listening to the local radio stations, or the 8-track tapes that my parents had, as there were no iPods, no DVD players, no VCRs, and I don't think I knew of anyone that actually had a TV in their car...we had no cell phones, no walkie-talkies, and no digital cameras, hand-held game consoles, so we were stuck with the 2 electronic games we owned, which were a football game, and a baseball game. My parents still have both of those games...and they confound my 15-year old nephew to no end when he visits...
We spent our time either playing games, coloring, reading, or watching out the windows for the different license plates we could find, playing "I Spy", and other such road games. We did not get to be plugged in and tuned out, and actually had to interact with each other.
Of course, this was 28 years ago this summer, and the laws regarding child safety seats were much less than they are now...in fact, I don't remember ever being in a child safety seat in the car. I remember distinctly sitting in the front seat of our Maverick one day on the way home from somewhere when I was still too short to see over the dashboard...and I remember that since I was the littlest, for trips that were inclusive of the whole family, I was relegated to "the hatch" of our Toyota Corolla wagon...which had vinyl seats to which you'd literally stick when the temperature was anything above 60...
I bring this up because I know of at least 2 of you that are planning road trips with your kids very soon...and I am always amazed at how people panic at the thought of driving with their kids in the car and what to do with them...but I haven't yet had the opportunity to drive with anyone older than my own son, who slept most of the drive from the airport to his grandparents' house in Oregon both times we've visited since his birth...
Perhaps I should revisit this when I am faced with the aftermath of a car trip with my children in another 4 or 5 years...hmmmmmm
At any rate...share your plans with me!!!
OH...I almost forgot...it is my fervent hope that we convince our neighbors to watch our children while we attend The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I am a huge fan of Harrison Ford, especially as Indiana Jones...who doesn't love the leather jacket and fedora clad Indy brandishing his bull whip in the opening sequence of "The Last Crusade", or the scene in the market when the bad guy does his nifty sword-twirling routine only to be faced down by a sarcastic and derisive Indy who then pulls out his pistol and calmly shoots the guy down to escape? And what about the mesmerizing and slightly creepy scene from "Temple of Doom" when Indy is not in control of himself and he gets the crazed look in his eyes, and begins the sacrifice of Willy? I mean, c'mon, who doesn't love the rugged action hero that he is?!?!?!?!
*Fingers crossed* Hoping we can do it!!!! Not sure BB wants to spend $50 to see 2 movies...but we'll see if we can convince him...
1 comment:
Since I've been married to my beloved we we have been saying we will be taking the children to Disneyland. Two years ago, the hotel in the park and the park admission was paid for the money was set aside for gas and hotel to get down there. My husband had a kidney attack and was admitted to ER two days before we were scheduled to leave. We never got to go..
This year we have said we were going on a Mystery Trip..The mystery trip is Disney. We won't be staying at the hotel inside Disney but we will spend 5 days there. We've told them we are going to Disney in December. They are not expecting it in August.
We've told them we won't speak of the details of the Mystery Trip.
Pixie will be 15, Dragonboy will be 13-1/2 and Bugaboo will be almost 7.
Last year we drove 890 miles round trip. Kids were car sick, butts tired in the car but did have fun when we reached the destinations. This is a family vaction still fresh in their heads and they talk of it. They just didn't like all the driving.
This year we will be driving 3000 miles round trip. So I'm trying to figure other things to do from them keeping bored, dying from car sickness, and planning some frequent potty stops in praying they don't lose their patience of not knowing where we are going! Until we are there to reveal.
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