I haven’t posted in a few days because I’m trying to get my family ready to leave for a lovely road trip from Texas to Wisconsin. Does the movie National Lampoon’s Vacation come to mind? It does mine every time we decide to take a family trip and drive. Granted its never as bad as the scenes from the movie but pretty darn close sometimes.
When you travel with small children you think “This will be so much easier when they are older”. I am here to tell you that is not true in the least. Mine are 22, 18, and 14 and this is been the roughest trip to get ready for! Making sure they have taken the time off work, they have school covered, they have enough clothes packed, and that they have even packed. When they were younger we packed for them, we kept them occupied with Disney movies and a portable DVD player. Now they do their own packing and Disney movies are not going to cut it this time.
You would think with this trip being planned for almost a year they would be ready, not the case. We had to keep reminding our daughter to take off of work. No clue if she has packed yet since she no longer lives at home. My oldest son has been in some trouble so he’s had to get permission to leave, I’ve been telling him for months to get it done but teenage boys just don’t listen. He waited until last week to let people know. Then there is my 14 year old, the baby of the family and our “monster child”, he wouldn’t stop playing video games long enough to pack. I forced the issue last night and he finally pulled some clothes together, a few t-shirts, two pair of underwear, a sock (not a pair just one sock), a pair of shorts and two pair of jeans. Yes all this for a week long trip! I know all the mothers reading this with teenage boys are dying laughing because you have been there done that. Oh and one of the shirts he has is long sleeved.
Once all my laughing stopped I asked him, why the long sleeves and why 1 sock. He looked at me with the most serious face and let me know that it could get cold you know so he might need a long sleeved shirt. Now I’m laughing again, this child thinks that he may need long sleeves during 4th of July week. Really? I’m thinking right about now I must have dropped him on his head at some point when he was a baby. He never explained the 1 sock just shrugged his shoulders and returned to his game.
At the end of the day even thought my children have made me crazy getting ready for this trip, we are sure to have a great time. I can’t wait to share with you how this trip plays out.