On the Road

My kids are pretty good travelers. They like their car seats, don't get carsick, and will usually entertain themselves or each other without much assistance from Chris or me. However, they are awfully young and sometimes car trips just last too long for the good behavior to last the entire journey. On our most recent road trip to Illinois and back, things were quiet and peaceful in the backseat until about the last hour of the trip. There's not much worse than the combination of an angry-accusing cry and a bored-uncomfortable-unhappy whine. *shudder*

A little side note:
As "Mommy," I don't exactly hate car trips. It's like mandatory downtime. I can't hold anyone or get up and down from my seat to refill drinks, find snacks, or break up fights. I get to sit in my seat the entire time we are driving. It's especially nice when I am the one driving. If I'm driving, then Chris has to deliver the toys and snacks to our backseat companions, although he lacks some of the patience and much of the flexibility necessary to really do the job effectively.

So, anyway, back to our trip home from Illinois.
Flora got cranky and whiny about an hour before we were supposed to arrive home. I kept telling her that she would have to wait just a little bit longer until we were home and then she could get out of the car and play with Toby. She never actually plays with Toby, but for some reason the idea of seeing Toby is always very exciting. It didn't work this time though. Eventually Scout started crying too and Flora found this inexplicably hilarious. He would cry and she would laugh uncontrollably at him. Maybe a little bit car-trip-delirious?

Since I knew I couldn't do anything to help either of them until we got home I tried to tune out the backseat noise, though I was amused to hear Flora using her best grown-up-bossy-big-sister voice to tell Scout he needed to, "Wait. Home. Wait." Nice try, Flora, but it doesn't work.