1 car, 2 parents, 3 kids and a long, long trip

Every night for the last few weeks, my oldest son has been asking me to tell the "3 boys go on a trip" story. Perhaps if I keep repeating this fanciful and exciting tale, I might rewire the memories in my brain to reflect a less exhausting trip. Yes, we survived and we're back.

When I had told people that we were going to drive from Dallas, TX, to Salt Lake City, UT, with our 3 boys (oldest being 3 years old), they thought I was plum mad. I agreed pretty much but it was what we had to do in order to go have Christmas with my husband's family. We very much wanted to go. Who would be crazy enough to pass on spending time with a groovy family, in a beautiful, winter wonderland of a city during the holiday season? So, balancing the crazies, we decided it would be crazier not to go and flying just wasn't an option.

After being stripped of my lazy, "can't do it" ways after becoming a parent, I've almost rebelled against my previous tendencies by making my life just a little more hectic and nuts. Ok, so I couldn't find a lot of people who had driven that far (2 full days) with 3 boys as young as mine but we still have to try, don't we? So we planned and planned and planned and we did it and we enjoyed it and we'll never regret it.

To say it went smoothly would be absolute garbage but to say it was as bad as my fears had been prior to leaving would also be wrong. It was fun, exciting and hard. Very hard. It would have been a lot harder though if we hadn't planned it out so well. If there are any of you who are as insane as us, you have our sympathy. Perhaps the following list of things that helped us would be helpful for anyone who would be interested in taking a similar trip:

1) Research your route thoroughly. I surfed the net for all the child-friendly places between here and SLC. Since we're bleeding money these days, I looked for free places such as malls with play areas, libraries, parks (for those traveling in good weather) and museums (although many charge). Our best find that came in very handy on the trip was the Peace Cafe in Monticello, UT. The two women working that day were gracious enough to let us bring our cold, little babies in to change clothes in their bathroom and basically take over the front room until we could get organized enough to order their very healthy and refreshing food.

2) Bring new toys and activities and introduce them periodically. One very handy thing I made for the trip was a map of our route which I had laminated. I brought stickers so my oldest could mark where we were on the map as we went. Practically eliminated the "are we there yet?" interrogations.

I also am proud to say that a DVD player was not necessary on our trip. We brought a portable DVD player that we had planned on hooking up to our electric outlet in the car but it didn't end up working. The boys watched one show the entire time - going and returning. I think it helped that one of us sat back with the children as much as possible in order to entertain them. It also made the trip less boring for us too.

3) Be precise about packing belongings in the car. Before we left, I studied our Honda Odyssey and planned how to best use every nook and cranny. For instance, the Odyssey has a compartment under the floor which we used for emergency supplies that we wanted to have but didn't expect to need. Also, I found cardboard boxes which would fit under the chairs and put the baby jars of food in them. They were out of the way yet they were still handy.

4) If you see a truck with a spotlight but no obvious police lights, don't pass him just in case. Yep. He tricked me but he didn't pull me over. He just flipped his siren on just as I was passing him and made my heart leap into my throat.

5) Make sure tires, wiper blades, oil, etc. in car are good. I did not anticipate that our wiper blades would be a problem since they worked well in the rain. Unfortunately, they didn't work well in the snow. We replaced them and everything was fine.

6) Bring all medications (particularly for the kids) even if they're not taking them now. For example, I brought the breathing treatment medicines that my boys occasionally have to take. One child was finishing up his treatment but I went on and packed all the boys' meds and we ended up needing it because every one of them got sick. I also packed the nebulizer which was definitely needed.

7) Child safety supplies. If you're going somewhere that won't be childproofed such as a hotel it helps to bring some basic child proofing materials. I brought outlet covers because I knew I didn't want to be chasing the twins around from one outlet to the next on the evenings we had to stop on the way to SLC. It proved very helpful. Unfortunately, I forgot to get them when we left so the maids probably thought I was on crack.

8) It's all how you look at it. We bought a CD at the Peace Cafe that we ended up playing quite a bit on the trip. It was nice that one of the songs was an uplifting one about how it's up to us to chose how we look at things. I noticed my husband would sneak that song in about the time I'd be losing my mind. It's true though. We do have a choice and it helped to remind myself of that.

So, tonight, when I put my little dude down to sleep again, I'll tell him this amazing story about the three little boys who went on an adventure and the story will be filled with giggles and laughs and happy little boys and, even though it was not always like that, the story will be true.

Peace and happy New Year!