I’m hitting the road again tomorrow. Howard can’t spare the time from work or Schlock and so I’m driving 4 kids 5 hours to Boise without adult assistance. I’m fairly certain there will be moments during the journey where I question the sanity of the endeavor. I’m also fairly certain that we’ll survive the experience.
The kids are all in favor of this trip. They get to go and see cousins. Link in particular has been excited. He’s spent all evening packing up his stuff. He approached packing with his typical 6-year-old creativity. His original plan dispensed with suitcases entirely. He had all his clothes and pajamas laid out. He intended to put them on in layers. Pajamas, clothes, pajamas, clothes. . . Then when it was time for bed he could just strip off the clothes and be already in pajamas. Morning time? Strip off another layer. Ta da!
He was so pleased with his brilliant plan that I kind of hated to burst the bubble. I pointed out that all the layers of clothes would make him really hot and that we could just put the extra clothes in a suitcase. His response was simply “Oh” but the expression and tone of voice conveyed that this solution hadn’t even occured to him.
Link then filled his school backpack with clothing. He then filled his other backpack with clothing. Since he still had shoes that wouldn’t fit he hauled out his great big duffel bag suitcase and put the shoes into that. Two small, stuffed backpacks and a huge, mostly empty duffel. He was ready. At my sugguestion, all of the clothes got moved into the duffel, one backpack was put away and the other was filled with toys for during the drive. Finally a packing solution that we’re both happy with.
Gleek packed by pulling out her duffel and emptying the entire contents of her dresser into it. (Patches clothes too.) All done!
Kiki carefully selected clothes based on some obscure criteria (whether the matched or not had nothing to do with selection). The clothes were placed in neat little bundles in her duffel along with her blanket, her alarm clock, half the books we own, and probably the kitchen sink for all I know. She’s going to have to haul that thing by herself.
In theory they’ll eventually be able to pack for themselves without providing me with amusment. For now I get to have funny with my packing stress.
Link sounds like my brother.
My 20 year old brother.
This past may he came home from college – with every shirt he owned on his back. He looked more like a football player than a rower. Go Nebraska! 😛
Vorn
Oh. And Gleek… well, only a four (three? five?) year old. 🙂
Vorn
*giggle* Goose actually packs better than I do. I think that’s because she’s gotten in to the habit of picking out her clothes before bed and she sees packing as an extension of that. I’m the one who has to remind her to pack car stuff in her bookbag. We’ve found that books on tape and a walkman with headphones are best for her. A Leap Pad or Quantum Pad for Pirate and Wen and the back seat is all set for long car trips.
We take a lot of them. 5 hours north to visit my Mom. 8 hours south to visit Atlanta. 18 hours north for NH.
*chuckles*
My packing method closely resembles an amalgamation of Gleek and Kiki’s respective systems…
I hope with ever fiber of my being that when I have kids (Heavan help us all when THAT happens, though odds are it will involve cloning and evil plans of world conquest), my children are as entertaining as yours…
I also hope I’m as well grounded, calm, and rational as you are when dealing with the kids…
Kiki’s method is probably closest to what I use – extra books and other things, and some clothes which (mostly) match. Except I tend to pack more electronics than Kiki probably uses (GameBoy Advance, MD player, CD player, flashlights, etc).
Good luck with the trip and your sanity-preservation efforts. 😀
Yeah, I tend to always over pack. I always take half again as much socks and underwear as I expect to need, and an extra shirt. Then I tend to overload on books, writing supplies, an electronic chess set, etc.
Scout way
Being a Assistant Scoutmaster and former scout I seem to way over pack, get enough shirts, socks, and etc, for amount of days. Add one of each to that. Then add a few long pair of pants, jean and kahki, and a few pairs of shorts, jean and kahki, add toiletries, cd collection, books, small first aid kit, and mp3/cd player. Thats all for a friday till sunday morning trip after a few years experience.
Now if you want some ammusement, you look in the pack of a camper who has only packed a few times.
half the books we own, and probably the kitchen sink for all I know. She’s going to have to haul that thing by herself.
That sounds like me packing for a trip. 😀
Re: Scout way
Packing.. i’m (normally) quite good at this, the downside is that the weight seems to rise disproportonatly quickly to the actual ammount of things packed.
19 Days in the US over christmas 2001 saw me with one bag.. my 65 litre rucksack.. weighing in at over 1/3 my bodyweight (and I’m 170Lbs) but contained everything I wanted/required.
Like excalibrax above, I am an ex-Scout and RAF Cadet, now a Cadet Instructor. Sometimes you think you’ve overpacked, but i’ve never (yet) been found wanting for somthing on exercise! Couple of nights being very cold soon teaches you to think ahead:)
Good Morning, Madam.
I truely enjoy reading about your day-to-days with your family. You remind me so much of the fun I had when my children were the ages of yours.
I don’t often comment – usually whatever was on my mind has already been said by someone else – and I’m not much of an ‘atta boy’ or ‘here, here’ person. But I hope you know you bring a lot of pleasure to me, and I’m sure to others.
All the best, today and everyday – The Lady, Anne
That’s good to know. I sometimes wonder why I inflict all this family stuff on everybody. But then I decide that this is MY space on the internet and I’ll fill it with whatever I want. But I’m glad to hear that others enjoy it as well.
Oh, definitely.
Much enjoyment to be had listening to what your kids are up to. And comparing it to my own… 🙂
Oh, definitely.
Much enjoyment to be had listening to what your kids are up to. And comparing it to my own… 🙂