Vacation 401

With checkout time being only 2 hours away, one could liken the bustling activity to an ant colony preparing for winter; and with 23 family members going in, out, and about the cabin, that's not an exaggeration! Dads were lugging dufflebags, pillows, and souveniers to the cars, moms were cleaning the living spaces, counting shoes, and double-checking each area to ensure nothing was left behind, while the 14 cousins were trying to squeeze in every game they never got around to playing.

So, as we wrap up our vacation, let's go over the rules for Vacation 401.

Rule #10 - Be sure to do at least one activity for yourself. Vacation is fun for the family. And most of the time is spent making sure that the kids have a blast. But don't forget to do something that's fun for you. First off, it teaches your kids to share, think of others, and compromise, but the real reason is because the last thing you're going to want to tell your friends at work is that your kids had a good time. Be sure that there was something specific that was fun for you.

For me, that was going to Cooter's Place. I was hoping to actually meet Ben Jones, the actor who played crazy Cooter, the mechanic from Hazzard County, on the TV show Dukes of Hazzard. But, just being able to get my picture next to the General Lee was a dream come true. There was a sign that said I could pay $5 to sit in the car to have my picture taken, and I would have, had I not bored my kids to spend almost an hour just looking at "stuff." But to tell you the truth, I would have paid $100 to have been able to try my Luke Duke impersonation while sliding across the hood of the car and climbing in thru the passenger-side window.




Rule #11 - Motion sickness trumps ALL activites! Although this is mentioned next to last, it is THE most important rule of all. Nothing can ruin a vacation quicker than vomit in the back seat. Travel time from Gatlinburg, TN to St. Louis MO, 8 hours. Time it took the Ferris family, 13 hours spread over 2 days! Value of not having your car smell like vomit for the rest of the trip, priceless.

When we realized our oldest didn't feel good, we decided to stop for some fresh air and check out the deals at one of the many outlet malls... or in Tennessee, a tin warehouse, fashioned with doors on each end, a hallway down the middle, and about 5-6 stores on each side. The fresh air did some good, so we grabbed a quick bite at a Wendy's/gas station/truck stop. The Wendy's was one of the nicer restaurants we've visited, but if it wasn't for our famished state, I'm not sure we could have endured another loud speaker announcement about Shower #2 being available to the next customer.

After only 2.5 hours of driving on the road, we discover that our oldest still isn't feeling well. It wasn't mentioned, but we both realized that before we had a child who didn't feel well; now we had a child who not only didn't feel well, but also had half-digested food in his stomach. While trying to come up with a game plan, I heard our sick one in the back seat say, "Dad, I smell something..." This of course, is what any parent would recognize as the point of no return. At this point, what's in, is about to be out; and there's no stopping it. And as my uncle can attest, there's also no returning to that new car smell once that happens.

I had about a nano-second to respond. Immediately, yelled, "HOLD ON, COOPER!" as I hit the 2 buttons for the windows with my left hand and jerked the wheel hard to the right. If there was a car in my blind spot, it was now in the ditch because I was going determined to catch that exit ramp, no matter what! I don't know if it was the sudden change in cabin pressure, the slower speed, or the need to focus on something else, that kept us from reaching the point of no return, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Luckily this exit had a real mall this time, but unfortunately, it wasn't a whole lot better. After an hour and a half of shopping and 2 leather belts for the boys, we decided to spend another hour or more on a non-fast food dinner. Afterwards, we took all the necessary precautions before loading back into the van such as moving Cooper out of the back seat and secretly placing a garbage can within reach. The clock now said 7pm, and I realized that we had now spent more time out of the van than we had spent driving. We still had about 7 hours of drive ahead of us, as well as a stop in Padukah, KY, to pick up the dogs.

We were going to have to spend the night, but I'll choose a red-eye trip to dealing with a sick kid any day!


Rule #12 - Vacation is what you make of it. Because our trip home was less than stellar, we decided to have one last hurrah before we concluded our vacation. But since Monday was spent with Sheri catching up on laundry and cleaning the house, and I was back at work, we settled for a rush hour show of Kung Fu Panda. We met at the movie theatre between home and my work and bought 2 large pops to share.

After the movie, we were famished. But coming off a vacation with a grueling trip home we couldn't stomach another fast food restaurant. So, we took advantage of the free pop refills and drove to the other side of the parking lot to order a pizza.



Hey, it's good, cheap, and was ready in about 6 minutes. But most of all, we did it together. And the way I see it, even though you had to use an entire bottle of Tylenol (See Rule #8), if you can say that you had fun, then it's a successful vacation!

Vacation 301

Day 3 began only a couple of hours later than Day 2. Ugh. Maddox was ready to go at 5 am, and his brothers shortly after. Their excited chatter of everything they wanted to do that day sounded like the chugging wheels of locomotive bearing down on me. The whoosh-CLAP sound of the drawers being slammed shut as they pulled out their clothes for the day told me the train was close. I tried to ignore the whining "whistle" asking for a snack. I could feel the bed rumbling as the train was climbing over his Mom. I moaned as I rolled over, attempting to avoid the inevitable, but this train was not bound by a track and collided into me with full force. The screeching wheels screaming DA! did little to slow the impact. The giggle in his voice could not stop my ears from ringing, my body from aching, and my eyes from burning due to lack of sleep. Slowly I arose, and began my death march up the 13 stairs to the kitchen in an effort to stop the noise with a bowl of cereal. Immediately, I discovered rule 7.

Rule #7 - Vacation requires stronger coffee. In an effort to maximize fun, kids on vacation play harder, stay up later, and often skip naps. This is especially true when it comes to vacationing with their cousins that they haven't seen for months, if not an entire year. But because the kids stay up later, the adults don't get to have their fun until later, and like the kids, often stay up longer than they should in order to maximize their fun, because after all, they are on vacation too! Next thing you know it's 2 or 3am before you're going to sleep, and you've barely gotten both eyes closed before you're being roused by anxious kids, excited to start another fun-filled day. Take it from me, set the timer on the coffee pot before you go to bed. If it's an older coffee pot. Just start the coffee when you're going to bed. It's so late that it'll probably still be warm when the kids wake you!

Rule #8 - Vacation with family requires Tylenol. We all love family. But no one except for the stay-at-home mom is around their family 24x7, and for most of us, that has about the same effect as the first time we had more than 1 beer on an empty stomach. Time with your family makes you feel good; but a couple of Tylenol makes you feel better.

Rule #9 - Vacation allows swimming to be an acceptable substitue to bathing. Granted, there are a few exceptions, such as the questionable indoor pool where the chlorine content is so high that the fumes in the air burn your eyes. But, in general, when dealing with hot, sweaty, and sticky kids, far better than putting them in the tub is to throw them into the pool. First of all, swimming is far more fun than bathing, and not to mention, it tires them out more than a bath can, and to top it off, they don't stink in the morning! Besides, both activities get them sufficently pruny, which is really the only measure of a good bath anyway.

Vacation 201

Day 2 of our vacation was just as fun as yesterday, although not as adventurous. Today went pretty much according to plan: Revelie at 3:30 am, accidently wake all 3 kids while moving them to the car in the dark, depart at 4:00 am, wonder if it was a mistake to leave that early when they are still awake at 4:50 am, reassure each other that you made the best decision when they finally fall asleep at 5am, then enjoy un-interrupted conversation until a spouse joins the sleeping crew-- (preferrably, it's the passenger, and not the driver that falls asleep.)

But, just because today wasn't as adventurous as yesterday, doesn't mean we didn't learn some valuable lessons today. Follow along as we discuss the guidelines that Vacation 201 has to offer.

Rule #4 - While on vacation, a sleeping child uses approximately 1.5 times his height in circumference of bed-space. This rule was discovered last night when I decided to share a twin bed with my 20 month old son. Numerous times, Maddox and I have shared the only sliver of bed left after pregnant Sheri gets comfortable. But while on vacation, children decide to explore new sleep positions. Apparently, the standard tummy, back, and side positions are too passe for vacation, and new positions such as perpendicular, upside down, backwards, and the popular foot-to-the-unmentionables should be attempted numerous times during the night. Who needs a grandfather clock to chime every hour when you've got a child ticking off the quarter or half-hour by changing positions?

Rule #5 - When sharing a bed with a child, proper sleeping position is with their head at your feet. This may sound strange at first, but consider that if a child's head is on the pillow with yours, their feet are directly in line with your nether regions, a part of your body that is extremely sensitive to blunt force trauma. Putting their head at your feet not only fixes this problem, but it also discourages them from sleeping perpendicular (shins and knees are not nearly as comfortable for them to lay on) as well as allowing your elbows, wrists, forearms, and ribs, all parts of your body that do not bruise easily, to absorb the blows from flailing feet. Unfortunately, I didn't discover this until 2:17am. It was the best hour of un-interrupted sleep I had that night.

Rule #6 - Breakfast at the buffet. Nothing says good morning like a car full of tired and hungry people. I don't care how good the honey bun and french vanilla coffee were at keeping you awake while everyone fell back to sleep, tired + hungry = cranky, and cranky can ruin a morning faster than spilt coffee. The good news is that a full stomach fixes both by making one sleepy, even on the brightest mornings. However, most people don't realize that it's not enough to just stop at the first Denny's or IHOP that comes along. Restaurants such as IHOP and Denny's are good for hungry people. Cranky people need a buffet! At a buffet, there is no wait for food, and there is no crying, temper tantrums, or melt-downs when the children can't decide what to order. Unless you have a snack to get the kids started while the food is being cooked, the only way to breakfast is to find a buffet.

Thankfully, we adhered to this rule today. We took the exit and scoped out our options...



Hmmm, Waffle House or Shoney's...




You can't pass up a Shoney's !!

Vacation 101

Today we explore the rules of Vacation 101. It's our first ever real vacation as a family, meaning not one of our usual weekend or short stays visiting friends or family in Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, or Illinois, that we just call a vacation in order to get our kids excited about spending somewhere between 4 - 6 hours in a car on our way there just to see it all in reverse a few days later.

I used to remember as a kid in school when the teacher would reward us for being good during a reel-to-reel movie by playing it backwards as it rewound. We would laugh and laugh as the boring movie we just saw became a humorous enjoyment. I even caught the teachers trying not to grin a few times! Maybe it's the incessant crying over my right shoulder that makes the trip seem longer, or my praying that it would change to whining just for a change of pace, but either way, seeing the same stretch of road for 4-6 hours in reverse is not as humorous as the reel-to-reel in my younger days. So, with that in mind, I thought I'd pass on some things I learned in my numerous road trips that may help you as you begin your travel season.

Rule #1 - Vacation starts when you leave work, not when you leave town. This is very important. So often we stress about leaving "on time" that we bicker and fight while packing up the car that it actually delays us longer. And you thought the car was cramped before you got in with your last minute items that now have no place but to sit on your lap or next to your feet. On top of that, you're fuming, and the thought of being this close to other family members for hours on end is only making it worse! Take it from me, learn that your vacation started the minute you stepped out the door at work. Sure you want to hurry home and get the car packed, but what's the rush.... you're already on vacation!! This rule is fundamental to understanding that your vacation is more enjoyable if you arrive happy, than if you arrive "on time" but in a bad mood.

Rule #2 - If you mess up on Rule# 2, the radio does not fix it. Make no mistake, people who start off bickering and fighting while packing stop the bickering once the trunk is closed. But that doesn't make them happy, as they are still upset. The tension in the air is exaggerated now that the doors are closed, and in an effort to ease the uncomfortable silence, someone inevitably reaches for the radio. DON'T DO IT. It will only be the source of another argument. Better off reading a magazine and let the mesmerizing mile marker signs massage the air.

Rule #3 - Vacation is an adventure. Sure, everyone has their agenda, but not everything goes according to plan. This can either make you upset, or you can decide to make the most of it. Take for instance our vacation to the annual Ferris Family Reunion. On the first day, 3 hours into it, (and after 2 hrs 45 minutes, and 37 seconds of a certain strong-willed child crying and deciding not to use his words) we realized that in order to make it to our dinner location, 45 miles away, by our dinner time in 30 minutes, I would have to drive 90 miles an hour. So, we opted for a safer alternative and checked out the local fare. (Local, meaning middle of nowhere, S. Illinois.) And we're glad we did. Had we not taken that Vienna, Illinois exit, we would not have had the opportunity to chose between Jumbo's B-B-Q, and Dolly's Country Cookin'. I mean how can you beat that! A place where the food's good, the price is cheap, the establishment is... special, and the bathrooms are an experience all in itself.

Well, that was Day 1 of the Ferris Family Reunion. We're having fun, and we haven't even arrived at our destination yet! Stay tuned as we review another chapter in our Vacation Rule book.

Crazy weekend, leads to a crazy week.

We had the entire weekend planned out. Little projects around the house to get ready for our family vacation starting Wednesday. We had every intention of getting started Friday night. We went and picked up a new phone for Travis and then had to come home and deal with an aweful migraine that snuck up on Cooper. Poor kid was miserable.
We sat on the couch and made a "game plan" for Saturday. All of that went out the window when the phone rang at 10:45 that night. It was the pastor asking for help with meals for 2 teams of workers that were at the church until this morning. Saturday was spent running to Sam's Club getting necessary things for our vacation (supplies to cook 2 meals that need to feed a minimum of 25 people. Yes, Travis comes from a HUGE family). We also had to run to Verizon to try to get the archic phone that Travis has been using for 3 yrs transfered to his brand new chocolate slider phone (yes, he got a great Father's Day gift). Come to find out, the charger port was fried, no can do. He had to enter in over 85 contacts, several of which had more than one phone number. I then picked up over 40 pieces of chicken and headed over to the church to get lunch set up for the teams that were working. We fed them, cleaned up after them, and came home. I managed to nap for over 2 hrs instead of using that time to clean, do laundry and pack... I went back t o the the church at 5 to set up dinner. I finally made it home after that adventure right before 8. I changed and just layed on the couch with my book. This morning we got up and all of us were at the church at 8:30AM so I could make pancakes for 15 youth and their chaperones. We went from church downtown to Busch Stadium. We got to enjoy the beautiful summer weather sitting at the ballpark watching the Cardinals win. Tonight I finally tackeled Mt. Laundry. I can *almost* see the seat of my comfy green chair... Maybe by tomorrow afternoon.
Tomorrow and Tuesday we have to finish up our housework and pack the suitcases and cooler. Wednesday afternoon we are off to Pigeon Forge, TN with an overnight pitstop in KY to visit with Erin!!!!!
No pictures tonight, the camera died at the ballpark when I tried to get pictures of Travis and the boys... Sorry. I'll make up for it with great vacation pictures, I promise.

Much anticipated pictures!

Nelson showing up his new Batman and Superman capes.

Swimming with Uncle Eric and Evan.

Nelson and Sophie playing with "Auntie Sheri" (in Nelson's arms) and "Sheila" (in Sophie's arms).
The light saber cake. This cake was complete with "dark side" and "light side". It looked amazing and tasted amazing! Good job, Travis.

Happy Birthday Travis!

Happy 33rd. Hope you have/had a great day with family!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Nel-Bomb!!!!

(Tomorrow is Nelson's birthday, but we will be out of town and away from all the saved pictures so I had to post this today!) Look for party pictures early next week!
I can't believe you are already 5. Time has really gone by!! Daddy and I love what you have brought to our family. I look forward to waking up every morning to see if I'm going to have Nelson for the day or Batman or Superman. You have the most amazing imagination.

The boys getting along...

Three smiling faces are a rarity lately. For some reason, the 3 boys find something to bicker, fight, and yell about. Aparently Summer Vacaion isn't the answer for my boys. They finally got along yesterday for the first time in a really long time. I had to document them happy with eachother. I may blow these up and make them posters in their bedroom as a reminder they do like eachother.

Me too, me too!

Since we first got Toby we've had a routine... He lays in Travis's lap every weekend morning while Travis sits at the kitchen table reading or whatever. This past Sunday Maddox was feeling very left out. He kept trying to push Toby off, but Toby wouldn't budge. Finally he gave up, climed on a chair, got on the table, and plopped right on top of Toby.