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Last year, my husband and I decided to drive 1,000 miles in a car with two children. We took a road trip from New Jersey straight down I-95 to sunny Florida. Let me repeat:
1,000 miles.
In a car.
With two kids.
What the hell where we thinking???
The drama went way beyond the normal every-ten-minute episodes of:
“Mommy, are we there yet?”
“How long is it going to take?”
“I’m hungry…”
“I have to go pee…”
“She’s bothering me…”
“No, I don’t want to sleep…”
And let’s also not forget the loud and torturous cries of my daughter peppered throughout the trip, and I mean the whole trip.
So we weren’t even an hour into the drive (on the way home) and my son began to say, “Mommy………..”
“What sweetie?”
“I don’t feel so good.”
“You don’t? What’s wrong?”
{silence}
{a little more silence}
Suddenly, within moments of turning around to find out why my son was complaining of not feeling well I looked at his face and I had that split second instinct of knowing what was about to happen, but there was absolutely nothing I could do to prevent it from happening. I quickly placed my arm out toward him (like that was going to do anything) to try and stop it from coming, but it didn’t matter.
It was too late.
Vomit spewed from his mouth like an erupting volcano.
It splattered over his car seat, onto near-by toys, and continued to fall to the floor. Some of it even managed to reach his sister in the seat next to him. It all happened in about five seconds, but the cleanup would take over an hour.
Immediately pulling off 1-95, we reached a remote gas station to wash the kids (and everything else) and in the midst of wiping everything from the head rest down to his shoe laces, at the time, I truly didn’t know how I was going to survive the next 19 hours in the car.
In that moment I really thought I was going to vomit myself, especially for thinking I could drive a thousand miles…with two children.
So after a brief trip down memory lane with the hubs recently, the decision is unanimous.
This year, we’re flying.
{ 128 comments… read them below or add one }
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Twitter: AmyatGITR
February 10, 2010 at 9:32 am
Oh, I saw it coming as soon as you started into the car. Vomit in the car sucks!!!! Family roadtrips are awesome, aren’t they?
Twitter: SkooksPlaygrnd
February 10, 2010 at 9:38 am
Oh yes. I would most definitely find a way to afford to fly too. Vomit (someone else’s) has that special horrible quality of trying to take you down with it. I’m shuddering over here just thinking about it.
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~ Tamyka
I dont blame you for that one!
Twitter: _MamaJules_
February 10, 2010 at 10:24 am
That is horrible! Flying is definitely a good decision.
We’ve only done 5 hours trips. Well the trips should take 3.5 hours, but with four kids it exponentially increases.
Because of this fact, we opt to travel in the evening when they should be falling asleep.
But with at least a 15 hour trip?
I’ll just ship them and let them be the post offices responsibility.
Oh, I can relate to the long road trip. We did a 1400 mile jaunt from AZ to New Orleans last year with 3 kids! No vomiting for us…fortunately.
I am stopping from Erin at the Motherload. Would be very interested to know whether I have the type of blog that would entertain you. Please check out a few posts…maybe under the “best of” (which are just some of my favorites, and let me know!
Following.
Road trips with kids! AHHH!!!!! The most we’ve done is an almost 5 hour drive to Toronto. In the end it was more like 8 HOURS because of all the stops we had to make, for pee, and food, and walking around. God, I should have recorded it! INSANE!!!A 1000 mile car ride with two kids, though? What WERE you thinking?
This sounds like my trip to AZ…over 3,000 miles total. And vomit too! Good times.
Twitter: ThetaMom
February 10, 2010 at 11:02 am
Eric – LOL!!! And Arizonamamma – Thanks for stopping by, can’t wait to check out your blog!
Twitter: helene1108
February 10, 2010 at 11:21 am
1000 miles with 2 kids?? Yeah, that’s insane! But you know, we all have to live and learn, right?
The furthest we’ll drive with our kids is down to Disneyland, which is a 6-hour drive. We drove to Vegas once and that was 9 hours and halfway into the drive I was begging my husband to leave me on the side of the road in the desert in the middle of nowhere.
I’m in the process of writing a post about puke…if it’s not poop, it’s puke, right?
Twitter: kickitykickball
February 10, 2010 at 11:38 am
I’m from Jersey and I wanted to drive to Florida this summer with my two kids… Apparently, not such a good idea. LOL!! Flying is a much better idea.
How long was the drive?
Twitter: StrollerBallet
February 10, 2010 at 11:44 am
Torture!!! We drove 600 miles with our little one and I swore I would never do it again! I am all abut the flying. It’s difficult, but in the grand scheme of things it’s better to pull off the band-aid quickly, rather than drag it out!
Twitter: sadiewindham
February 10, 2010 at 11:47 am
We did a 1,000 mile drive last spring with our toddler while I was 7 months pregnant. It went smoother than yours for sure, but good gracious, the thought of doing it with two makes me think that our family should always visit us and we should never have to go visit them. Haha.
http://lovedlikethechurch.wordpress.com/
I was reading this and thinking, why didn’t they fly? I laughed when I got to the end. It just sounds like torture for everyone involved.
I knew what had happened even before you said it haha
I don’t know how you did 1,000 car trip with young kids!!! I can barely do it myself & stay sane.
Twitter: ThetaMom
February 10, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Kristin – Funny you should ask that because typically, it’s about 20 hours. But, we went Memorial Day weekend last year and had the worst traffic. Ever. And to make things worse, they were doing construction on I-95 in three states: N.C., S.C., and Georgia. A 20 hour trip turned into 30+. The worst experience, ever!!!
Oh dear, Bree did the same thing except it was that long of a trip. The day my Grandmother died, we were driving up the mountain to the Nursing Home she was in. I had given Bree a Pop Tart to keep her satisfied on the way up there. Just as we got into the mountains, she threw up strawberry pop tart all over the place. We had to stop in a K-Mart so that I could buy her a new outfit, because silly me forgot to bring an extra one…and when I got home that night, I had to put her car seat in the bath tub and give it a bath. Oh it was disgusting. No more Pop Tarts on road trips.
Twitter: yonca1
February 10, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Flying is a good idea. Lol, long drives were stressing the kids out.
Sorry about the bad experience. We took allot of road trip with our kids.
The trick was to leave at night and they would sleep for hours. Vomit is the worst isn’t it.
Twitter: ThetaMom
February 10, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Samantha – I’ll remember that tip, no Pop Tarts for the plane either! lol
Oh man! I saw that one coming. We had a similar experience but thankfully were only about 200 miles away from home!
When we moved, we drove 1200 miles with our two kids. We did avoid any mishaps involving vomit, but will never be able to listed to a Veggie Tales CD again.
And flying doesn’t fix everything. I saw a little kid vomit on his mom during my last flight. But best of luck.
Twitter: SusanFobes
February 10, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Oh, my! Too funny-not it is, then it wasn’t… When we went to Florida we debated back and forth about the drive, and found in the long rung it was cheeper and more convenient to fly. The kids had a blast because it was their first flight, although I was a nervous wreck! Good decision!
Twitter: ThetaMom
February 10, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Kristin – I hear ya! The first time we flew with my son he was 6 months and puked on me in the plane…but I figure, I can “deal” for 2 hours vs. 20!
Twitter: jamiemori
February 10, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Thanks for reminding me about road trips with children, I’m getting ready to take a12 hour trip with my son the first week in April. Wish me luck!
oh dear heavens, I feel your pain– going home to AZ from London a few times a year, 12 hours on a trot with 3 children on my own– feels just like your hell, minus the vomit. That wins the award!
Twitter: jaysmomishome
February 10, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Hysterical! Sometimes flights are rough too. Depends on the ages.
And I gave you an award on my blog! Go check it out!!!
Twitter: Gardiris
February 10, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Following you from MBC! I have totally been there not fun at all……enjoy your flight LOL
Twitter: and_dad_too
February 10, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I hear you on that. We have three and I hate driving the 2 hrs from MD to NJ to see my parents and grandparents because the kids get so bored and we even have a TV in the van that is suppose to occupy them. No way in hell would I drive to Fl with 3 kids. You are stronger then I am for even attempting this great feat.
We took a 700 mile trip with a 7 and 9 year old. Thank God for portable DVD players. Even then, it was not fun. Puke is never fun, esp in the car!
I vote fly the friendly skies! lol
Twitter: ThetaMom
February 10, 2010 at 7:35 pm
April – I’m with you, flying will hopefully be less painful! lol
Twitter: 2monkeysandhubb
February 10, 2010 at 9:24 pm
The only road trip we have done with the kids was a hour and half drive. I dread the day we actually drive to Florida.
Twitter: redheadranting
February 10, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Five seconds!
My daughter gets car sick. I learned this driving to our cabin for the 4th of July one year. I bought some cupcakes with red, white and blue frosting on them. I also started a DVD for my daughter to watch so she would quit asking me when we were going to get there. Motion sickness and watching a movie in the car and topped off with red, white and blue frosting makes for a very messy Chevy Malibu. I never got all the stains out and thankfully my son totaled the car so I could get a new one that didn’t have that horrible smell in it anymore.
I wish I could take a plane.
And that smell, the puke smell, never ever, no matter how much bleach, comes out of car seat straps. With a souvenir like that, who needs a state magnet from the gas station?
Oh my goodness, I don’t blame you! I’ve taken my kids on 6 hour drives, and that was okay…but they were both young, and slept a lot. We are debating a 12 hour drive to the beach this summer, and it doesn’t sound very appealing.
Twitter: BLOGitse
February 10, 2010 at 10:46 pm
LOL! I’m sorry but you made it sound like a comedy.
I know that in real life those situations are…not pleasant.
How long you have to drive to the airport?
BLOGitse
Twitter: clueless_mama
February 10, 2010 at 10:48 pm
OUCH! Not a trip I would want to make for sure. I agree with you, take that plane:)
OMG!! That happened to me…but I was the one who got car sick. UGH!!
Every winter I have this pipe dream of joining the Pittsburgh families that have a wonderful summer vacation in OBX. Then I think about what it would really mean for us to drive 10 hours and we opt for Cedar Point or something closer to home.
I found you over at a SITS blogger’s site. Good thing we can blog about these things in case our memories ever fail us. I will attest to flying over driving. It’s much easier if you can afford it.
Twitter: ThetaMom
February 11, 2010 at 9:03 am
Michelle – Thanks for visiting! Off to check out your blog…
Twitter: Mommyfriend
February 11, 2010 at 9:48 am
OH NO! So awful and yet so painfully human and true. Great post.
Twitter: MonLoudnProud
February 11, 2010 at 11:01 am
That is too funny,I would have thrown up cleaning the throw up!
Twitter: dearjennymac
February 11, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Will begin praying now that we NEVER ever have vomit in the car!!!! LOL.
We’ve had a few incidents like this too. When we drove to disneyland a couple of years ago, my son got explosive diarrhea on the way back. It was HORRIFYING. It’s really difficult to clean that up at a rest stop. I still shudder at the memory.
Twitter: unlikelymama
February 11, 2010 at 1:03 pm
My parents used to drive us from NJ to Alabama or Tennessee EVERY single year (for either Easter or Thanksgiving). 2 kids, 2 parents, 20 or so hours in a car…fun times :-/
BTW, hi there…you added me on FB and now I’m hooked
)
Where in NJ are you anyway? I’m in Central Jersey (Middletown if you’re feeling stalky
Twitter: ThetaMom
February 11, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Amber – Fellow Jersey girl, I love it! Off to check out your blog…
We did that a few years ago and there was no sickness, just boredom. However, I always, always lose weight on vacations. That time I actually gained weight because it was so incredibly boring in the car and I just kept munching to pass the time. That in itself is reason enough for me to fly.
I’m glad we’re hooked back up too! It is such a joy having you as a friend! xoe
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