This past weekend we packed up and headed out to Edmonton for the weekend. I needed to get away (haven't been out of Grande Cache since the middle of November) and we needed to do some shopping and see some friends. We left on Saturday morning and made it to Edmonton by just after 4pm. Things always seem to take longer when travelling with kids and whenever I plan an outing I think I underestimate how long it will take us. We checked into the hotel and had about 30 minutes to get through Superstore before we were supposed to be at a friends house for a supper gathering. 30 minutes in Superstore on a Saturday to get through my giant list - yeah right! It took about an hour to get through and we still manged to forget some things!
We headed over for supper and by this time we had some super tired and cranky kids. They only napped for about an hour or so in the van (when normally they would have napped for 2 plus hours). We were long overdue for supper as well which made them even more cranky and then dinner was late and by the time we finished up and were back at the hotel they were three hours passed bed time! Good times! I was hoping that Sunday would be better, but it wasn't!
We of course had to go to church to catch up with everyone and of course we were there longer than we wanted to be. Which meant we were late for lunch and late for naps and therefore naps didn't happen! Makayla is a huge fan of Toopy and Binoo and it just so happened that they were doing a live show in Edmonton on Sunday afternoon. So we paid the big bucks to take her and she was in a pretty bad mood on the way there and as we left the show she had a mini meltdown. Understandable, but not acceptable! She loved the show and told me the next morning that it was so fun to sing and dance with Toopy and Binoo. At one point during the show Toopy and Binoo left the stage and this other group came out to sing. All of a sudden I hear her chanting, "Binoo, Binoo, Binoo". It was hilarious!
After we got out of the parkade we were on our way to meet some friends for dinner as it was Phil's birthday. After she had another meltdown in the van she fell asleep as did her brother - of course, just minutes before we get to the restaurant. I sent Phil in to place our order and let the kids catch a quick cat nap. After 15 minutes I woke them up and boy were they unhappy about that. We enjoyed our dinner and then headed back to put the little monsters to bed and pack our stuff as were were leaving the next day. They slept better the second night compared to the first so that was a good thing.
Monday morning we got up and had the free breakfast at the hotel followed by dental check ups for Phil and myself. Ah, clean teeth - there's nothing like it! Of course we were there way longer than I anticipated and we still had Costco and T&T to get to. We quickly did our shopping and were back on the road by 2:30. 5 1/2 hours later we were back at home. It was a pretty uneventful drive home which was good. The little boy slept well, but not so much the little girl! They were very happy to be home and ran around the house. I wanted to be home in time for supper but we didn't make it home until it was time for bed. I think they were happy to be home and in their own beds!
I need to learn to plan time better. I need to plan an extra hour or two when we travel with them. We had a good time seeing friends and we miss them all so much! I also enjoyed shopping but wish I had more time to enjoy it!! We are heading to Jasper in a few weeks to meet up with some friends again, so I will attempt to plan my time better for that trip.
Anyone have any good travel tips with kids? We are planning a road trip to BC this summer and could use any tips that someone might have!!!
2 comments:
Congratulations on your survival.
Traveling with kids is HARD.
I have yet to travel long distances with children in the winter, but in the summer I do plenty of research - find out where there are provincial parks along the way that we can stop at, run around in, and eat a snack. And as far as timing is concerned, the road trip day is a complete write-off - the road trip is the event. Kids music (Raffi), I spy, and the odd snack in the car, help too. I hope this road trip to B.C. has a Kamloops stop!
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