Life’s a journey, not a destination

1. Driving more than 300 miles in a day is just ridiculous.

While drafting up our potential driving route on Roadtrippers I did my best to keep our days between 4 and 6 hours in the car.  I thought I was being so proactive in planning such “little day trips” in order to get to the areas we really wanted to spend time and explore. Adorable!!  After the first long day in the car it was quite obvious that we were going to have to readjust.  For every two hours drive time we learned it was essential to calculate at least an extra hour for miscellaneous tasks like stopping to use the rest room, pulling over to unbuckle a seat belt in order to reach a toy or book that was just out of reach, trying to go potty,  soothe a crying or yelling kiddo, using the restroom, stretching our legs by checking out a little side venture, and possibly having to use the potty yet again.

2. Stocking up on little surprises/treats is pure gold.

LOL Surprise dolls are big in our house.  I mean they are so big that we even have to watch videos of others playing with the toys when we aren’t playing them.  Did you know the newer capsules have 15 separate surprises to open?  I am just saying…that takes quite awhile and offers long term entertainment!

We had a cooler in the car full of snacks and drinks.  Claire and Henry could reach or ask for something as they got hungry.  When times were getting desperate, I had a treat bag in the front seat full of things they didn’t know we had like fruit snacks and cookies.  You know, all the stuff they constantly ask for but don’t usually get because, well it’s crap.  In times like these, where the little ones are going above and beyond being extra patient and humoring mom and dad while sitting in their car seats for hours at a time, I had no problem breaking out the treats.  Plus it helped with our sanity in the front seat.  WIN WIN

3. Finding a hotel with a pool (and elevator) is worth every penny.

We quickly fell in to the nightly routine of checking into our hotel room, eating dinner, swimming, showering, and going to bed.  Swimming was such an awesome way for these two little ones to burn off energy.  (Bonus points if you can find a hotel with a water slide.)  We swam twice a day in Colorado Springs, it was a huge hit!!  The kids needed an outlet to get some physical activity, and usually there was a hot tub for Levi and I to relax our old bones from sitting still most days. And who am I kidding, adults love water slides too.

Also a side note, completely worth stating: Not all hotels have elevators.  I was quite shocked I would even have to ask about an elevator, but lesson learned.  We found ourselves booked at a hotel without an elevator and the only room available was far from the first floor entrance.  Levi, as always, was a trooper and lugged all of our luggage, Henry’s little potty, the cooler, toys, and blankets up the flights of stairs.  We checked for that amenity from that day forward.

4. Scenic landmarks are not super exciting to kiddos.

Yes, scenic landmarks are a great excuse to fit in a quick leg stretch and offer amazing once in a lifetime photo ops.  But lets just say for instance you might be thinking “Hey, let’s take that scenic byway and drive the gorgeous mountain pass through Vail and Aspen. The kids will love it so it is totally worth the extra mileage and time in the car.”  You would be wrong.  Other than driving thru the tunnels in the mountains these two could have cared less what was out their window.  With that said, Levi and I loved that portion of our trek and we would do it again in a heartbeat, but thinking the kids would be into it, was ludicrous.  This did teach us the true value in downloading movies on Netflix so you could watch them later when you were not online!

5. Having a plan but being okay to break it is key.

Being my planning self I had a spreadsheet with each day of the journey planned out meticulously.  I fine tuned all the details and figured out down to the hour where exactly we needed to be and what we should be doing to make the most of our time.  After day 2, I had to let it go.  It was imperative to have those bare bones plan for getting where we needed to go, but sticking to it just wasn’t realistic.  Each night after putting the kiddos to bed Levi and I would work together to adjust our route to accommodate the days changes. I can only imagine trying to stick to the initial plan would have made us nuts. I learned that a solid plan and destination is great but you have to be pretty laid back and flexible as the day unfolds or you can stress yourself out and ruin the day pretty quickly.