Totally Enjoying Life

This is what happens when getting Sweet Terror ready for a trip is a combined family effort. =)

Aaaaahhhh, life has been so good lately. It is pretty much a fact that anytime we take a vacation it will rain on us the whole time, no matter what the weather woman says, no matter what time of year we go, and no matter how far we drive. These last few days have been a lovely exception and we have had a blast. We drove over to Port Angeles:

Mr. Hotness had a job interview over there (We have no clue what is going to happen. Basically, they found him and asked him to interview. It is a much higher position, slightly higher pay, but we aren't sure we want to move.) It is a cute city, we had lots of fun playing at the park while Mr. Hot was at the interview. Then everyone but the pregnant lady who refused to buy a swimsuit, that would only be used maybe twice before never needing it again, played and had a blast in the pool. (I dared Mr. Hotness to wear his wet suit in the pool. He almost always takes my dares... unless I dare him to eat the whole baby squid at the all you can eat Chinese buffet.)

The kids thought that watching *gasp* TV was the best thing ever and gorged themselves on SpongeBob and PBS till bedtime. The next morning we decided to drive around the rest of the peninsula and stop at the beach. On our way out we stopped for bagels at the Olympic Bagel Company. Ok, folks, now I'm really really wishing I had taken photos of these bagels. I cannot believe they don't have photos on their web site. These bagels were DA BOMB!!!!! I don't remember the last time I ate so many bagels. And every single calorie that I forced into my body was totally worth it. The family favorite was a bagel called Apple Crunch. It was a slightly sweet bread bagel that was covered in an apple juice glaze, topped with large sugar crystals, with a carmelized apple ring baked right on top. Oh, my heavens, it was heavenly. They had a pesto bagel that had a huge wedge of artichoke heart, half of a sundried tomato, topped with a slice of provolone cheese baked right on top. There were so many different flavors and all were so very good. I bought an extra 1/2 dozen for the ride home and almost ate them all myself. If we ever do move to Port Angeles I may just have to rename this blog My Bagel Diary. Droooooooooool. After that, our first stop was Crescent lake. We just stopped long enough to throw in a million rocks, take photos of each other, and take some for a Korean family, eat another bagel, or two, and head back out.

After the bagel feast we had to work off some of those calories by playing at the beach. The first beach we stopped at was rocky and beautiful. The kids had so much fun exploring and climbing.

That last one there is a self portrait, because I'm too ridiculously vain to post a pregnant photo of myself. I know, so silly.

After the rocky beach we drove only about a mile or two south and found a lovely sandy beach (where yesterday's photo was taken) and we all had a blast chasing the waves and getting sand in ever crevice of our bodies.

Yeah, we had a total blast!

There's No Place Like Home

Ahhhhhh, home at last.

Top ten signs that it is time to stop vacationing:
1. The answering machine is full.
2. While driving into your driveway you say, "Look kids, we're home!" and they ask, "Who's home is it?"
3. You enter your house and wonder, "Has my house always smelled like this?"
4. Just the thought of handling another wet swimsuit makes you want to cuss in front of your children.
5. You actually turn down one last dip in the hot tub because of sign #4.
6. Home cooked food sounds so good it brings tears to your eyes.
7. Doing your own chores sounds fun.
8. There is more sand in your car than there was at the beach.
9. You have spent more money on toothbrushes and sunscreen than you have on gas.
10. Your mailbox is full of sympathy cards because people think you have up and died.

I'm not sure how long it is going to take me to get all the sand out of our shorts, or the campfire smell out of our shoes. I'm not sure if my kids will believe me when I tell them that this next weekend we are just staying home. I'm not sure if I will be able to fully unpack and catch up on laundry before Christmas. But this I do know: I'm stayin' put for awhile. So, don't get married, have a baby, hold a family reunion, have an anniversary, offer me tickets to a big game, invite me to your beach house, ask me to go camping, or any other such fun because I will not get in that car one more time (Well, unless it's to run to the store for some stress relieving ice cream. Anyone want to suggest a new flavor for me to try?).

BYE

If anyone needs me, this is where I will be for the next 13 hours. I may not be blogging very much for the rest of the month but if you are wondering what I'm up to just read my Scribbit Writeaway Entry. Yup, that is me for the next 4 weeks. I can't wait. Hope you are all having a fantastic summer, don't forget your sunscreen, and keep up all your wonderful blogs!

BYE!

P.S. Scribbit has posted the new writing topic for this month. Will YOU accept the challenge?

The Set Up

In just two days I will strap my four children into the back seats of my minivan. I will then sit in the drivers seat and buckle myself in. The car will start, we will slowly back out of the driveway, and then we will head towards Idaho and try to do it with as little stops as we possibly can. There will be no co-pilot, no stewardesses, just me and my four kids. How will I accomplish this without stopping every five minutes for potty breaks, food breaks, and pulling-over-to-yell at-everyone-breaks? Well, it is all in the set up.

Tripping with kids Tip #2: Setting up the one man show.

Flingable food. When driving long distances the kids are bound to want snacks to munch on to keep them happy. The problem is that I don't want to stop every time they get a craving but I also don't have a set of extra hands lying around to open fruit snack pouches or to evenly dole out the cookies. This is where I use my lovely Ziploc bags again. I preportion out all the snacks in baggies. Kids always eat more than one pouch of fruit snacks, so open all the fruit snacks and dump two pouches in every baggie. I fill baggies with equal amounts of cookies, carrots, grapes, pretzels, etc. I only put in enough for one serving because once I fling them a baggie it is theirs and the little kids sometimes dump out whatever they don't eat. I keep a box full of the flingable food bags, water bottles (one for everyone), two small baggies with some wet wipes in them for flingable cleanliness, and apples up between the two front seats. Now when I'm driving I don't even have to look back, I just pick up a baggie and toss it back. The older kids can help toss, or at least help retrieve the ones that almost made it.

Busy Bag. About a month before the big trip I start collecting things for the busy bag. I keep my eyes open for new books, colored pencils, notebooks, and little toys or travel puzzles at garage sales and thrift stores. I keep the items hidden until the trip because they work best if they are "new" to the kids. I put crayons and colored pencils either into Ziplocs or small pencil pouches to make it easier for the kids to keep them tidy. The other trick to this bag is when to use it. It is all about the timing. A good busy bag will really only keep their attention for 5 hours. If I give them the busy bag right away they will quickly use it up and I will be left with another 8 hours of whining. So, I take some of the busy bag items and keep them aside for the very last part of the trip (keep them newer longer), then I don't let my kids have the busy bag until after they have had a nap. Which moves me to tip #3

Time it just right. I like to leave 2 hours before our regular nap time. The kids can usually behave and be entertained with music, audio books, a few snacks, and singing for two hours. Then they hopefully fall asleep for two hours. Then when they wake up I let them go as long as they can on the audio books and snacks. When they start going crazy we stop at a McD's with a playland and let them eat and run around like crazy. Get gas, go potty, get on the road again. Now I have the busy bag up by my seat ready to toss back to the oldest child to distribute. It should last a good 3 hours with some good audio books playing at the same time. Hopefully they will drift off to asleep again at about this time (at least the really young ones should). Then when they start going crazy again I will pull out the last little busy bag. Then the last hour of the trip is spent pointing out how many more turns, land marks, or streets there are till we are there.

When and where to stop. Know the stops along the way so that you can plan potty breaks, gas fillups, McD stops, even where a good park is close to the freeway for a mid trip run around. Try to plan gas stops and potty breaks for the same stop. All kids go potty at every stop whether they think they need to or not. I think Chevrons usually have the cleanest bathrooms, and so do the McDonalds stops. Take advantage of those.

Emergency preparedness. Keep an old Tupperware bowl, or an empty cool whip tub, and an old towel wrapped in a plastic bag under a seat close to you. This will be a life saver if someone starts puking on your trip (cool whip tubs stack up pretty snug so you could bring one for every kid). Keep a florescent poster board and a big magic marker and some packing tape in the back of the car. This way if you have an emergency you can write exactly what kind of help you are in need of for other drivers to see. Keep extra water and food in the car. I always travel with a Costco size thing of granola bars and bottled water in the back of my van so we are never without food and drink. I also keep a big jug of water in the car for refilling bottles as we go. Keep a roll of toilet paper under a seat (you never know when someone is going to have to go out in the middle of nowhere).

What are your special road trip tricks?

There is a new answer over at Little Miss Knowitall.

Packing

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I have be, oh, so busy getting ready for my big, annual, Idaho trip with the kids. It is quite a big deal in that I will be driving for 13 hours, with four kids, all by myself. I also have to pack up a family of 5 for 4 weeks including a camping trip. So, I'm sure you can imagine the cleaning, packing, organizing, and general craziness that is taking place in my life right now. Every time I tell someone about this trip they look at me like I am crazy (I don't deny that I am) and then ask me, "How on earth do you do it?" It all comes down to very detailed organization and my favorite quote for life: HOPE FOR THE BEST; PREPARE FOR THE WORST.

Tripping With Kids Tip #1

Pack by the bag. Of course you will have a bag for each kid with their clothes in it, but there is much more to kids than just clothes. I don't like rummaging through bags trying to find things that I know I've packed. So, I pack everything in it's own bag grouped according to use. Here is a small example.

Swimming bag:

sunscreen

swimsuits

swim shoes

towels

toys

plastic bags

quarters

Diapers and wipes

Church bag:

Sunday shoes (wrapped in a bag so they won't soil clothing)

Sunday clothes

underwear

stockings

socks

Hair things, brush

church bag (scriptures, paper pads, pens, church books, water bottle, bag of cereal, diaper, wipes)

Camping bag:

Warm PJs

old clothes

sunscreen

bug spray

Art kit

flashlights

hot dog sticks

Glow sticks

First Aid kit

diaper and wipes

Car Bag:

audio cassettes

books

Note books

colored pencils

pens and pencils

small toys (ones that I don't mind loosing)

Diapers and wipes

Map

Electric bag: Camera, video camera, extra tapes and cards, all power cords

Toilet bag: Don't forget feminine hygiene products even if you don't need them right now

Kid's toilet bag: Another bottle of sunscreen goes in here

And many other bags... Some of these bags will go in other bags. Many of the things in these bags will be in Ziploc bags (I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ziplocs). It is a long process getting it all packed this way, but it sure pays off when I need something in a hurry.

Come back tomorrow for Tip #2: Setting up the car for my one man show.

And Now, Let Me Introduce To You...

For today's blog post I really feel inspired to introduce you to one of my favorite blogs: NY Girl Eats World created by Nicole Cotroneo. I don't know her personally but I am addicted to her writing. Nicole writes about the food, places, and people that she experiences as she travels around her parts of the world. I can't explain why, but when I read about these experiences I get the feeling that I have to have that same experience too or I'll just die. Suddenly I don't want to touch another french fry, unless mine too can be drizzled with truffle oil. And I find myself morning the idea of dead kitchens as I lick my lips with the thought of jam on bread. I've never even given a thought to a city named Toronto until I read her latest post, and now I feel that Toronto must be one of the loveliest places on earth (I will be pondering the layered meanings in that photo of an old, red, gabled building reflected in the modern sleekness of glass walls for the rest of the day). So, if you get some free, relaxed, daydreaming time today I suggest you spend it traveling and eating with the brilliant Nicole Controneo.