Vacationing with us, ain't for sissys

Vacationing with a big family is surely a test of your survival skills. I'm pretty sure it could be included in the Navy SEAL training or possibly a part of Marine combat training. Seriously, this is not for sissys. I must be a tough cookie though, because I survived and lived to tell about it.

The last time we vacationed we only had four kids (yes, I said only four.) We were gone for about 5 days and it was pretty smooth sailing. This time around though we had six kids and had planned a nine day trip. The logistics of a trip like that are almost too many to list.

First off is packing for our giant crew. I managed to pack the bare minimum, but this still equates to an amount of items that would rival Walmart. Packing our van took a mix of skills that might included a UPS guy, Santa and the Clampetts from the Beverly Hillbillies. The end result made you sympathetic for those poor sardines stuffed in those tiny cans. But we did it. I paid one of the kids a dollar to open the back hatch for the first time. I was fully expecting an avalanche. For once in my life I was happy to be wrong.

The ten hour drive began and in true fashion of our crew it was not uneventful. Don't get me wrong, those six kids travelled great. They kept each other entertained and the giggles were almost non-stop. Well, except through West Virginia. About four hours into our trip, we made our third stop. Yep, three stops in four hours. We have a two year old who is freshly potty trained, what can I say? But here is where West Virginia comes in and it has to do with Dramamine. Yep, we had three carsick kids. And let me say, God bless Dramamine. It knocked them out and we survived the rolling hills of the fine state of West Virginia.

Let's talk food. I think those kids knocked out $30 of snacks in about 45 minutes. I'm a numbers cruncher and my brain never shuts off. This led me to the unfortunate discovery that eight people and three meals a day for nine days would equal 216 meals. Yep, 216 meals. Add snacks in there for six hungry kids and feeding this crew on the road became quite the task. I channeled my ancestors who at one time foraged for food. Thankfully, this meant using the GPS to find the nearest Taco Bell. It also meant that at the beach condo when the kids asked for cereal for dinner, I played "cool mom" and said, "yeah, we're on vacation, WHATEVER you want." Obviously, it was more lazy mom than cool mom, but I've got to play the cool card whenever I can.

Vacationing with a big family means that mom is never really on vacation. I think I did 17 loads of laundry. on. vacation. We stayed in a condo, so I did dishes, swept, even cleaned the bathroom. But if I'm going to scrub the toilet, it might as well be at the beach!

Vacationing with our crew means that 12 tons of sand came home with us. It means that the call to the pediatrician nurse line is almost not even worth mentioning. Because not going to the ER is a small miracle, not even going to Urgent Care is definitely a miracle and the fact that we didn't have to ask anyone if they had a first-aid kit is nothing short of divine intervention.

With our large family the possibilities for disaster are endless, everything we do is a major undertaking and there is never a dull moment. It also means that it's six times the joy, six times the fun and six times the laughs! I never in my wildest dreams imagined my vacations would be this "big", but I wouldn't change it for the world!!!
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