After our (very much too short!) visit with my hubby's parents, we headed out on the road again to go visit my side of the family. We had a couple of extra days there because one of my best friends was getting married, so there wasn't a lot of time to get visits in with my folks or my brother, but luckily, G was entertained the whole time!!
When we left the Kootenay's, we knew it was going to be a long, hot day. We are VERY fortunate that we FINALLY have a car with air-conditioning. But this is the first car that has. In the past, summer trips have been VERY hot and VERY uncomfortable. This is definitely something to take into account as you travel. If you are somewhat lacking in the cooling department, make sure to take extra steps to keep your little one comfortable in the backseat. A hot child is an uncomfortable child, an uncomfortable child is often a whiny child and a whiny child makes a 3 hour trip seem like a 3 day trip! Plan on having a cooler with cold snack and drinks in it, like veggie sticks, cold fruit and water. Try to schedule stops at a lake or spray park. A lot of cities have a Chamber of Commerce (or the equivalent) website, or an attractions or tourism website that will often list local parks, wading pools and spray pads. If you can, try to schedule a lunch break or snack break at one of these places. This will not only give your child a chance to cool off, they will get to burn off some energy, too!! Growing up, we'd always take a summer trip to visit my grandparents. And I remember my mom having a bag with a cold wash cloth in it. I think it was more to wash hands and faces after snacks, but it somehow always ended up being a way to cool off 3 kids in a hot back seat!! They also have those one-time use cold packs that you crack and they become cool which could also help on those blisteringly hot days, although I would definitely use those with older kids and not with those who have the potential to put it in their mouth. (On a side note, if you do have to travel on SUPER hot days, remember to carry some extra water for the engine, just in case!!)
One of the things that was a constant fascination to G as we went on our trip was the fact that the water levels were ridiculously high this year. At my in-laws home in the Kootenay's, the river has taken over the beach and they have actually had to open more portions of their Dam to accommodate all of the extra water. It was crazy, and G was suitably impressed!!
 | |
| This is one of the local Dams that has had to open extra portions to keep up with the water. Even as far away as we were from it, the noise was crazy! |
This was a really neat experience for G to have with her Grandma and Papa, as they are both super knowledgeable about their local area and had a ton of information on the water and the dams, and G just thought that that was the coolest thing ever. They took us on a tour to show the water levels and various dams in the area, and that's one of the biggest memories that she has from the trip. For days afterwards, she'd say "Remember when we saw that water? My Papa told me that the water is very cold and very fast, even though it doesn't look like it on the surface". She loves looking at the pictures from our trip and remembering the cool sights that she saw.
Anyways, after our visit with hubby's parents, we hit the road. We were on the road by about 8:30am, only 1/2 hour behind my schedule. Now, I totally get that schedules can change. If you are traveling with young children, if you are up with them until 4, unless your spouse/partner is sleeping so he/she can drive, you are likely not going to hit the road at 6. It's not safe, it's not logical. And I will guarantee you that 9 times out of 10, your little one will be so jacked up and ready to go that sleep the night before a big trip may be elusive. We were really lucky with G, as she is a sound, deep sleeper. So even though she was excited, she still went to sleep. If you have little ones who get super excited and unable to sleep, you might want to hold off on telling them that you are heading to a special place until the morning of. That way, you'll all get your beauty sleep and be fresh and ready for your trip!
We knew that the trip between parents' houses was about 7 hours, so we tried to find things that would keep G entertained on the trip. Grandma and Papa gave G her birthday gift, princess shoes and crowns to wear! She LOVES them, and she spent at least 2 hours in the car trying on each pair of shoes and wearing the different crowns. She and her cousin even wore them to lunch!! It's great to have a bored bag in the car, but it's also fun to have some new surprises every so often, like a new coloring book, or a neat craft. Again, the Dollar store will come to your rescue! They have all kinds of neat craft and coloring kits. We got some that were Dora-themed that were like little mosaic tiles made of foam that you used to decorate a picture with. Craft kits are also fun, just make sure they don't require glue or you may find your back seat a little more sticky than usual!
We had a lot of family that we wanted to visit on the way, so we took a tiny detour to get to see my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins. It worked out perfectly because it was about 3 1/2 hours away, which is about the time that it takes for G to start getting a bit squirrelly and wanting to get out of her seat! It was great because not only did we get a great visit with my aunt, G also got to run around and play and burn off energy! She also got to hang out with family that she had never really met before, and it was a great experience.
 |
| Watering the wall at Auntie's house :) |
After another brief visit, we were on the road again! This time, G slept all the way to Baba's house so we were good to go!
One thing that we really prepared for was down-time when we got to our destinations. Because the purpose of the trip to my parents house was to go to my friends' wedding (where I was the MC!!), we wanted to make sure that when I had wedding-related things to do or when we had other stuff going on, that we had stuff for G to do. That's where her inside bored-box came in handy. We had her play-doh in there, some markers and a coloring book, and a painting book. These are SUPER handy as they have the paint on the bottom of the page, all you need is water. I didn't want to have to deal with paintbrushes, so we brought some q-tips to use instead. We also had a container (from the Dollar store, of course!!) that had some pony beads and pipe cleaners in it to make some jewellery on the way. You could definitely do this in the car, but beware the bumpy road!!
Now, because we were going to the wedding, and because I was involved, we had a dinner with the bride and groom's families. It was awesome for G because there was a little girl who was the same age, and they played together famously all night. It wasn't until the end of the night when they tried to knock each other down the stairs that there was an issue! The only down side was that we had to leave earlier than we would have liked, to accommodate G's need for sleep. DON'T try to push your child's limits in terms of needing to sleep or eat, or you will definitely be sorry!!! As the bride and groom had already tied the knot in New York, the wedding that we went to was actually their reception. In order to make sure we kept G entertained, we had brought along some goodies in her backpack, but the bride and groom also had thought ahead and had bought the girls coloring books with new crayons and puzzles to do! Although, once the music started playing, dancing was in full force and the coloring books were completely forgotten :)
The day after the reception, we were on the road at 7am. Check out our next post to see more!!
No comments:
Post a Comment