and then....

I went on a trip. We left April 2nd. No I did not just get back! It was a week long trip.....life's just been happening.

So let me tell you about the trip. Well ok. I'm mostly going to talk about the parts of the trip that relate to traveling......if I can stay focused and concise. Otherwise you're going to get more than that.

The boys and I went to visit Brent's brother, wife and four kids in Michigan. It's about 8-9 hrs, depending on traffic and such. So a nice warm up trip for the year, before we hit the road to visit UT and OR. We can see how we do on the road without Brent. See what works and what doesn't this year. Because it couldn't be so easy that what worked last year, will work this year.....

Plus there's all these new and fancy toys out since we traveled sans Brent almost six years ago... For those who don't know. Six years ago this July I took myself and the five boys, ages 8, 7, 5, 2, and 6 mths on a three month road trip. I had a friend's 14 yr old daughter with us the first two weeks and my Mother or Brent with us at other times. But the boys and I did the whole trip to the west coast and back, in a car, camping most of the time we were on the road. We came back in Sep. It was quite the trip. Even as young as they were, they remember it and the stuff we did and actually remember it fondly!

So this trip I debated over GPS's, portable DVD players, mp3 players, books on cd/tape, window markers, power converters, snacks, meals and what and how to pack.

The end result was no GPS this time around....maybe the next, but I haven't felt I needed to spend the money on it yet. Love them, use them when I get to, in other friend's cars or rental cars. But not convinced I need one myself at this moment.

No DVD players, we've had several and they get beat up and/or ruined. Not everybody can hear/see them, even with double screens, so there can be a lot of whining and complaining involved. And we seem to have a great time traveling without them. So, again, no need to spend the money.

I checked out three books on cd from the library. They are a trilogy by Gerald Lund, The Kingdom and the Crown. What I didn't check before I got them was their length. After all three books should be plenty long. Ummm yeah, one book is over 20 hrs!! So it was plenty of material to listen to. We actually did not even finish the first book on this trip. Even though we put in several hours driving while visiting too. But this was great, no money spent!

I had the boys pack their mp3 players from two Christmases ago, at least the boys who could find theirs! These have movies loaded on them, and so they did provide some entertainment for Max, when we were all at our wits end with him. We're talking desperate on all sides though....the screen is like an inch by an inch! He also fell asleep listening to the music from these.

I opted to just use the current window markers and not add to the ones we had. Again, no money spent. This can cause a bit of whining too, as there are only 8 markers and only one of each color, but for the most part the boys do well sharing them.

I did spring for a power converter for the kid's laptop (our old laptop), because Collin is in a mad writing phase and I wanted him to keep that up. We won't mention that he also played games on it as did the other boys.... The converter can be used to run anything on AC power. Very nice. We can charge the mp3 players with it and the boy's phones, which only have AC chargers, no car chargers. I have used it with my own laptop also. We had a different one that we ran into the ground over the last three years, as we used it a LOT. So I felt it was worth the money at this point.

For the trip over I packed enough food for snacks and such, that we only stopped for lunch and that was planned as part of one of our breaks. And I was able to stick to our no sugar plan and packed dried fruit, nuts, fresh fruit and such. It worked well. I do like to plan on eating on meal at a restaurant (fast or otherwise) it's a nice break for me and the boys and gives us time to stretch and really take some time out of the car. The trip back wasn't quite so good, as we'd had Easter candy and such, so we ended up with junk food for snacks. But baby steps are good, we'll take them.

So that leaves clothes and this is the part I was most happy with on this trip! I asked the boys to each share a backpack. Their current backpacks have two huge main pockets and I asked them to each use one pocket. Plus the misc. small pockets on the sides and fronts of the pack. They all agreed to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised at how willing they were. I shared with Max, Than and Lee shared as did Collin and Jayden.

This meant that we had three packs of clothes, instead of 6. I had them pack three changes of clothes and underwear/socks and one pair of PJs. Then we had one back pack for all our bathroom stuff. The older boys have almost as much as I do now! Than has contacts and uses two or three different skin care products, as does Collin. Plus we are using an electric toothbrush with different heads for us all. I have left that home for other shorter trips and just used an old fashioned toothbrush. But this trip was for a week and I really like my electric brush and miss it when I don't have it. So I opted to add it in. We also had some misc. items in this bag.

This meant we had a total of five packs for 6 of us. Instead of 7. It was a breeze packing and unpacking stuff from the car. It would have been even easier if it hadn't been Easter the weekend we were visiting and I took all their baskets and stuff for the baskets. We also did catch an unusual break in that it was General Conference weekend for our church and we could watch it from the house in our PJs. So we didn't need an additional bag for church clothes. Next time we won't be in that position, probably.

It was so freeing to realize how little we really needed. We did great. I did end up purchasing polo shirts at a great sale on them. I wanted matching shirts for us at the zoo and museums we were going to. And that worked well too.

I think next time we'll try for even two or even one change of clothes. They are older and more adaptable now, I think we could swing it. It does mean laundry on an almost daily basis, but I do that anyway at home, on the road isn't bad, as long as there are facilities. So far when we've stayed at homes, everyone has always made their washer/dryers available and on the big trip I did use campground laundry facilities. So I know it can be done!

I really enjoyed having this warm up trip and am looking forward to being on the road again in July/August!