Food, Gas, Lodging

What would posess two people to set out on a 17 hour roadtrip with a 3 year old and a 7 month old? I tend to think that at some point in that decision making process, an alien abduction occurs. It could only be other worldly creatures uttering the words "It'll be great! A few crayons and some snacks and we're all good! Over the river and through the woods...Manton here we come!"

After surviving a couple of these trips with our sanity barely intact-we decided to break out the big guns. Three little but oh so big letters...DVD's. Once upon a time before I was a parent (and therefore, was a perfect parent) I silently judged the ones who resorted to watching programs in the car. "Don't kids watch enough TV?" I chided. It turns out that toddlers don't give a hoot what you spy with your little eye. They have zero interest in state license plates, padiddles, punch buggys, or cows. In fact, they can only be entertained for a maximum of 12 seconds before they are screaming for something else. This only leaves two frazzled parents, one trying to drive and one who may have not so proudly threatened to leave their child at a rest area.

So, This Thanksgiving vacation...we let Lightening McQueen, Woody, and Dora do the entertaining. It proved to be a mostly enjoyable albeit long drive. There were still several occasions where I had to wedge myself into the backseat to retrieve a binky or serve a snack-but I can live with that.

And a wonderful week it was. It certainly had it's high points, and it's low points...but, for certain, we left being profoundly thankful for the life we have and the love of family.

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