Next summer my mom, my grandma, my kids, and I are going on a cross-country road trip.
Why in the world would I want to take all of us on this crazy adventure? Well, I'm a little crazy...okay, more than a little.
You see, after our last road trip was such a huge success, I just started thinking of what we could do the next time. I love a good adventure with my kids, and there is just so much that I learned in my childhood from the road trips and camping that we did, I just want my kids to learn all that too. Just because my kids are in public school doesn't mean that they are limited in the experiences that they should have in their childhood compared to mine as a homeschooled kid. We just have to do a lot of our traveling in the summer.
In California, 5th grade history focuses on America. The twins will be going into 5th grade next year, so I thought that it's the right time to do an American history road trip so my kids can have memories of where the places that they learn about in history actually are before they read about it in a textbook. Cool, right? For Micah and Becca, it will be the other way around, seeing the places that they have already learned about in school, and giving them a personal memory to solidify the things that they have already learned about.
So that was the idea. Next came presenting it to the other adults in the house. Tony's biggest problem with road trips is work. He just doesn't have the vacation time to come on the whole trip. We decided that we needed to make compromise. He is going to fly out for the week that we are on the east coast. It's right in the middle of Little League All Star stuff, but he's willing to give that up for the vacation with his family. The thing is, if he gets the World Series or Regional games to umpire that he has applied for, he will basically be running himself out of vacation time for the year in the very beginning. It's kind of a stretch, but we will make due.
My mom is an easy sell. She NEVER takes vacation unless she absolutely needs/wants to. She also gets a whole lot more vacation time than Tony does at her job, so she has a ton of hours coming to her. She wants to take a whole month off? It really isn't a problem as long as her supervisor has enough notice.
My grandma is a whole 'nother matter. You see, until recently she has been almost completely bedridden in my house a year, then like 6 months before that in a rehab place because she fell and broke her leg. It takes a while for a woman over 90 to heal. She is finally getting around a little. We recently figured out that she is able to get in and out (with help) of my van fairly well. This means she can go places, which makes taking care of her a whole lot easier. Here's the thing, though: we still take care of her. Arthritis is getting the best of her hands and she just can't cook for herself or even write anymore. If you know my grandma, you know that she was an avid writer and sent cards constantly to everyone she knows (hundreds of people) around the world all the time. The fact that she is physically unable to do this has had her pretty down for a while. Basically, all she has done for the last year is sit in bed and watch TV. That is so not her personality in any way.
All that being said, my grandma needs to get out, we can't leave her by herself at home, so she is coming with us. Good times.
The scariest thing about this is that she and Micah don't always get along. If he is going through a rough day, she can't handle it. She starts yelling at him, he escalates, and everything gets rougher. This means that my plans have to include the ability for Micah to get out and run, and we definitely need times when they will be away from each other, even if they are close for a long time in the car.
This also means that my van will be extremely full. Last time we did this, my kids were smaller and they also had an empty seat. This time, we are going to be looking into a small utility trailer for the van to hold stuff so that we don't have to be packed in just the inside of the van. This also allows us to bring my grandmother's power chair, so that will make going places with her a lot easier on everyone.
Okay, so, all that crazy stuff is happening! AHH! I'm excited! It's a fun thing to plan the logistics of everything. I'm glad I have several months to do it. We have so much to do to prepare!
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