We’re hopping and bopping over here at Sassy—on the move and in the groove. Getting up and getting out is a wonderful part of parenting, but it presents challenges as well. In this first blog post in our series on “Get Up & Go, Sassy Style”, I’m going to share a personal story about my family’s trip to California a few years ago—where my husband’s family lives. Here are the preparation and execution steps we used for this massive undertaking! I’m also going to share the mistakes I made and lessons learned. At the time, our twin girls were close to four years old, and our twin sons were close to one year old.
- Four car seats in the minivan. Middle of the winter. Flight left 6 am, so we were up and ready by 3:45 am.
- Friend in a second car following us to the airport with the excess luggage. I packed:
- Diapers for two weeks (totally unnecessary!)
- Breast pump (I was barely pumping at that point but took it anyway) and formula/bottles for two full days of food.
- Baby food for two weeks.
- Little girl dresses for a fashion show—14 total (what, are there no washing machines at my mother in law’s house?)
- Stroller—for the little guys (Our big ones were out of the stroller at age two; I’ll get to that in a later post!)
- Adult luggage
- Arrival at airport—too much luggage! Paid for excess baggage which far exceeded the cost of the diapers and baby formula.
- Stroller to gate, airplane packs of food, bottles and activities for all of the kids (surprises to keep the 6 hour flight spunky).
- Moment we got on the airplane—Barf! Daughter massively vomits all over the place.
- Changed her clothes—people smelling the grossness all around us.
- Kids were all cranky throughout the flight.
- In-laws meet us on the other end with their car to carry the second caboose of paraphernalia we packed. My mother in law kept asking me, “Why didn’t I buy the diapers and food, Jen?” What was I thinking!?
- Didn’t go back to California for a year! My in-laws visit us a lot more now.
I learned that I should have ordered the baby products online or shopped at our destination. I also learned that during travel, it’s a lot easier to wash outfits than bring too much! And I learned that having the in-laws visit was a lot easier and more enjoyable despite the better weather in California!
One Sassy Doctor recommends:
