I've decided to spend Memorial Day weekend with Peace Corps friends up in Vermont. I was posted with this couple in Makokou, Gabon for two years, so to say that we know each other well is an understatement. We know each other in a way that only people who spend two intense years of their lives trying to figure out life in the middle of the jungle can know each other. We're family, really.
I try to get up to see them a couple of times a year, and I've loved being able to stay in face-to-face touch with them since moving to the east coast. They have two kids who are in second grade and kindergarten now (I think? Or is it first grade and preschool?) so they have a kid-friendly house and lifestyle.
I think it will be a great trip . . . once we get there. It's a 4+ hour drive. The twins have historically done great in the car, but they are at an age where they are so mobile and want to be on the move so much that they grow bored with being strapped in their carseats all the time. It would be one thing if I had another adult with me to give the kids toys and snacks, but it's just me. I'm going to keep a bag of toys on the seat next to me and toss them back as needed, but I'm fearful of how well that will work. We'll see . . . my plan is to leave tomorrow morning when they are ready for their morning nap and hopefully get a couple of hours of sleeping out of them. Then I'll stop for a snack break and hope for the best. Keep your fingers crossed for me! (My constant plea.)
Once we're there, all kinds of fun awaits: a family cabin on the lake, a big backyard, lots of never-before-seen toys, two big kids, different snacks, a wading pool . . . it's like a kiddie resort. I'm looking forward to getting away and recharging a bit. Hopefully I'll get to do a little relaxing.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone.
Moi
- Snickollet
- I'm a mother and a widow, and a whole lot of other things. Here, though, I tend to write about parenting, grief, and their intersection.
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27 comments:
Hope you have a fabulous trip Snick! The ride will go quicker than you think and be easier too I hope!
Relax and enjoy the break with your friends:)
Lots of love,
lil'sis
Enjoy Vermont, Snick! I did!
Keep that positive attitude and adjust if the situation arises. That 4 plus road trip might take 5 1/2 but the reward sounds great! Have a wonderful rejuvenating time!
Oh man, does that sound like a great destination! Friends, a place where you can feel comfortable letting your kids loose, and a lake? Sign me up.
The trip, well, it's just a necessary evil. Sounds like a good plan to me, and I hope that you get a couple of good quiet hours with no comments from your peanut gallery. Enjoy the weekend!
Oh it sounds so terrific. They sound like wonderful friends and the kids-all 4 of them-will have a great time. Being the master of the one-parent vacation, I can tell you that you sound prepared. I always did the bag of tossable toys in the front seat thing. Be safe and have a wonderful weekend!
You are one of many I keep in my Prayers... thanks for sharing so much of yourself, you're inspirational. Hope you have a Lovely and Relaxing visit with your Friends... and get a lil bit of healing under your wings :-)
You are so fine. And I mean that in a really big sense...so many areas, such a broad spectrum of "fine". And I wish I could ride along with you and entertain the kiddos. I don't know how I found your blog, but I read it now and I'm so glad. Cece
Have a wonderful relaxing weekend Snick. You deserve it. Be safe.
That sounds like a wonderful weekend!! Have a great time!
Have a great trip! I haven't been to Vermont in ages- I'm jealous! Hope the kiddos do well on the trip. Got any kiddie music to play in the car? We wore out one tape we had of Bananas in Pajamas on road trips when my son was a baby/toddler.
I've been lurking around your blog for awhile, but haven't commented. I live in the neck of the woods you're headed and I hope you have a great time. I love the lake. It's supposed to be beautiful weather this weekend too! Safe travels.
Enjoy your trip away! I agree with everyone else--sounds like you have a plan. With my daughter, I often have to make a 2-hour drive alone, and I always bring toys she loves. Do they have music they enjoy? If so, I'd encourage taking it, too.
My method was always to toss snacks over my shoulder. :) We also have a portable DVD player. We don't break it out too often, but it's useful when we're stuck in traffic or something.
Sounds like it will be a fun trip. Have fun!
Have a great trip, Snick! Don't forget plenty of kid tunes. Even books on tape may be good for your sweeties. My youngers like them even if they don't know what's being said sometimes.
That sounds just great. I hope the trip goes well and that you will have loads of time to relax with your friends
I second the snack comment! Babies are all about food. Gerber teething biscuits are great- messy as all get out but take a while to masticate. Also good are snack traps- http://www.snacktrap.com/StoreFront.bok They also carry them at BabiesRUs here. I'm not sure if your people are big enough to get them, but if they are cheerios and raisens in always kept my people happy for a long while. Also, and I'm not kidding, consider having earplugs. The idea of having them adds peace of mind, even if you don't resort to them. And lots of little novelty items- don't have to be toys, but things they haven't messed with before and can explore for ten minutes before tossing. Take a basket through the house and go entertainment shopping.
I bet it'll go really well, and I'll have my fingers crossed for you.
AM
good luck, i admire you !!
I've taken my kids on long drives alone and honestly my 11 month old handles it the best. A nap, a little bottle, a short stop - he's fine. Your two will do great. Enjoy your break!
It sounds like it will be an amazing weekend with great activities to do with the twins and extra hands to help you out. I really hope the drive goes well. It sounds like you have a good plan,leaving at nap time and lots of toys, it should work, double fingers crossed, even my toes and eyes! Have a safe journey!
Welcome up, and have a good time!
L.
Enjoy the weekend!
I have always found travelling with my daughter to be pretty easy (which is admittedly helped by the fact that she has an easy disposition and likes to do it). But once you get into the car or the plane, there's little to do but just keep going (although in a car you can pull over, of course). So I figure, whether she's happy or sad, awake or sleepy, it will all come to end several hours later. So hopefully R & M will be little sweeties (or little sleepyheads) in the car--but even if they're not, in 4 hours, they'll get out and be happy with your friends. Come back with good stories!
Sounds like a wonderful time (and sending sleeping kid vibes for the ride to and fro) and just what you need. A break from the everyday and the company of great friends.
I am so very happy for you Snick! I wish I could be a fly on the proverbial wall with you and the kids and just take pictures all weekend long.
Have a wonderful time and soak up the love and attention from your friends!
I also went away for Memorial Day, so I'm snatching a moment to catch up. Wow. All your recent posts resonate so much.
-I completely agree with what you said about boys and girls and the tracks people get on. My parents raised us by letting us pursue what interested us without regard to gender. So I'm the one who buys circular saws and knows how to use them, while my brother became a great cook.
-The confusion about what comes after. I definitely believe in heaven and life after death, but am unsure what form that looks like. Is she just asleep until the end? Or interacting with me now? I haven't bothered sorting out all the details I just have a vague mishmash in my head.
-The anger at the in-laws for just being there and taking up space. One of my Mom's sisters came to help (and she was wonderfully helpful), but also interfered with
'natural' conversations we would have had otherwise.
I'm late to this post so: Hope you had a great weekend and the car ride went smoothly! Can't wait to hear how it was -- I can relate to trying to keep two kids entertained when all they want to do is MOVE.
Weighing in late to echo all the best wishes for an awesome, relaxing trip! (this is haitch pee, btw, now blogging over on wordpress)
This is a day late and dollar short, but I once nannied for a family with three young children. They had a cabin almost ten hours away! The parents would pack the car the night before the trip (and I mean totally pack - snacks in cooler and all) and at like two am they would get up, haul the sleepy kids to the car, strap 'em in and go. The kids were so tired (and it was still dark) so they'd hardly even wake up. By the time the kids were going crazy to get out of the car, they'd be there. Granted, it's tough on the parents that way, too, especially if you're the only driver, but they swore they wouldn't do it any other way. They were able to get out of the house in a timely and efficient manner and the bulk of the miserable driving wasn't done with screaming kids.
Hope you had a relaxing and uplifting weekend.
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