The Army wants to know - weight and road trips

Uncle Sam wants to know how much you weigh.

Or, how much I weigh. And how much my Man weighs, and everything in our house.

Now that Christmas is over, it's time to look at the subject of moving again. We came in well under weight on this last move but have since acquired a refrigerator, a lawn mower, a 2 quart crockpot, and about 10 balls of yarn.

When we move we have to weigh the truck empty, weigh the truck full, weigh our van empty, weigh our van full, figure out how much our second vehicle weighs (is the gas tank half empty or half full?) as well as figuring out how many pounds and ounces of food to fill our van with for the trek yonder.

We've learned a lot from our past couple of road trips and the lessons are these:

- Never pack a box of diapers. Sure, you'll use that many, but no matter how much you try to tell yourself the older kids won't mind sitting with it between them, they will get so bored and fed up with each other that they will poke holes in the box (thus poking holes in your precious diapers) and make a fort out of it over which to lob soggy sandwich crusts and drinking straws. Just pack the diaper bag full and buy smaller packages along the way, no matter how many teeth you feel like you're pulling when buying the small package. (non-kidded friends: you can save yourself hundreds of dollars by buying diapers in bulk).

- Screw cap bottles of water are a bit of a pain. Pop tops are nice in theory, but some kid will never get the concept of popping it all the way back on before beating his/her nearest sibling with it thus spraying everyone in the van with water. Even better are those tiny bottles of water that you refill, or have them bring their own straw-equipped thermos.

- Always try the individual packets of Crystal Light before you bring them on a three day trip. We got so tired of lemon aide and white grape, which were the only two non-staining ones I could find but, miser that I am, I was choking it down so it "wouldn't go to waste" because $2 is soooo worth that amount of suffering. (not)

- As much of a good idea as you might think it is to bring "just in case" items, resist the temptation. We brought such things are frisbees, a kite(!), and vacuum packed extra clothes for everyone. Frisbee- crushed. Kite- totally unused. Extra clothes- kinda came in handy toward the very end but really there are plenty of washers and driers in post lodging. Besides that, your vehicle will be stuffed to the gills with items that the movers just couldn't be bothered to throw in the truck like batteries (another curse of buying them in bulk from Costco), the KY jelly they left in the middle of your bedroom floor (curses), Man's walking stick that got left in the dark corner of some closet, and all the airplanes, balls, and Nerf darts that got left on the roof.

-DO bring a small bottle of your own laundry soap. Seriously.

-DO bring some food. The H jury is still out as to whether it's better to just keep everything in a large cooler (takes up space, but keeps the kids from eating out of pure boredom; it's hard to hand things around all the time especially if you're in the middle of knitting a row) or just fill their lunch boxes every morning and tell them it has to last all day long (they can choose when to eat without bothering you; the food is usually gone before noon and then they get grumpy).
Snacks to bring:
- Surprisingly, carrot sticks are very popular with my young ones, as are whole apples.
- PB&J sandwiches are good as long as you have a way to not squish them.
- Turkey sammies are also good as long as you don't put things like pickles and lettuce on them (they wilt and make the sandwich soggy -- turkey and mayo should always be in a cooler).
- We don't keep our drinks cold because of the extra bulk of doing so as well as condensation issues and kids who don't know how to deal with it.
- Tiny gladloc container of cold cereal make a great snack.

-DO NOT bring the following food and beverage items:
Soda - blows up, stains, makes things sticky.
Koolaide - sugar, stains.
Oreo cookies - way too messy, especially in the hands of someone under the age of 12.
Gum - unless they've mastered the art of throwing it away when they're done (or, as my clever 2 year old has discovered, just swallow it)
Anything that needs a spoon.

- DO bring a roll of paper towels and maybe a roll of TP (one of those "just in case" things that don't take much room but you never know what you'll find, or not, in a highway lav.)

- DO bring extra grocery bags to use as trash/dirty diaper bags.

- It's up to you whether you bring (1 blanket + 1 pillow = 1 person) as only you can tell how crowded that will be. We've found that the older kids like this combo as long as they have a place to stash them but the youngers just need their special blankets. Man and I use those memory foam pillows so we each bring our pillow but one usually goes into the cargo area.

-DO NOT let your husband talk you into bringing his favorite heavy blanket that takes up more room than all the clothes combined.

-Call each hotel and ask if they have cribs available. If you don't have to bring the Pack-n-play, so much the better.

-DO NOT pack all of the clothes into one huge sports equipment sized duffle bag. You WILL regret this.

-If you're moving during the school year, DO bring the kids' backpacks and lunch boxes as well as all the papers you'll need for registration.

-DO bring your husband's leave form. If he gets pulled over for speeding, he could get taken to jail for being AWOL. Unless he's a civilian.

-TRY NOT TO WORRY about the things you forgot to bring. It'll be ok, really. Unless it's something like asthma meds, or your check book, or a map, or your orders, or... you know. That kind of stuff.

-DO stop and smell the roses. Road trips are like life: it's all about the driving part until you get to the end. Enjoy the beauty of the land and people, enjoy the humor and singing as a family, stop when you see a vista or outlook.

And, for heaven's sake, check your kid's shoes after stopping at a rest stop if there's a "pet exercise area" or it won't matter how many roses you smelled.