Trips/vacations with babies/children you'll soon NEVER forget! Hahahahaha.....

[Mrs-M]

Ejchase's thread (Advice on Airplane Travel With an Infant) posted in the Family Matters & Relationships forum was my inspiration for starting this thread topic.

Anyone ever make a trip/vacation with babies and young children in tow? Got any funny stories to share related to? Did you swear (after all was said and done) that you'd never, ever, go down that path again? Or, did it all go off without a glitch?

Well, here's a family vacation story DH and I will NEVER forget! First off, take a look at our car! (Not EXACTLY our car per se, but same about year/style/model).

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5299/5446143325_b2c6c19984.jpg

Nice huh? Yup, then picture it with a family of 5 floating down the road!!! Oh yeah baby! We're going on vacation to the Island! Parksville BC to be perfectly exact, ohhh, about a 16 hour trip (without stopping umpteen dozens of times along the way), in the heat of summer, beyond busy roadways, and a crying 2-1/2 year old in the back!

The store stops we made! Popsicles by the dozens to try and keep the kids happy because it was so stinking hot, and of course travelling in such luxury meant "ta-da", NO AIR-CONDITIONING! But oh we were stylin'! Mom with her cigarette out the window the whole time, and the two older kids planing their hands outside the back windows in the oncoming air.

Highway-pullover after highway-pullover (there we were), parked at the side of the road so four out of five of us could take a pee-break, or allow mom time to change the baby who by the way (due to moms adamant ways) was in cloth diapers! Had to save and pinch pennies don't cha know!

Periods of peace and quite was a rare critter that trip. Crying, fussing, arguing (kids in back), you know all know what I'm talking about. Everything cute little kids bring to the table when it comes to travel (good old road-trip style travel, when rubber meets the road like)! Hahahahaha!

We made it to Parksville roughly 18 hours after we started, with a Glad Kitchen Catcher Garbage Bag full of soggy wet diapers, 3 kids (three-sheets to the wind), everybody completely dead to the world and exhausted, and family just sick over what had happened to us! AND THEN, if the trip itself hadn't already done us all in, the first thing family says to us is, "what happened to you guys, and what took you so long"? >:(

Happy to say our week and half stay was wonderful! We visited the beach several times, ate out at restaurants a few times, had several family get-togethers which was great because we got to see so many family we hadn't seen in ages, and we even got to see a Beluga whale while on the ferry going across.

[Float On]

Mrs M, my husband was one of 4 kids and grew up with a similar wagons that took them on yearly 3 week vacations from SC to all states, including Alaska. He still remembers driving the Alaskan Highway when it was gravel. His dad would stop after each bridge and back up and go over the bridge a few times so everyone could enjoy the 'smooth ride' before hitting the gravel again.


My family didn't take a yearly vacation until I was in Jr High. I remember my dad being so excited we were half-way into KS before he realized he'd left his wallet at home in MO. He made sure to call the highway patrol in KS and CO to let them know he was without. Thankfully mom had tucked most of the cash for the trip into her wallet and suitcase so we didn't have to turn around (pre credit card days).

[Mrs-M]

Oh dear, your story made me laugh so hard Float On! Just knowing your husband had to endure classic station wagon travel, and your dad forgetting his wallet behind at home! Classic family stuff life is made of! :laff:

But isn't that the way, organized dysfunction! Everyone in a panic, rushed packing, hasty departs. Just so reminiscent of the kind of getaways I remember as a kid. Dad all excited, mom the cool headed one, and all us kids just happy to be packed into the family station wagon (like sardines) looking forward to seeing long-distance cousins and family.

In you mentioning the part about your dad forgetting his wallet, I remembered a certain other thing that happened to us one family vacation. Mom thought she forgot to lock the door of our house, that's after we had already been on the road for a few hours, so dad pulled the car over at a stop and mom made a call to the neighbours to ask them to do a check. Then back on the road again it was. But what a lead-up to the phone call it was. Like a Hollywood movie unfolding at it's first unveiling. Mom and dad discussing what to do and making such a big deal over it. Mom repeatedly saying aloud, "I can't believe I forgot to check the door"... :laff: I'm talking over and over AND OVER AGAIN!