In early July, we took a week and drove out to Rocky Mountain National Park. Aaron and I LOVE the Rockies, and love RMNP especially. We have been there many times, and have been wanting to take the kids out for some camping just like we used to do before we were parents. We were a little nervous to go with them as young as they are, especially Molly. We were afraid a 2-yr-old wouldn't do well with 14 hours in the car, and a week in a tent, with no set nap time or consistency.
But some very dear friends of ours were up for going as well, and our kids adore their kids (as do we), so Aaron and I decided to give it a shot, thinking a few extra fun friends around might help, and hoping that the kids would love it out there as much as we do.
Thankfully, we couldn't have been more right. The trip was AMAZING, and the Jester family were more help to having a fun week than we could even begin to explain! SO many wonderful times for everyone.
Here is the first story:
Getting out there and back!
My biggest fear was how sleep would go in the tent for 5 nights. I'll get to that later. My second biggest fear was how the kids would survive the super-long car ride.
Well, I'm happy to announce that they did a superb job! We stocked the car with some new small toys/trinkets and art supplies, filled a bag with new books from the library, got a bunch of fun snacks and treats, and snuck in the car dvd player to be used only when we were all reaching the meltdown stage. And, other than a few select moments, we all survived the car just fine. In fact, it was kind of fun to be traveling together all day. There was plenty of time for talking, music, reading, playing, and just generally having fun together. Molly even got some quality naps in. The dvd player was pulled out a few times, but not nearly as much as I feared...which made it all the more effective of a tool.
Here is a pic of Molly with her special car cup, special trip snack cup, and her special car drawing toy having a great time!
Ben showing off how fun it is to be in the car for an entire day:
Molly demonstrating proper nap technique, especially when you are driving across the blisteringly bright plains of sunshiney Kansas!
Ben flashing DOUBLE "I love you's" to us for straping him in a hard, plastic car seat and drinving him across 3 states.
And finally, how to keep a salt-addicted 2-yr-old happy when your driving cross country: (and yes, she finished the bag!)
2 comments:
Double "I love yous" and salt snackies to them as well!
Love, RiRi
How could she NOT finish the bag? Sunchips are like manna from heaven!
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