The highlight of our summer will undoubtably be an upcoming road trip to visit family…though you wouldn’t know it when assessing the preparations for said vacation.
I am the clothes packer, snack prepper, and entertainment planner for our trips; as I’m sure most moms are. This means a few days before we leave, I will get out the duffle bags and shove pretty much the kids’ entire wardrobes in. I’ll last-minute grab myself three t-shirts, two pairs of shorts, a few underthings, and tell myself that doing laundry on a trip is inevitable anyways. Hubby will be in charge of packing himself, with occasionally nagging from me to get started. I’ll double check that we all have swimsuits and toothbrushes packed four times before my brain finally accepts it. Then I’ll hem and haw while trying to plan out car snacks – trying to find the balance between healthy and fun while also hoping to err on the side of not too crumbly, sticky, or spillable. Spoiler alert, the perfect car snack doesn’t exist, or if it does, I haven’t stumbled across it yet. I’ll share the big secret immediately if I ever learn it. Eventually, after much car tetris, we will get the car packed with all our things, including the twenty-eight books my eldest will insist are necessary.
Getting there is a whole ‘nother story. The kids will ask if we are there yet at least fifty times on the eight-hour drive. I will patiently explain that we are not there yet for the first five times, then resort to asking if it looks like we’re there for the remaining forty five times. We’ll stop for roughly twenty potty-breaks and go through enough snacks to feed a middle-school JV football team. My car will be covered in crumbs and strewn wrappers from top to bottom. I will climb into the back seat of the car more often than I’d like to grab a fallen water bottle, car blankie, or stuffie. Regardless of the time of day, we will stop by my favorite ice-cream place in Beaver, UT, for cones; tradition is tradition even if it means eating ice-cream at 9 am.
When we get there, we’ll have a great time seeing family and arguing about who gets to hang out with Nana the most. We’ll visit with Baba in the shop, swim at the coolest small-town pool I’ve ever seen, and stop by the local malt shop for a treat. With any luck, we’ll get to hang out with cousins and maybe, just maybe, I will convince Nana to make chicken pot pie (please, pretty please with a cherry on top). A few card games will be played, lots of books read, and a lot of downtime savored. A dream vacation doesn’t have to be about exotic locations, exciting adventures, or endlessly packed schedules. We’ll make great memories with great people, and all the work to get there will have been more than worth it.
Disclaimer/Reality Check: Not all vacations go as smoothly as hoped, and that’s ok, too. Memories together are still great, especially if they become laughs and guffaws and “remember when…” down the line. This column will be about motherhood, parenting, and homemaking for the most part. Sometimes it’ll be ways to get the kiddos outside despite the heat, other times it may be an explanation on the harms cliques do to a community. Most importantly, I don’t ever want this column to make another mama think she’s not doing enough. If you’re reading this, I want you to know that you are, you’re doing great, keep it up. Sing it with me: no-one is doing it allllll!
