The annual family mecca to Hilton Head Island has come and gone and it is still choc full o' blogging material. I am sure that when they are teenagers the post will be able to be summarized in one sentence, but for now I think a 3 part series is still in order.
The packing list was similar this year--we aren't at the downsizing phase yet. It included but was not limited to: 2 pack n plays, a tent, two camping mattresses (explanation to follow in next post), a travel high chair, 4 bike helmets, 2 suitcases, 3 kids duffels, 50+ diapers (our lowest # yet!), 2 puddle jumper floaties (our anti drown devices), a myriad of books and noisy toys, multiple i-devices, plastic bags for vomiting, snacks, snacks snacks and the ever essential old person grabber stick for handing out snacks and toys to the back seat travelers.
We decided to attempt the trip in one day since last year's hotel stay was horrible to say the least (see Getting there 2013) so we woke the kids up early in the morning and loaded 'em up. Did they go back to sleep you ask? Of course not, this is the Battles vacation--it cannot be that easy. It all started out ok with everyone in good spirits. One hour into our drive Ben pointed out the window and said excitedly "Mommy look, I see Hilton Head!" To which we responded "Where?" and he pointed out the window at the flat boring landscape of central Ohio and hollered "There!" Not yet buddy, not yet.
2.5 hours into our trip both girls complained simultaneously that they felt sick. Unfortunately they inherited their mom's carsickness and Ohio backroads plus the new tinker bell movie was not a good combo. We had vaca puke fest last year (see Leaving there 2013 ) so I was prepared this time and each girl had their own one gallon ziploc puke bag. Not long after their declaration Grace used hers and was a tidy puking superstar. I was quite proud of my preparedness and my vomiting offspring, zipped up the puke bag and we were good to go . . . that is until 15 minutes later when Grace yelled "I have to throw up again!" I did the mini van yoga leap to the back seat and told Lydia (who seemed to have recovered from her carsickness) to quickly hand me her bag to which she replied (while clutching the precious bag) "No! I might need it!" Well, I had no choice but to pull my sternest mom voice to demand the bag--thankfully she quickly complied and Grace promptly filled it up again! This led to our first stop of the day---a West Virginia Kmart and let me tell you it was probably the best stop of the day.
We looked pretty rough straggling into a Kmart at 8:30 in the morning with the boys still in their jams and the girls green around the gills with crazy unbrushed hair. We were momentarily distracted by the outside sale racks ($1.98 for pjs or a hot pink faux fur kids vest? amazing!) and the 3 horse coin merry go round (total throwback to my younger kmart days) but eventually made our way to the ziploc bag section and the dramamine section after another brief detour to the shoe section (BOGO kids shoes? Amazing again!). We changed the boys out of their pjs (right in the aisle of course because it was Kmart in West Virginia), accidentally stole a pair of shoes which we promptly returned to the braless customer service lady, let the kids ride on the circa 1970 mini merry go round and we were on our way again with anti-motion sickness meds all around.
Jack, who on any given day will fall asleep in the car for a routine trip to the library decided to be 'the unsinkable Jack Battles' and to only sleep 30 minutes the entire ride despite a small dose of Benadryl. I mean seriously Jack. C'mon. I can't complain though--after the pukey start the rest of the trip was relatively routine with a lot of time spent sitting in the middle seat between Ben and Jack, alternately handing them toy-then snack-then toy then snack and so on and so forth. We eventually made it in one piece, set up camp for the week and were even able to go out for a date thanks to my lovely parents.
I did not do much in the way of photojournalism on the way down but got one fuzzy shot of the back of the van for posterity.
The packing list was similar this year--we aren't at the downsizing phase yet. It included but was not limited to: 2 pack n plays, a tent, two camping mattresses (explanation to follow in next post), a travel high chair, 4 bike helmets, 2 suitcases, 3 kids duffels, 50+ diapers (our lowest # yet!), 2 puddle jumper floaties (our anti drown devices), a myriad of books and noisy toys, multiple i-devices, plastic bags for vomiting, snacks, snacks snacks and the ever essential old person grabber stick for handing out snacks and toys to the back seat travelers.
We decided to attempt the trip in one day since last year's hotel stay was horrible to say the least (see Getting there 2013) so we woke the kids up early in the morning and loaded 'em up. Did they go back to sleep you ask? Of course not, this is the Battles vacation--it cannot be that easy. It all started out ok with everyone in good spirits. One hour into our drive Ben pointed out the window and said excitedly "Mommy look, I see Hilton Head!" To which we responded "Where?" and he pointed out the window at the flat boring landscape of central Ohio and hollered "There!" Not yet buddy, not yet.
2.5 hours into our trip both girls complained simultaneously that they felt sick. Unfortunately they inherited their mom's carsickness and Ohio backroads plus the new tinker bell movie was not a good combo. We had vaca puke fest last year (see Leaving there 2013 ) so I was prepared this time and each girl had their own one gallon ziploc puke bag. Not long after their declaration Grace used hers and was a tidy puking superstar. I was quite proud of my preparedness and my vomiting offspring, zipped up the puke bag and we were good to go . . . that is until 15 minutes later when Grace yelled "I have to throw up again!" I did the mini van yoga leap to the back seat and told Lydia (who seemed to have recovered from her carsickness) to quickly hand me her bag to which she replied (while clutching the precious bag) "No! I might need it!" Well, I had no choice but to pull my sternest mom voice to demand the bag--thankfully she quickly complied and Grace promptly filled it up again! This led to our first stop of the day---a West Virginia Kmart and let me tell you it was probably the best stop of the day.
We looked pretty rough straggling into a Kmart at 8:30 in the morning with the boys still in their jams and the girls green around the gills with crazy unbrushed hair. We were momentarily distracted by the outside sale racks ($1.98 for pjs or a hot pink faux fur kids vest? amazing!) and the 3 horse coin merry go round (total throwback to my younger kmart days) but eventually made our way to the ziploc bag section and the dramamine section after another brief detour to the shoe section (BOGO kids shoes? Amazing again!). We changed the boys out of their pjs (right in the aisle of course because it was Kmart in West Virginia), accidentally stole a pair of shoes which we promptly returned to the braless customer service lady, let the kids ride on the circa 1970 mini merry go round and we were on our way again with anti-motion sickness meds all around.
Jack, who on any given day will fall asleep in the car for a routine trip to the library decided to be 'the unsinkable Jack Battles' and to only sleep 30 minutes the entire ride despite a small dose of Benadryl. I mean seriously Jack. C'mon. I can't complain though--after the pukey start the rest of the trip was relatively routine with a lot of time spent sitting in the middle seat between Ben and Jack, alternately handing them toy-then snack-then toy then snack and so on and so forth. We eventually made it in one piece, set up camp for the week and were even able to go out for a date thanks to my lovely parents.
I did not do much in the way of photojournalism on the way down but got one fuzzy shot of the back of the van for posterity.
