Things the Clampetts Did While Traveling

We were at home for Christmas and then traveled for 8 days around New Years. We visited family. We built a snowman and went sledding. And we came home ready for a vacation to recover from our vacation. There’s something about sleeping in a bed that is not my own and having to rummage around in my suitcase for everything that seems to exhausts me.

The presence of my children 24/7 up in my face might factor in as well. They exhaust me but it’s always sort of lovely the way you get back and because we’re so used to being crammed together 24/7 while traveling you find yourselves cramming into the same areas at home to stay that way. And then when they finally stop doing it, you miss them and wonder where they are.

You might think 3 hours on a plane and 4 hours crammed in a car together would be enough cuddle time but you would be wrong. Attached at the hip. Entire trip.  Endlessly sweet. Sigh. 

Things we did on our trip:

1. Let our 8 year old travel to the cold frozen northeast with no socks on. I discovered this downside of letting your kid dress himself while riding the airport shuttle bus.  When I was having trouble getting a good look, he decided to do me a solid and stand barefoot on the seat of the airport shuttle bus.  Yep.  Those are definitely some bare feet.

 

2. Pig piled the 10 year old on the bus. Because what’s a pig pile once your kid has stood barefoot on an airport shuttle bus?  Pig piles are Clampett code for everyone stack yourselves on top of one person right up until the moment it becomes clear they're going to flip their lip. Then and only then do you agree to get off.

 

3. Laid on the hard floor at the car rental place while waiting for a car. Nothing says classy like immediately just parking your suitcases in a corner and sitting down next to them. In our defense, we left for the airport at 4 am. There are no circumstances under which I want to be awake and face to face with my 8 year old at 4 am.  But when the lure of cheap plane tickets for flights leaving at the crack of dawn force your into that situation, it's officially okay for everyone to lay on the floor in Hertz.

Proof that her My Little Pony Rainbow Dash made the trip with us.

Proof that I'm not too good to lay on the floor either. 

4. Let our kid go without washing her hair for 5 days. My daughter’s hair was in a braid that got progressively more funky. Didn’t bother her a bit. Bothered me slightly. But if you make an effort, you’d be surprised how easy it is to just not look at it. And if you don’t look at it, it’s like it doesn’t exist! Perfect!

 

5. Won big at Dave & Buster’s. 4000 tickets. Literally. My daughter was on fire hitting the button on various games winning 400 tickets at a time. I should have had that kid pick some Lottery numbers that night.

 

6. Took our 10 year old’s mad hula hooping skills to a new state. Her brother kept adding more hoops doing 3 or 4 at a time. Naturally she needed to show him up rocking 5 at once.

 

7. Sent my husband outside in 10 degree weather in a swimsuit. We went to an indoor waterpark type place that included a heated pool and hot tub outside. It was neat soaking in the hot tub while it literally snowed on our heads.  We also enjoyed that the lifeguard manning the outdoor parts was bundled up from head to toe.

Technically, I only sent my husband for the photo op but a certain little someone loves to do anything his crazy father is doing.  So 2 for the price of one.

We couldn’t decide if the bundled up lifeguard jumps directly in if someone’s drowning or if they’d stop to take the snow boots off at least. I feel like I'd take the shoes off for sure but roll with everything else.  My husband’s theory was that they must double check carefully that the person really is in fact drowning before leaping in. How annoying would it be if the person wasn’t really drowning and now all your clothes are wet?

8. Utilized the snow to keep my Dr. Pepper nice and cold. I was mid Pepper on the way sledding so my daughter and I fashioned a snow koozie on the hood of the car for my can until we got back. Naturally, she then orchestrated getting herself in the picture with the koozie.

Then we sledded as we have never sledded before. Which mostly means we sledded without anyone getting injured.  We also shoved the kids in the snow and told them to get their snow angel on. My husband was a little too enthusiastic pushing me backwards so I could make one but it’s all good.

First ones to hill for sledding!

9. Chucked deuces in the CVS while wearing a pig hat. I said, oh look at the hats. She said, oh, let me look cray.

 

10.  Chucked deuces in the snow.  I'm beginning to see a trend here.

 

11. Did Miley Cyrus impressions in the snow.

 

And, lo, it was a fun trip. Especially getting to visit family.  But spending time with my kids ain't so bad either.