Tonight was a night filled with Too Much Travel—dropping off Jem at his 2 ½-hour play practice across town, a “quick” trip to the Super Target to return a gift, a stop at the library for Joe to do some research.
It’s too much travel when you have six kids along, anyway.
And I did.
It was the kind of travel-filled night that required provisions—a good audio book, a bag or two or sunflower seeds, (my husband calls them “the demon seed” on account of the messes we the kids leave behind), and a Diet Dr. Pepper for The Momma.
The kids? Well, they got water.
The story that we are currently listening to on CD is this one. We like Laura Ingalls Wilder a lot around here, and pretend that we’re roughing it when we have to wait at two stoplights in a row.
Still. By the end of the evening I was spent. No amount of Diet Dr. Pepper can overcome the wails of a 7-month-old who is fed up with travel and does not—he repeats, does not—want to be stapled back into his car seat.
Do you ever just sit there in the parking lot? Do you ever get all the kids in their car seats and then just need to sit there?
Well, that was me this evening.
(I locked the van doors first.)
“Can you turn on the story, please?” someone chirped from the back. In my children’s opinion, being in the van = listening to the audio book, especially when the story is getting good.
I ignored this request and continued to just sit there, silently crunching my demon seed.
“Turn it on, please,” they persisted. Clearly they have no concept of “down time.”
“Mommy just needs to gather her thoughts,” I said.
“Well, I’d like a drink of water,” Felicity offered.
She paused.
“And that’s my thought.”
Ed. Note: I lied in the title of this post, by the way. We don’t have a little van at all—it’s a gigantic white Chevrolet that can hold up to 15 people.
Pa and Ma would be most impressed.
I'm so sorry Margaret. That sounds like a rough day. I think of Little House (The Long Winter esp.) when the children claim there is nothing to eat in the house.
Oh, how I loved the Ingalls family! I love yours too! Picture of the Chev please!
Joolz
Audio books are just about the only thing that make those long days of driving bearable! Good ones that is. And I guess your kids can relate to the whole prairie and winter thing; it's a foreign concept down here in Atlanta.
What a night! What a play practice — what's the play?
We're currently hanging out on the Banks of Plum Creek. 🙂
The play is Anne of Green Gables, Karen–as in, "Anne-with-an-E". 🙂
Love it, it's always a triumph when you can keep your cool – even for a moment…
Of course! But, doesn't 10 minutes of wrestling to get the 6mo into his car seat count as 10 minutes of exercise??? I'll let you determine if it's 'light' exercise or something more strenuous.
I had that experience yesterday with the kids in the van while we waited for Drew to get out of choir practice. And the baby screamed…fun, fun!
You're welcome to hang out at the house of Karels. Bring the skates…the rink is ready to go!
Well, Margaret… I knew I enjoyed your blog very much… but Little House on the Prairie and diet Dr. Pepper! We are kindred spirits! 😉
I have seven children and have had many times that I have had to just sit in the van for a few minutes. I tell the children I just need everyone to please be quiet for just a moment, so my brain can stop jiggling!
Have a great day!
Yes, we sit often in the van just because. It's the one place that they are unusually quiet and good, most of the time anyway.
On a side note, do you like your van? In the future (maybe a year or two) we are contemplating a newer, bigger vehicle so just curious how you like it.
Also, do you get your audio books from the library or is there a place online that you can rent them?
Okay, I have a van question too. We live in Iowa and deal with a lot of snowy bad roads in the winter, though not as bad as yours are! Does your van drive okay through the winter… I have heard that the full size vans don't handle well in snow.
We only have 5 children, but sometimes I fantasize about the extra room a 12 passenger van would give us for long road trips. Just wondering….
Jennifer
The reason I like having everyone IN the van is that everyone is strapped in and I don't have to chase them ;-). Thankfully, the van is like Demerol for Ellie..zzz.zzz.zzz…
And, your post my dear, is why we chose not to do the play this year. I only had one person interested and at our house, two must be interested for mom to haul everyone out for road trips ANYWHERE. I'm such a trip-nazi. Perhaps you could check with Connie to see if she could carry an extra actor?
We are feeling rather cabin bound, though…but then, we have a big trip to Wisconsin on Friday that will cure me of that in a jiffy.
Margaret – if the weather will allow it, I take my pause OUTSIDE the van. That's where the real calm is. I have a particularly delicious memory – last summer, parked RIGHT NEXT to the lake, all the kids strapped in, I ran back for one.last.splash all by myself. But, alas, these days in MN it would have to VERY bad for me to take my …moment… outside the van.
I love Little House on the Prairie, too, as well as Anne of Green Gables. The hard part about winter for me is that the kids need a lot more help getting buckled in. With my belly getting big, it is hard for me to get to the back of the mini-van. And even harder to get back out! Which reminds me that we will soon be moving everyone around in there to make room for baby. I have to get 3 in the back row and I can't put a backless booster in the middle seat because there is only a lapbelt. Here they are supposed to be in a booster until they are 80 pounds. Which means I have at least 2 more years until the oldest can sit without any. Oh, well, I will just be glad I am going to have a maxed-out mini-van!
Oh, and yes, I do just sit there sometimes. 🙂