I'm back.
We had a lovely weekend away, with the exception of one of the kids getting wretchedly sick in a parking lot because we'd decided to see how said kid would do without Gravol. Result?
BAAAAARRRRRFFFF.
I was asked recently why we don't travel more often with the children. Here is my list of why not:
1. My kids get carsick.
This doesn't sound like an insurmountable obstacle, but let me enchant you with the following lovely tale:
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful family who headed off to visit relatives. Within the first half hour, one of the kids barfed all over himself.
His parents stopped the car, cleaned him up and changed him (he was only about 3) into another set of clothes.
Within the next half hour, the same kid barfed all over himself again.
His parents stopped the car, cleaned him up and changed him into another set of clothes.
Half an hour yet again, the predictable happened.
His parents stopped the car, cleaned him up and changed him into... pajamas, since he had run out of clothing by this point.
When the beautiful family arrived at their destination, the kid was wearing only underpants and his sister promptly barfed on her uncle's shoes as soon as she got out of the car.
Does that story make you feel like packing up the munchkins and heading out onto the open road? Yeah.
2. Travelling is expensive.
Sure, we could probably pack peanut butter sandwiches and sleep in the car, but it still costs MONEY to bring kids places, and it costs even MORE money to bring a small herd of them places. We don't have all that much spare money laying around, sadly.
There you have it.
I did get to run around a hedge maze on the weekend, and you will be disappointed to hear that nothing Mysterious or Unusual happened as a result. Once again, real life fails to live up to books. I also spent a lot of time reading My Official Church Magazine in the car and ranting at my poor, poor husband, which means that tomorrow I'm probably going to write about My Official Church Magazine. Oh boy!
Hope you're good.
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37 comments:
You have my sympathy. I was one of the car-barfers as a child, and I know I annoyed the adults mightily until we discovered Dramamine.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's post. Because I'm odd like that.
Oh, your poor kids. I'm very prone to motion sickness, but thankfully the boys take after their father. Sadly the dog takes after me.
My husband was prone to motion sickness as a child. He still gets a little green if he sits in the back seat.
We don't travel much for the money reason.
Complete sympathy. That sounds horrible!
I can completely identify with the money thing though...and why does EVERYWHERE make it so much more difficult to travel with a family of 5 (or more)?
No way. I'd never go anywhere. Our dog gets carsick and that's quite enough for me. And she doesn't even wear clothes.
We're too scared of KayTar's episodes to travel much. You have my sympathy! Vomit is an extremely valid defense, I think.
How disappointing about the hedge maze. At least you didn't run into Voldemort, I suppose.
Yipes. Sorry about all the vomit. Hope it was fun other than that. ;)
Hedge maze! No one running around with a chainsaw saying "Here's Johnny?" That's disappointing.
My brother was an avid car-barfer. Being barfed on in the family sedan is probably why I have a bit of a vomit phobia.
I used to get car sick like that. Saltine crackers helped. I ate them and didn't get sick.... as long as I kept eating them. So, yeah, maybe not the best solution for long road trips.
My kids take after Hubby and can read, draw, sit, look out the window and sleep in the car without getting sick. I'm very lucky.
I still get carsick if I try to read in the car, or if I look down while in the car but I don't throw up anymore.
Good here.
I have to tell you my car sick story. Traveling by myself with 3 small children. When I had to pull off the side of the highway to clean up the mess, and take all the traveling paraphenalia out of the car to find some clean clothes.
And a cop stops to see if I am okay and I explain that my child has gotten sick and he takes one look at puke all over the place and tips his had and skeddadles out of there as fast as he can saying, "Good luck with that!" or some such greeting.
Yuck. And thanks. Where are the cops when you need them. Certainly not helping you clean barf out of your car.
Anyway, your story made me remember when traveling with children is no fun at all.
Oh phooey-- car barfing is the worst. Well, it is almost as bad as flu-barfing-when-you-just-ate-a-whole-plate-of-fresh-salmon barfing, but still. Yuck. Glad the weekend away was good enough to be good in spite of the vomit;)
Oh my. Sorry 'bout all the yacking. I won't even tell you that we haven't really had to deal with any vomit since the kids turned one and stopped spitting up all over the place. Whoops. I guess I just mentioned it.
Glad it was fun anyways. I hope your week goes much better that those passed.
Our oldest and middle child get VERY carsick but strangley and miraculously we have figured out the triggers and can travel. (one child can't be exposed to flashes of light while driving so wears sunglasses or sleeps and only looks out the front window as the flashes of stuff going by make her sick, the other has to have something on her stomach at all times so she reads and eats. And me? I MUST sit in the front seat and have a window open and either sleep or read if not driving--which I like to do.) We don't have money to travel so we only go places where friends and family are on the other end of the trip so we can stay there, and we pack all or food. Yeah, we ARE that family.
I have never shared a car with someone carsick, but I feel badly for you anyway--what a bummer. I bet that means no rides at the county fair in the summer, either (do they have counties in Canada?).
Ilsa always got carsick in France and we found dramamine to be most helpful. She's grown out of it now. But we are nonstop travelers, we are. We've had our kids on the road since they were tiny. We're really cheap though; it is possible to travel without spending much, although of course staying home is cheaper.
And I have my share of kid travel vomit stories. (On a Moroccan train; in a Chinese restaurant in Hawaii; on an Italian grandmother's shoes, etc) Maybe you should start a meme?
oddly, i'm excited to hear your thoughts on your Official Church Magazine.
btw, I cast you in a play over at my place
oh my! the word verification is "unpanter" is that the title for the person who depants someone?
Ooh, we had a car-barfer, too. He once threw up in my husband's hat. He's getting better, though. I keep a plastic container with a screw-on lid in the car because of him...
I've learned not to feed him right before we go anywhere and to do everything possible to make sure he doesn't get too warm. I also make sure we avoid twisty roads when possible.
Oooh, I feel for you. I actually frequently tell my husband how grateful we should be that our kids travel so well (unless they get sick. Or there was that one time we thoughtlessly fed my milk-allergic son McDonald's pancakes and we showed up at my parents' with his face pink and eyes swollen shut.)
I'm glad you've found something that works (when you remember to use it) and that you had a good weekend, hedge-boredom notwithstanding.
I was the car sick child; school trips, road trips ALL trips ended badly. I understand, poor wee ones.And of course now that I have the whole motion sickness under control-there's that pesky money thing...
Now, onto tomorrow's post...I'm waiting...
oooh! Hedge maze! I've never done one.
I was a barfer as a child, and as a result no child of mine will ever be allowed to read in a vehicle. Movies sound like a bad idea too.
Once I started feeling sick my parents used to roll down the windows in the car all the way in a vain attempt to help me feel better. Until the day that I didn't think I could wait until the car stopped so attempted to throw up out the window.
This was a BAD idea.
Our trip was delayed considerably while my poor, poor parents had to physically dismantle the door and painstakingly clean the vomit out of the interior.
http://parenthood.phibian.com
As someone who gets car sick if I even try to read for three seconds: i sympthasize with your children.
So? Where'd you go?
I'm happy that you got some much deserved time to yourself.
You. Poor. Thing.
Road trips are rarely fun, in my opinion. But in your case, they are unfathomable.
You always make me smile... and the word verification here is "formiar" - sounds like a word you'd use.
Steph
Dang, I cannot imagine the feeling that must be to not be able to travel. We drive everywhere and all the time. It's my sanity saver...
Gravol! Use it. Love it. Don't test the waters.
Yes, travel and barf do not make my list of top 10 fun things to do with your kids. And I can't believe how much it costs to take 3 kids plus 2 parents anywhere. We got to see some attractions when the kids were smaller by turning in some airmiles for tickets so that was a cheaper way to do it.
I had to ride in the back-back of our station wagon with my brother's barf while he sat in the front with dad. Ugh.
Real life never does live up to books, does it? :)
I have no barfing in the car stories.
Solution: move close to a major airport. OK, it's just a barf solution and not a financial one.
I'm a car barfer if I'm not in the front seat so I feel your kids' pain.
hee. "a small herd". :)
Oh, your poor little ones,so sorry they felt so awful. I have passed on the carsickness gene to my two children...very sad.However, last year we found something that really worked for all of us. They're called SeaBands, they are wristbands with a little white dome which puts pressure on the inside of your wrist(you can't feel it) I was quite skeptical, nothing had worked for us(including Gravol), the true test was during our 12 hour trip to North Carolina, we were all fine! Though I do have to add, the friend who told me about them, they didn't help her son at all. But they might be worth a try for your kids.
Two very good reasons not to travel much. The first one is awful - poor thing. And the second one is just true. Apparently it never gets better because it's been 50 years since I was a kid and my family didn't travel much either because even in the 50's, it was expensive. :-)
Kids don't get sick in parking lots, do they?
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