Mark: “I want to ask you a question.”

Ashlyn: “Just go to ask.com. It’s much more reliable.”

Typically, Pinterest serves to make me feel like a delinquent mom rather than serves to give me awesome ideas. But, every once in a while, I get inspired and reach some creative epiphany. That’s sorta what happened as I was prepping for our 7 hour road trip to VA. I suddenly found myself road-trip-activity crazy complete with loaded swag bags. Fortunately, the kiddos totally got into it which is good since I may just have had a Pinterest Pity Party had they not (which may or may have included calling them by their first and middle names and making them stay silent for 10 minutes or more).

So, in the Pinterest spirit, here’s my road-trip toolbox. Take what I did, improve it, add your own tricks to the mix, and then have a kickin’ road trip for your crew. Come back and tell me what you did to make it better too—we’ve got a few more trips coming up. And, apparently, I’ve raised the bar for family road trips now.

Swag bag contents:

• a couple single-serving snacks (100 calorie packs of things like pretzels, a fruit roll up, etc.)
• orange flavored tictacs which they could eat one of every hour just for fun
• their own bag of goldfish crackers they could eat alone on the duration of the trip
• single package of tissues
• small bottle of Sprite
• juice box
• package of glow sticks from the dollar store
• A roll of scotch tape (can’t ever have enough)
• A binder with a pencil case stocked with a few pencils, colored pencils, a pen, and an eraser; a roadtrip map with our route highlighted (printed out from bing); some blank paper; and some blank lined paper.

I had a binder for myself stocked with copies of all the planned activities separated with dividers and labeled. I used the activities sparingly, only giving them out on the hour so that the kids had something new to look forward to and would pace themselves with each activity. Even had a few leftover when we arrived which allowed us some for the ride home which was much more low key than the ride there.

• First activity: Cover Page – On beginning the road trip, the kids found their swag bags awaiting them at their seats, and they were presented with their Road trip binder cover printed on card stock and told to decorate them using their colored pencils (or crayons for the Lyddy Little).
• Second activity: Name Art – I printed their names on three different pages using three different free fonts I found on www.dafont.com that were funky and fun and allowed for decoration (bad_mofo, wideawake, and bubblegums). Each child decorated his or her name and whole page. When we arrived at our destination, they hung these above their beds unprompted. Super cute.
• Third activity: License Plate Hunt – I found this License Plate Hunt online at www.thedatingdivas.com. Even though each state seems to have an endless number of designs on license plates, the kids used this page to check off the states we found on plates and then they colored in those states on this US map from www.mrprintables.com (educational, right? I always have sucked at geography. My mom should’ve made me do this on all those VW van road trips).

• Fourth activity: License Plate Game – Inspired by the hunt and all the fun designs, I gave the kids this license plate game that I created so that they could design their own license plates. Some of them were from galaxies far, far away and uber creative.
• Fifth activity: Scavenger Hunt – I created this scavenger hunt myself. It was a big hit and kept us all on our toes as someone would randomly yell out throughout the ride when they spotted something like a bike carrier or school bus. It also resulted in us teaching our kids how to get a trucker to blow his horn for them which is really a childhood rite of passage.
• Sixth activity: Hangman – Hangman is self-explanatory and always fun (even when children are self-centered and think no one will ever guess that the word is their own name).
• Seventh activity: Alphabet Game – Not so great for the younger kids, but this alphabet game I made up was really fun for my older two had were thinking of new words for the categories and the hard letters even after we arrived.
• Eighth activity: Questionnaire – This original game of 20 Questions was a lot of fun. The kids answered for themselves and then guessed how 2 other people in the car would answer.
• Ninth activity: Coloring Pages – I also threw in some random free coloring pages I found online like this owl coloring page. Even the boys liked this one since it was detailed.
• Tenth activity: Madlibs – I googled “printable madlibs” and found some goodones on www.classroomjr.com that were simple and were eye catching with some color accents on the page.

 

Apparently, Lydia didn’t find it all as compelling as the rest of us. 7 hours after we pulled out of our driveway, we arrived in VA unscathed, actually quite cheerful where they actually told us that they had forgotten all about DS games and iPad screens.

Road trip win.

The crickets are chirping outside. I can hear a neighbor laughing with friends and the jingle of a dog leash while someone is out for a night walk. It sounds just like a summer night only a few days ago except that it is quiet in my home. Tuckered out after a long day, everyone’s in bed sleeping peacefully except for the grownups (who stay up way too late).

The first day of 2nd grade, 4th grade, and 6th grade…the latter of which means the first day of middle school. My eldest has officially entered the world of drama, insecurity, girls who cry openly and boys who pretend they don’t at all, popularity contests, puberty (ick), and lockers (which we are led to believe are more important than the sum of the rest based solely on the amount of time spent discussing them with both children and parents alike).

As much as I denied it up until the last minute, he had to go. At orientation last week, we sat in the auditorium with a room full of giggly nervous tweeners and their equally nervous mothers (myself among them). They called homeroom teachers’ names and told the incoming 6th graders to follow them out to go to their classrooms and, of course, try their lockers. Evan looked at me in utter seriousness and asked, “You’re leaving me?” I answered the only way I knew how, “No, Evan, you’re leaving me.” And, that was that. Off he went.

As we were putting him to bed as we still do last night, I brought up a book we hadn’t read in a while—the book I made for him right before he started kindergarten. Based on Max Lucado’s Just In Case You Ever Wonder, I made a sort of lifebook for him with pictures from his babyhood right on up to the old age of 5, personalizing the words for him with the encouragement we felt he needed before he “left us” on that big yellow school bus for kindergarten.

Just as he did as he was 5, he sat beside me and I read every word, slowly flipping the pages and laughing as we recalled together his preschool Olympics and when he fell in love with a stray cat who made our back door his home and silly pictures taken on Christmas morning. Mark leaned over my shoulder to see the pictures too, and I kept reading with a lump in my throat.

Long, long ago, God made a decision –  a very important decision – one that we’re really glad He made. He made the decision to make you, Evan. . . .

as you grow and change, some things will always stay the same. We will always love you. We will always be on your side, just in case you ever wonder.

Remember we are here for you. If you feel sad or frustrated, you can talk to us.

If you feel a little nervous and you feel funny in your tummy, you can talk to us.

If you just don’t feel like being yourself, you can talk to us. . . .

You are such a great big brother. And, God has given you a heart that is sensitive and loving. We think you are going to love kindergarten, just like you loved preschool. But, on days that you don’t, you can talk to us because we love you, and we always will, just in case you ever wonder.

And, know that even if you are lonely or sad or feeling bad, God is with you.

He loves you even more than we do, which is hard to even imagine.

Remember that you are never alone, and you are always loved. . . just in case you ever wonder.

And, then we prayed and kissed him goodnight, shut his blinds for him, made sure his clothes were laid out, and we left, leaving the door open a crack as we always do.

And, today, he went to middle school. Just like that.

p.s. he got his locker open on the 2nd try and every try after that. [happy sigh]