Pajamas

Our road trips to Massachusetts over the past year have been many. The kids, thank goodness, are great travelers and have been used to long road trips all of their lives. Before we were making the trek up to Mass, they were making the trek from Mass down to Pennsylvania and Maryland to visit their Brinkley family. Jake is also familiar with long travels. I am the newbie. While I do fine with traveling and I really don't mind being stuck in a car for 7 hours, my downfall is preparing for the travel. The problem is that I come too prepared. I have the trip all mapped out and timed so that we hopefully will arrive at Nana's house before the clock strikes midnight. I bring along a loads of snacks and treats to keep everyone full. I let the kids take along all their little treasures from home and every electronic item they can find to keep them entertained. When in reality none of these things are never needed. Why? Because though Nathan has brought along a backpack full of toys, the only thing he had any interest in playing with all the way to Mass and back to Pennsylvania was a tiny, little binder clip. And though Abby just had to have her MP3 player, she was asleep after listening to it for about 5 minutes. And though Emma brought her purse filled with her favorite things, there was absolutely no interest in them once the DVD player was turned on. And though I had plenty of snacks to go around for all of us, everyone was perfectly content after just a sandwich. And though we try (every time) so hard to leave earlier in the evening so we will arrive at Nana's at a decent hour, that NEVER HAPPENS! Whether it is traffic, bad weather, a wrong turn, trying out a quicker route that turns out to be longer, a few too many unplanned potty breaks...something always makes our trip take longer than it needs to be or should be. So, I have finally figured it out. The one and only thing I need for the kids for our travel to Mass is...PAJAMAS! Because no matter how much I plan, no matter what I bring, this is always the result...

Lesson learned. Next time I'm packing light!