Every summer, my in-laws put on Cousin’s Camp at their place in San Antonio. This is meant to be a great opportunity for the grandkids to come together and hang out with each other and with their grandparents. This was the first year that both our kids went to cousins camp.  Are you dying?   A whole week!   I’m not saying that we don’t want to be around our kids, but every once in a while we need a break. Geez, sometimes I need a break from myself. I call it sleep and it is so good for me and anyone around me.
Noting that we would have a whole week to ourselves this summer, we decided to make the best of it with a little road trip. The second we dropped off the kids, there were some notable differences in traveling with kids versus traveling without kids.

1. No one asked me for a snack. What I mean to say is that little people that we love and adore were not begging for snacks every ten minutes. Nor did anyone shun the snack options. No, I don’t want apple sauce. Wait, yes I do. Oh wait, that kind, nope. Additionally, stopping for gas did not become a fake potty break just so we can get inside the store and buy a snack that they most likely won’t eat. Nor was snack trash “handed” to me at random moments also known as the exact moment the other child wants something or just as I have settled in with my own snack, book, music, etc. I exaggerate, my husband did ask me once to hand him a specific granola bar out of the bag that I was already rummaging through. Otherwise, he grabbed his own snacks.
2. Along these same lines, no one asked me to reach for the teddy bear, blanket, ball, pillow, lovey, snack, hat, sunglasses, Lego piece, crayon, piece of paper, etc. that fell/was thrown/dropped in some dark unreachable corner of the minivan. I did not unbuckle and drag myself into the back seat for any reason at all during this trip in order to reach an unreachable object. Bliss.
3. I did not hear “Are we there yet”. Not once. Nor did I utter that phrase.
4. Shockingly no one told me to stop singing. Does that happen to you? I used to think maybe it was because I had a terrible voice. It’s entirely possible I have a terrible voice, but I’m convinced that my children tell me to stop singing because they only want to hear themselves.
5. I did not write or talk nearly as much as I do when the kids travel with us. Mostly because the aforementioned differences did not require my usual repertoire of responses – What, what sweetie, no, do you want cheese/yogurt/cracker/apple sauce/chips, we are not there yet, we are stopping for gas not snacks, no, yes, just a second, please be patient, and on and on. A friend once asked me how I manage to blog when I travel with the kids. When they go to bed, so do I. Actually, when the kids fall asleep, I haul out my laptop. The tv that I turn to at home is out of the question when sharing a room with children that would rather stay up all night.

It’s been two weeks since Cousin’s Camp. I just finished editing my photos last night. Tonight is the first night I managed to write a word about my trip. Does this mean we should travel with our kids all the time?  Ask me after our next trip.