Day 3. Our longest travel day of the entire two weeks. I’m glad that it has passed! It was a long day of travel from White’s City, NM to Holbrook, AZ. We started off the morning with a sunrise photo shoot at Guadalupe Mountains NP. Because of the time of year and the mountain time zone, getting up for sunrise is really not much earlier than our kids’ normal wake up time at home. Prep the night before! We decided the night before that we would all go so we did a lot of prep that night to make loading the car the next morning easier and quicker. Set out clothes for the day, took showers, prepped diaper bag, washed cups, etc. We left the hotel 5 minutes before schedule and saw an awesome west Texas sunrise. Jackson even noticed it out his window and said “Oh! Big orange!” We loved that he was noticing things outside. We are taking every opportunity we can to teach and reinforce to the kids Who made these beautiful things we are seeing. We want to instill in them an awe for the mighty God that we serve. After sunrise, we went to the visitor center to stamp our National Park passport and get our Christmas tree ornament. We collect ornaments from each park that we go to. We got to the visitor center an hour before they opened so we bundled the kids up and let them run around and play. It was a great opportunity to get some energy out before hitting the road for about 8+ hours.
We made our way through El Paso and were impressed with the Franklin Mountains. A little before lunch time we decided to make a stop to break up the day and go ahead and get our fresh groceries. I had purchased most of the dry goods before we left home but wanted to wait to get fruit, lunchmeat, etc so that it would be fresh. We then had a Wal-Mart picnic as we packed the car with our new groceries.
A big space saver is to unpackage everything possible. The boxes are great for the shelf in the store, but they take up way too much space in the car.
We got everyone fed and settled and then had to make a stop at Auto Zone. We have dual air control in our car, which is an amazing feature because I am really cold natured and Jordan is not. So, my heater is always on and his air is always on. Well, the actuator broke and the driver’s side, Jordan’s side, is stuck on hot air. We stopped to try to make a quick fix but it turns out it won’t be a quick fix so, here we are trying to compromise on air temperature. 🙂 With any roadtrip, I guess one should expect some type of car issue to arise.
The rest of the day was spent driving and trying to satisfy and entertain children. This is where The Bin comes in handy. The Bin sits between the kids’ seats. Our second row has bucket seats. The Bin is the home of all things fun. We have books, DVDs, a large ziplock bag of little toys that they love (monster trucks, plastic animals), crayons and coloring books, a handful of blocks, sunglasses, playdough, WIPES. Wipes are always within reach! The Bin that we use even holds our milk and water cups perfectly on the edge. I have tried using a collapsible, soft sided bin on trips in the past but this one is so much better! The sides are sturdy and it keeps it shape.
Organization of The Bin is important. I don’t want everything flying together where I have to dig for the other part of a certain toy. I purchased sandwich Tupperware bins from the Dollar Tree and they are perfect for cars, crayons, matching cards, and blocks. When trying to think of what to bring for entertainment, remember you don’t have to bring the entire set of something they like. Our kids like building blocks but we certainly did not need an entire bag full. We brought six. Six blocks and they have enjoyed that in their seats.
My MIL found this Melissa and Doug coloring mat that takes special dry erase crayons and it has been a HIT. It easily wipes clean with a baby wipe and cleaning the mat is half the fun for Jackson. Emmy is too young to trust with crayons because they go to her mouth. She has enjoyed the blocks, her baby doll, books, movies, and mostly FOOD and pacifiers.
It was getting close to time for supper and we had been driving forever in the middle of nowhere. The kids were needing a break so we decided to stop at the next town we drove through and find somewhere to eat. Within a few miles we were at Alpine, AZ. We saw a small restaurant called the Alpine Grill so we stopped. It turned out to be a quaint little place and they actually had live music. It seemed that the small town was very tight-knit as we watched everyone talk to each other and go to tables to visit others. They even spoke to us too! I was getting a little uptight because it was getting dark, felt late (though it wasn’t), snow was in the forecast, we still had 2+ hours to drive, and I thought the food might take forever to get to us which would put us even later getting to the hotel. But, as we sat there waiting for our food, which didn’t take long at all, the kids loved the live music and were dancing in their seats having a great time. Jordan said, “this is fun”, and I reminded myself to chill out. It WAS fun and I just needed to throw the clock and schedule out the window and relax and enjoy the moment.
After a great meal, diaper changes, and a much needed break from the car, we hopped back in and knocked out the last couple of hours on the road. Checked in to our hotel, got a first floor room (!) and got some rest to be ready for the next day. ASK for first floor rooms– it is so much easier with kids! Also, I usually prefer hotels with the room doors on the INside, but we have been staying at hotels (motels?) with the room doors on the OUTside, and when we can back the car right up to the door, it makes the unloading and reloading of roadtrip life much easier! Also, we have felt perfectly safe and they have all been clean!
Live Moore Fully 