1. I brought my electric kettle, instant coffee, and powdered cream from work with us to PA. At the farm cottage, I filled it up with water, boiled it, and had my coffee at 5am when I was up.
The house had a full kitchen, but there was no need to go out into the kitchen that early, figure out their coffee maker, find everything in unfamiliar cupboards, and make noise while other visitors were sleeping. During the day, when we had some down time, I made hot tea for my throat the same way.
2. Snacks for the road trip itself. All kids of nuts, mandarin oranges, apples, water, some some candy.
3. Kids packed their own toys, so they had things to do while I drove. At some point, R didn’t have a specific Lego that he wanted. While he was upset, there was a lesson in there somewhere.
4. Asking for help when pumping gas – in NJ there is always a gas station attendant that does it for you. In PA, and other states, you have to do it yourself. And I always struggle.
5. Not rushing back home. On the way back, we only had about 40 minutes to go. But the were saying they are hungry and I was tired from driving for almost two hours. First I wanted to muscle through, I mean 40 minutes is nothing compared to the distance we already covered. But then I thought: just stop and rest. Where exactly are you hurrying to? So we saw a ad for old country restaurant on the highway, and stopped there for lunch. Had some friend chicken and mashed potatoes, breaded shrimp and mac’n cheese. We still arrived home at a reasonable time- around 3pm.
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Mom of Children 