Trip Planning
December 28, 2017
Trip Planning
We have to be at a distant location at a specific window of time on a specific day. Easy enough, right? Wrong! Everything in our house is a sporadic adventure!
Mom: It’s only an hour and two minute drive.
Christina: Then we leave at 8am.
(We are not supposed to arrive at said location until after 11am.)
Mom: Oh, no. If we leave by 10, we go right by Grandma’s, pick her up, get lost, make 5 potty stops, and still have enough time to get you there.
Christina: Ahhhh! *facepalm*
(I think my teenager loves me.)
Seriously, I have learned a few things about planning trips with toddlers, teenagers, and husbands:
- Plan to leave at least a half hour before you need to go (this allows for shoes tossed into the pond, a preteen sleepwalking back to bed four times, finishing any last-minute chore like making the list, and misplacing your keys which are already in the running vehicle)
- Always pack like you will be gone for a week (diapers, wipes, four spare shirts, at least as many pants as diapers, spare shirts for anyone who may be carrying said baby, carrots and apples so you don’t get trapped by fast-food hunger, and 2 or 3 cases of bottled water should do it)
- Whatever you do, plan 10 minutes extra to turn around (you forgot something you can’t leave home without – like baby’s special blanket, your toddler’s choice toy, your preteen’s library card, your sanity, or your husband’s totally non-standard phone charger)
- Remember your wallet! (and make sure some toddler didn’t remove your license because he loves to play with mommy’s picture – that will be the day you will be pulled over for a faulty brake light or an oddly rocking vehicle)
- Count heads (the children, toddler in carseat, hubby, take the dogs back inside, catch toddler who turned into carseat Houdini, now missing two! Oh yeah, hubby is unlocking the door for one who forgot to go potty)
- Enjoy your 5 minute shopping trip! (or your entire day of travel)
Bonus fact: Music calms savage beasts and makes your vehicle a noisy dance-while-in-seatbelts rocking machine. Maybe DC Talk, Skillet, and Capital Kings are a bit rocky, but everyone dances to Deadmau5 and Disney. As long as you have your license, roll down the windows, crank up the music, put on shades, and enjoy the ride!
Thanks for reading!
Type at you next time…
~Nancy Tart
