Road Trips

Long forgotten are the days of the uneventful (simple) road trip.  I can pretty much guarantee that there will be a dual crying episode combined with an unexpected diaper change.  I correlate long road trips with two kids with popping a bag of microwave popcorn.  When I pop a bag of popcorn, I always stand in front of the microwave contemplating if I should stop the pop -- or wait a few more seconds and get the maximum amount of food. However if you wait too long, sure you get more popcorn... but at what price, burnt popcorn doesn't really please the taste buds. 

Back to my road trip comparison.  A couple of hours into a long car ride -- the kids are usually happy and hopefully sound asleep --  and eventually one of us asks the question:  should we stop at the next rest area and stretch out (should we take the popcorn out now, or keep popping)?  Now it makes perfect sense to do so, but why stop if things are going so well?  We travel well equipped with the necessary food, dvds, diapers etc... why not handle the situation if when it arrives.  We can always stop at the next rest stop when the inevitable happens, examples:  aroma emanating from a 2-3 hour old diaper, or just a random crying episode due to sheer boredom or discomfort.  The vast majority of the time, we do let the kids initiate the rest stop.  Any why not, maybe we can get 3-4 hours into the trip before getting out of the car for the first time.  Like the burnt popcorn, if you wait too long to stop with two kids, you are also playing the game which involves quick diminishing returns.  You see, two kids sitting in car seats can quickly become unhappy -- and when they do, the dual crying does not stop.  You simply have to be patient, mentally go to a happy place, and quickly scramble to the closest rest stop to remedy the situation.  I feel like Cathy and I are pros, we have a method that works very well... and more importantly, keeps the kids happy 93% of the time. 

Our last trip into Buffalo was a doozy, we made great time to Niagara Falls -- only to wait at the border for two solid hours!  The kids actually did very well, the pic below was snapped during the wait.