Let this lapse for too long...

Alright so we have been on vacation that's our excuse and I'm sticking to it :)  Plus the weather has been somewhat rotten so I've not had the luxury of sitting out in the garden watching the girls play and being able to catch up with my blogging.  However, it does look like the weather is on the change and we are in for some nice days ahead so that should all change.

We survived a marathon trip to NM and back...that's 14 hours in the car without stops and if you think we did that then you would be crazier than us.  Nope we took our time, stopped in Indio, CA for the night on both the outward bound and return legs of the trip.  Lessons from this trip...

1. If you are stopping for the night, pack everything you need for the one night in one bag so you don't have to unload most of the car and reload the next morning.
2. Take plenty of toys they have never seen before, it will help stave off the boredom.
3. Travel when the girls are well rested not when they are tired, the more tired they are the crankier they get.
4. Stop and hug a cactus on the way if you need to experience a different kind of pain, it will remind you of the more important reasons why you are doing this in the first place.
5. Lists (they really do help).
6. Lots of healthy snacks to help stave off the ill tempers.
7. Large hotel rooms so the girls can run around and let off a big of steam after being cooped up for hours but try to not have people below you or you will get noise complaints about running around.
8. Stop!  Don't try to be heroes make a stop every 3 or 4 hours for your sake and their sake your sanity will thank you!  Dinner on the road helps although food could be better enough of the spaghetti and sauce!

For the most part in hotel rooms as the girls go to bed fairly early and a quick explanation to any of the complainers that we were trying to put them to bed made most people tolerant.  

Now would I have done it any differently on that trip (nope) I still think flying would have been more painful and at least only my husband and I have to put up with screaming kids not a planeful of people.

So other lessons...my kids don't do so well right now on winding roads, changes of clothes and lots of wet wipes need to be kept on hand and when they start crying that's a warning sign stop before they vomit...(we missed the boat on that one, next time!).

Get a GPS!  Would have saved us from getting lost in Berkley although we did find a great view by accident so it wasn't all lost.  Trains trips...make sure they are under 10 minutes!  You will find a 19month old really won't sit still for much longer and depending where you are going well it's hard to keep their attention.  Best day trip ever was Tilden Park with the petting zoo.  It's close by, it's free and the animals and small play area kept them as happy as pies.  Close second had to have been Del Valle, with the train trip being my least favourite.  On the plus side when they are older we have found the perfect day to go back to Roaring Roadrailroad, the one before the Memorial Day weekend, no crowds and they are setting up for the weekend and have reinactors there.  It was great just not so much for the little ones.

Diet well back on that next week, which is just as well my pants are feeling tight!