Day one was actually three days ago but here it is . . .
One of the things we promised ourselves when my husband’s employer shipped us off to Southern California was that we would take advantage of living in a location where driving to another state does not require passports. This month we are doing just that . . . driving from the Los Angeles area to Eastern Washington to visit family.
Our first day on the road began after C returned from work. We hadn’t even left the house before the tears began. Poor R. Our dear, tender-hearted girl bawled when she had to say good-bye to the dogs. She even left them notes by their food dishes. One for Burton . . .
It reads . . .
And one for Chewy . . .
Which reads . . .
How sweet is that?
Tears and all we piled into the car and headed down the road managing to miss our target departure time by only an hour. C and I had no idea what to expect. We’d checked 20 hours worth of kid friendly audiobooks out from the library. We brought DVDs and books and Happy Squish and whiteboards and crayons and drawing books and an entire cooler full of food. We spent a moment just before heading down the road reminding ourselves to be patient and that this was going to be a great trip . . . and it has been. This may be why:
Thanks to a suggestion from a friend we also brought with us rolls of quarters and dimes. G and R receive a roll of each at the beginning of each day. Any bickering, arguing, sullen comments, etc. earn the offender either a 10 or 25 cent fine. Whatever is left over at the end of the day is the respective child’s spending money the following day. May I just tell you that this system rocks? This is how good it was . . . each kid had over $14.50 to spend the second day of the trip. Not only has is all but eliminated the bickering, it has eliminated requests for purchase. Not one time has either kid asked us to buy them anything. It is beautiful.
Day one was relatively uneventful. Other than a little skateboarding during our rest stop picnic dinner . . .
The highlight of the day for the children was the hotel we finally pulled into at 10:30 p.m. in Brentwood, CA.
G just had to make use of the nightstand even if it was for only nine hours.
See that cord draped across the drawer? It is attached to the reading light from his bed at home he brought with him. This is the assortment of items he chose to bring with him on this little adventure.
I suspect that like many children, it won’t be the scenery or historic monuments or parks they will remember for the rest of their lives. It will be staying in hotels.
Cheers,
D
Ingies n' Things 