So we had our first Nelson family of 7 road trip. Chris had to work up at the college in the town where I grew up. And since his work was paying for his hotel, combined with the fact that my parents don't exactly have room for 7 more people, we headed up with him. (I probably should mention that I sort of demanded we come with, not because I really wanted to haul that many kids for hours in a car, but because it's a little too soon for me to be solo parenting 5 kids after a birth and adoption!)
Apparently, our Dodge Sport Caravan was probably not actually intended to be used on road trips for a family with that many kids, even though it can seat that many people. We don't have a roof rack, or anything to tow behind the van, so we loaded all of the stuff that we needed to take with us inside. Around 5 kids.
Here is a partial list of the stuff we brought:
- two kid chairs with trays
- diapers for 3 kids
- wipes for 3 kids
- an entire duffel bag stuffed full of clothes for said 3 kids, can I just say I amazed at how much clothes 3 babies require? We need clothes for when they pee or poop through the clothes they are currently wearing, clothes in case it's cold, or hot, or medium, clothes for every possible scenario!
- Chris' bow. For real. Because he thinks he is going to have free time to shoot his bow in preparation for hunting season coming up with all of the free time he will have in between working, and 5 kids and visiting family. that thing is huge and takes up a ton of space. Read not very happy wife.
- 2 different types of baby slings to wear Kembia with for her freak out moments where she screams for ever if I leave the room
- clothes for Ava, Owen, Mom and Dad
- life jackets
-fishing equipment (another thing Chris had to pack)
- double stroller
- toys
- two lap top computers
- one giant bag that weighs a ton of chris' work stuff
- one cooler
- portable DVD for car that we packed but didn't use because with all of the stuff in the car, the kids couldn't actually see the screen
I would have taken a picture, but for reals, we couldn't find the camera after everything was packed. It was so bad that any time someone had to pee, we had to haul out all of the stuff down the main alley way to the back seats, or open up the back hatch and let whatever stuff wanted to fall out and have the kids climb over the seat. I am not even kidding. One of the first things we are going to do when we get home is find a good option for hauling all of the Nelson Essentials. We don't have those roof rack runner things on the top of the van to which you would attach a roof rack, so I am not sure what exactly we are going to come up with. But we do need to make it a priority. It is not conducive at all to traveling. One person saw us pull all of our kids out and asked us "how many kids do you have in there?"
The mental picture of your stuffed van is pretty funny. Is it time for a twelve seater? :-)
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to comment about the shopping...I wouldn't do it if I were you. I think shopping with two little ones is a bit trying (although I can certainly manage it). I would take one or two in the evening as a "special date." Tommy thinks that going to Costco with his dad is a fun guys night out. He feels so special when he gets to go out just him and dad.