We managed to pull off another road trip for two weeks in the middle of July. It had been three years since our last trip out West to see Daddy's family, so we decided it was about time to pull out the suitcases and get packed up. And it takes a lot of suitcases for 6 people to take a two week road trip!! But finally we got it all together and got on the road!
One of the main purposes of the road trip was to visit family we don't get to see very often. The kids enjoyed spending lots of fun time with cousins they don't get to see very often. Good times were had by all!
Travel is an important thing for you to do with your kids, as much as you are able. There is so much of the world to see, and you'll never see it if you never leave your own back yard. Observation, planning, flexibility, and confidence are just a few of the things kids develop when they are exposed to new places and things. Not to mention the sense of reality it brings when they can compare their experience to the things they may learn about in school. Those covered wagon journeys don't seem so far removed when you driven across the country for a thousand miles! "Big" takes on a whole new meaning when you stand under the shadow of a mountain. "Wild" seems a whole lot more real when you're looking at the claw marks of a bear in a tree on a trail you are on! And prairie dogs are really cute up close and personal!
We ate sandwiches on paper towels as we drove down the interstate. Daddy and First Born stopped in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere to see the Milky Way. Middle Biscuit and Stitch taught Little Sister to play 21 in the back seat. I got flattened pennies where ever we could find them. (The best souveniers!) Miles were traveled, memories were made, and that was the whole point. It wasn't a resort Disney vacation. We didn't stay in five star hotels with pools and wi-fi. (We didn't even have cell signal most of the time!) But I hope they remember it as one of their best times. We know we don't have much time left with all of them together. Soon enough we won't be able to coordinate everyone's schedules to take the time to go somewhere together. But until then, we'll keep traveling and talking and laughing and arguing and being a family. Because that's what's important. :)
