Traveling with children

We're on an extended road trip and have been driving for hours with our children. All three of my children. My oldest is only four and a half and my youngest is 8 months old. While I'm no expert, I thought I would give some tips that we found worked for us while on the road for a long time.

Snacks, snacks, and more snacks. We had both boys get their little backpacks and fill them up with all the snacks they wanted. We purchased shelf stable chocolate milks, graham crackers, NutriGrain bars...anything they wanted (that was healthy of course). This helped a tremendous amount to keep them happy because they don't often get chocolate milk or NutriGrain bars. So they felt that they were having something super special and I got another hour of no crying! We usually give them dried fruit, but this time we let them pick which one they wanted and they felt grown up because they put them in their own bags and kept them by their seats.

We also used a DVD player to help them zone out. Bad mommy, I know, but it helped so much! We brought along paint with water books and let them go at it with those...my oldest son was also engrossed with his handheld gaming system.

Another great tip was to let them get out every three or four hours and stretch their legs. We'd go to the play area at McDonalds and let them run around for at least half and hour. The release of energy and boredom was awesome. We made sure to let them run around for a significant amount of time so they didn't throw a fit when it was time to get back into the car.

We've been having a blast while driving around and seeing new things. I highly recommend taking a road trip with your children. Even if it's just to somewhere close like Austin. The drive can be fun and educational. We saw windmills from a wind farm and later some oil rigs so we talked about the differences between the two and how they affect our day to day living. Not to mention that all of us were blown away (ha, ha) by how big the windmills were!

Devastation in a loss

There's a woman I know who is more than an acquaintance but not quite a friend and she has just lost her 4 year old son. Not only that, but her oldest son is going through extensive surgery to repair his shin bone which is poking it's way out of his leg. This woman who I rarely hang out with is going through such a devastating loss that I can't help but feel close to her and devastated with her. I'm sitting at my computer after being in a daze for the last 3 hours and I can barely keep from crying as I try to imagine her pain. I'm just sickened by the absolute uselessness of it.

Her family was in a car accident yesterday and their lives have changed forever. I can't think of what to write except that I wanted to share her pain. I want other mothers to mourn with us and maybe that will help comfort this poor woman a tiny bit. No mother should ever lose her child. We are the ones that should go first.

This makes me afraid to drive my car. How safe is safe enough? How careful is careful enough? And it's not just me. I have to trust everyone else to be careful as well. I don't know the details of the accident; I just know that a few miles from his home, a child's life was taken. How does someone live with that? When you're driving drunk or texting, you are putting every one's life around you in danger. How do I make people understand that it's not just yourself that you are affecting? All it takes is a second. One second and you alter so many peoples existence. I know that I could never live with taking another persons life. Accidental or not. I know I could not live with any of my children being taken from me. I would continue to be strong of course for the sake of my other kids, but I would not be the same person. My smile would not be the same...my heart would not be the same.

I hope that we all remember to be safe as we drive this holiday season and every day after that. Make sure that carseats are properly installed. Always use a designated driver even if you're only having a glass of heart healthy wine. Or at lease give it a good 2 hours (per drink) to work through your system before driving. Keep a safe distance behind the car in front of you by using the 3 second rule. It may not be only your life that you save.

Please kiss your children today. Treasure every moment with them. And please keep this woman in your hearts and send her good thoughts as she tries to heal her family.