what I learned

I am copying my blogging friend, Ruth's, idea from her post about her recent vacation. Last week, Bryan was going on a longer-than-usual business trip, so I decided to take the kids out to rural South Dakota to visit my grandpa and his wife for a few days.

Here are some things I learned during our trip:

1. To estimate travel time, for every two hours of driving, add one hour of stopping.

2. Traveling on rainy days is faster; traveling on sunny days provides more opportunity to get out and stretch at roadside parks.

3. Lydia will go down any slide her brother goes down, no matter how high it is.

4. Don't expect to make any progress with potty learning (or even maintaining) while traveling. Just buy the pull-ups and reduce the stress level.

5. Brett is an okay bed partner, but unlike his dad, it takes him a long time to fall asleep.

6. It is not the end of the world to have 3 children meltdown simultaneously at a small-town restaurant after a long day of traveling - everybody was already staring anyway.

7. When staying in a camper with toddlers, always lock the door to prevent anyone from falling out the door onto the ground.

8. Don't let the toddlers see you lock the door, or you may find yourself locked out of the camper.

9. Sometimes a mid-trip seating arrangement change is all that is needed to restore peace to the vehicle.

10. Pinwheels are a lot of fun on a windy South Dakota day.

11. When you show up at a McDonald's in Watertown, SD with 3 very small children and an overwhelmed look on your face, the manager will take your order at your table and bring you your food. You will also be gawked at the entire meal.

12. Brett really likes horses...

13. ...but not toy ones.

14. Even if you pack all the kids' in-season clothes, you still will not get a 4 day break from doing laundry.

15. Grandpa has an awesome garden, and can still fix anything.

16. Next summer, Bryan should not miss out on all this fun.