On the road again

Today we traveled for 7 hours, including fuel-up and lunch stops, and we are now settled into our adjoining hotel rooms.

There are 13 of us, all told. We traveled in our little 15 pass. van, loaded to the gills with enough luggage for 5 days and some business equipment to boot. If you have ever owned one of these vans, you know that there is no real luggage space to speak of, but fortunately there is plenty of space underneath the seats, so we use smaller soft-side bags and stuff them under.

This is more of a business trip than anything else, so the kids have to dress better than at home. I start planning for these trips months in advance; searching through stored clothes, thrift stores, etc. for the nicest for the cheapest. Then last week I spent 3 days starching and ironing everything (except for underpants and socks). This way things look half-decent when we pull them out to wear them. I should have taken pictures of my neat little stacks of clothing of all colors and sizes. Of course, the rest of my closet and even my house didn't always look good--and even as we speak there are parts of my house that aren't that neat (but I don't have to look at them this week!).

We didn't pack any food. We simply used the Sam's Club Click n' Pull option and searched the inventory of the store in the town we are visiting so that when we blew into town I only had to stop by and pick up the items we wanted to purchase. We bought the following:

Individually wrapped stick cheese variety pack
Apple and orange bagged fruit
100% fruit juice boxes
Granola bars
Baby carrots
Nut rolls
Chips

The hotel we are staying at has a continental breakfast, so that will be taken care of. The plan is that we will eat dinners out, and have "snack" lunches. (on the way up we ate at Taco Bell for $38, and had food left over!--just thought you might like to know what eating out can cost for our size family)

I have already used the internet to check out some free, or almost free, places to visit for fun. In this town there is a free geological museum, a free art museum, and a nature park with exhibits. Of course, the pool in the hotel is always a favorite with the kids.

This trip I am keeping the little kids' clothes in my room and will choose their clothes for each day. Hopefully this will cut down on confusion and waste. I always bring along some old pillow cases for the dirty clothes. The shoes also have "homes".

We brought along some drawing supplies, and a few toys for the 3yo and the baby, but not too much of that stuff, which we have learned from experience. Some playing cards are nice, and a few books that I picked up at the thrift store and saved just for this trip. The children are pretty good at entertaining each other by now, and we keep pretty busy doing things besides.

It was fun traveling with all of the kids. We just installed a CD player in the van--a splurge for us, since it came with only a radio, and took turns playing music we like to listen to. Daddy likes some 70's stuff, I have my own preferences, and the kids like the newer Christian music. It was a good time listening and appreciating what everyone liked. The 5 and 7yo took turns sitting next to me, and it was special time with them, drawing and playing goofy games. I was sitting in the first row seat, and my eldest daughter (at home), rode shot-gun with her daddy. This was special as it may have been the last time we travel with her as a family.

We didn't have any complaints or fussiness until about the last half hour--it was pretty uneventful and peaceful. Fortunately the hotel has hi-speed wireless, so it is nice to be able to keep up on things while here.

Tomorrow morning I will be rising early to get Daddy ready for work, then we will go down and have breakfast while the children are waking and getting dressed. After we spend a few minutes together, he will be off to meetings and then I will accompany the children down to breakfast and act as a "monitor" and help out the little ones, etc. We have found this is a system that works great, since we have older children that are capable enough to watch the little ones for a few moments in the room.

Just thought you might like a little glimpse into how travel can be for a family of our size.