We pulled into our garage at about 12:30 a.m. last night, bringing our 15-day vacation to a close. We had SUCH a good time! I wish we had pictures of everything! I'll post some of our favorite, funniest memories over the next few days, so stay tuned. First, the road trip...
The boys must have thought it was a long drive to Utah (about 20 minutes after we left home Tommy asked if we were there yet, and as we were nearing our destination in Provo, he exclaimed, "Wow! We've been driving for sixty years!"). But they really didn't complain much. In fact, they were very pleasant!
So, although our good experience may have been purely based on luck, I feel justified in offering a few tips on how to survive a cross-country road trip with two little boys in a crowded Toyota Corolla.
1. Choose funny stopping points. When we told the boys we'd be seeing a mountain with faces (a.k.a., Mount Rushmore), they both simply burst into exuberant laughter. They laughed even more when we saw the monument in person. They also got a kick out of Wall Drug.
2. Scrap the DVD player. Okay, maybe we won't stick with this one forever--in fact, our motto has always been that if we get desperate, we'll stop for a dvd player at a WalMart along the way. But it's never resorted to that! Instead, we rely heavily on the boys' favorite (and my least favorite?) music, reserved solely for cross-country trips: the Cookie Monster cd, the Muppet Show soundtrack, and Dora's World Adventure. All I can say about these cds is that you don't know pure entertainment until you've heard Cookie Monster sing 15 tracks in a row. :) Just kidding, Jon and I were actually slightly entertained by the music too and thanks to Dora, we know how to say hello in like 10 different languages.
3. Enjoy the view. We loved South Dakota, and hope to go there for a family vacation in the future. We also adored Yellowstone. We stopped to hike around the geysers and then down the canyon with its 300-foot waterfall. Tommy had a healthy fear of the dangers, but Joey definitely did not, so this was the second time on our vacation that we hiked up and down a mountain with him in our arms. Yikes! From the car we saw a herd of buffalo from a few feet away, lots of elk, and even a bear!
4. Choose hotels wisely...because the boys are EXHAUSTED when you pull in a couple of hours past their bedtime. We made our hotel reservations in advance so that we didn't have to drive around trying to find the cheapest rate. It worked great. On our drive out, Joey was too scared to sleep in a bed (he's always been in a crib), so I slept with him, and Jon slept with Tommy. Joey thought it was swell and would have continued the tradition the whole trip if he'd had his way. On our way home, we put the two boys, already asleep, in bed together. Miraculously, neither fell out or woke up the other, although Jon did hear Joey mumble in the middle of the night, "Ahsign--my bed!" (p.s. Ahsign is Joey's nickname for Tommy--but I'll leave that story for another day.)
So, although our good experience may have been purely based on luck, I feel justified in offering a few tips on how to survive a cross-country road trip with two little boys in a crowded Toyota Corolla.
1. Choose funny stopping points. When we told the boys we'd be seeing a mountain with faces (a.k.a., Mount Rushmore), they both simply burst into exuberant laughter. They laughed even more when we saw the monument in person. They also got a kick out of Wall Drug.
2. Scrap the DVD player. Okay, maybe we won't stick with this one forever--in fact, our motto has always been that if we get desperate, we'll stop for a dvd player at a WalMart along the way. But it's never resorted to that! Instead, we rely heavily on the boys' favorite (and my least favorite?) music, reserved solely for cross-country trips: the Cookie Monster cd, the Muppet Show soundtrack, and Dora's World Adventure. All I can say about these cds is that you don't know pure entertainment until you've heard Cookie Monster sing 15 tracks in a row. :) Just kidding, Jon and I were actually slightly entertained by the music too and thanks to Dora, we know how to say hello in like 10 different languages.
3. Enjoy the view. We loved South Dakota, and hope to go there for a family vacation in the future. We also adored Yellowstone. We stopped to hike around the geysers and then down the canyon with its 300-foot waterfall. Tommy had a healthy fear of the dangers, but Joey definitely did not, so this was the second time on our vacation that we hiked up and down a mountain with him in our arms. Yikes! From the car we saw a herd of buffalo from a few feet away, lots of elk, and even a bear!
4. Choose hotels wisely...because the boys are EXHAUSTED when you pull in a couple of hours past their bedtime. We made our hotel reservations in advance so that we didn't have to drive around trying to find the cheapest rate. It worked great. On our drive out, Joey was too scared to sleep in a bed (he's always been in a crib), so I slept with him, and Jon slept with Tommy. Joey thought it was swell and would have continued the tradition the whole trip if he'd had his way. On our way home, we put the two boys, already asleep, in bed together. Miraculously, neither fell out or woke up the other, although Jon did hear Joey mumble in the middle of the night, "Ahsign--my bed!" (p.s. Ahsign is Joey's nickname for Tommy--but I'll leave that story for another day.)
5. Don't overpack. We've finally figured this out. We had just the right amount of smarties, granola bars, red vines and other treats, as well as stickers and cool books to keep the boys entertained for the drive while keeping our cramped car in a semi-normal condition. It worked great!
6. When all else fails, resort to a rousing game of "I spy with my little eye." This was Tommy's idea. And even Joey piped in, although the answer to his riddle was almost always his blankie!
7. Have a fun reward waiting at your destination. In our case, it was the BYU football game. Although the Cougars lost, Jon was so happy to be cheering them on in person. We pulled into Provo just in time to drop him off at the 4:00 game, and then the boys and I headed up to Draper for our reward (relaxation) at Jon's sister Margaret's house. We also had a fun (?) reward when we arrived home--the fact that Joey threw up twice that night in his own bed instead of at any of our previous destinations!
1 comment:
I'm just glad your road trip involved a fabulous get-together with your favorite college roomies! I absolutely loved seeing you and your darling family. Love ya lots!
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