Well, we've made one trip to Utah and back this summer. What used to take us around 13 hours with one kid now takes us about 17 with 2. The way out there was remarkable mostly because we had a record for poopy diaper stops.
On the way back the air conditioning went out and the girls basically spent the time in a heat coma.
Despite our setbacks, we really enjoy our family road trips. We hook our mp3 players to the Monster and listen to podcasts. This time the big hit was the Jeeves short stories by P.G. Wodehouse.
Of course we also make sure to bring a lot of treats, and a bunch of sandwiches. We play the radio loud and sing along to keep everyone in a good mood.
There seems to be something so old fashioned about packing the car and heading off for the ol' family vacation. This time we even stopped at the fish farm where we saw a bunch of teenagers whining that their parents always make them do such stupid things. I used to identify with the whiners, but now I feel myself wanting to make my kids have those experiences.
I don't really understand the impulse. I guess I sort of consider it a rite of passage to visit a certain number of boring visitor centers on the road to becoming an adult. Or maybe I just think that there is something kind of okay about doing uncomfortable things when you do them together as a family.
It almost made me look forward to the day when it will by my kids are the whiners...almost.
For now I'll just appreciate that Rocky was practically jumping out of her shoes at the excitement of seeing all those fish. We'll continue to participate in the trek between our two homes and if we sweat, we'll do it all together.
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