Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Joe — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 22:31:50 GMT

"excitedment"?

For years, I've had a strong urge to take a road trip; unplanned, just get in and go; taking my turn as Kerouac or Steinbeck with Charley and Rocinante. But when I envision this trip, I'm alone, maybe with my wife, but ideally for some reason, alone.

I have no plans to take my children on a long road trip as I have no desire to see the inside of a working prison.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Lora — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:11:52 GMT

I lived in Denver for a little over 5 years and have made the drive from Denver to Pasadena too many times for my liking. OMG, Utah is long and unattractive. I've also done the drive from Denver to Milwaukee...um, Nebraska? Not looking so good either. All trips were taken with my son under the age of 5 and no technology. He was great...I, on the other hand, was cranky by about hour 10.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

mrskennedy — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:57:44 GMT

Wow, Amy, you are hardcore. I salute you.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

amy — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:41:15 GMT

I road trip from Boulder to San Fran in the summers with my two boys-7 and 8. No TV, No NOTHIN but books. They should hate me....but they don't. One key is to withhold liquid of any sort unless near death from dehydration. Less stopping. I stop for nothing. Food. Hotel. Berating-they are the only stops allowed. I do not speak unless spoken too-cuts down on fighting. When my husband gets in on these trips-it all changes. He talks too much-gives snacks and drinks. I just hate it. The boys fight for his attention and it is all over after like one hour. So we travel alone-daddy flies to meet us and we are all happy.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Jippy — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:27:39 GMT

Road tirps are great memories..... I am glad to see I am not the only one packing multi media gadgets.... of corse I am only going accross town.......

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Robin — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:57:53 GMT

I grew up in the Bay Area and am now living in western Colorado. We've been making the drive across Nevada and Utah to Truckee, CA (where my parents now live) at least once a year for the last 7 seven years since my daughter was born. Every year it gets easier and more fun. This last time, I slept in the backseat along side my daughter who watched an entire season of the Simpsons while my husband drove the entire 12 hours — best roadtrip ever!

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re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

mizmell — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:55:36 GMT

What's a road trip with a portable DVD and Ipod? It's like camping with air-conditioning and tv...

The whole idea is to "rough it" a bit and discover there's more to the world that all these material things... like maybe people and independent thoughts.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

BOSSY — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:22:37 GMT

Bossy has heard her grandmother tell of a time before Nintendo DS, portable DVD players, and iPods - a time when children used to look out of the whatchamacallit. The car window.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

maggie — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 13:34:55 GMT

My daughter has many pillows on her bed because I only had one. That was one of my goals as a kid -- to have lots of pillows. And it never worked out.

I can't wait to take my kids on road trips. I have many memories of gas stations and rest stops in the middle of the night or very early in the morning (I was the kid who was constantly in need of a pit stop) -- it was the only time I was ever awake at those times of day, and it always felt so adventurous.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Elizabeth — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:30:41 GMT

"I think my parents taught us to be embarrassed by excess and luxury"-I guess we were also lower-upper-middle-class, but we were not allowed to talk about money. It was "no one's business" how much something cost. Which is maybe why now I still can't keep the checkbook balanced.

And oh, the road trips, in our EconoVan, a straight shot from Michigan to Ft. Walton Beach, Florida via I-75, with a stop in Northern Georgia to spend the night in a Holiday Inn. Breakfast in the morning at the hotel diner, where there were grits on the menu and the pop was called Soda! So exotic!

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Michele — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 04:55:22 GMT

We did a road trip to Denver From Fresno a couple of years ago. My son was 4 and still had to ride in a booster seat--that was a long ass trip for him. He did fine most of the trip but on the way home he had a melt down from being uncomfortable.

We are driving out to Ohio next month from Sacramento (where we live now) but we've disallowed him from bringing any digital things (okay just his mp3 player, but NO Nintendo or DVD players), just books, paper, etc. I want him to get the FULL effect without all the technology attached to it. He's an only child too so we will take turns riding in the back seat with him so we can play games--but other wise he's solo.

Wish me luck, as I do you.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

amy — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 03:00:48 GMT

Ahh the memories. 6 of us kids, two parents stuffed in a station wagon driving from BC to Ontario every second year. No air conditioning, no stereo (radio when it worked) and lots of sibling fighting/arguing/bickering :)

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

superblondgirl — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 23:21:32 GMT

That poor kid. Only 14 pillows? Hopefully he never sees that Sweet 16 MTV show or he'll be wanting his whole room to be made of pillows.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Steph — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:57:14 GMT

Lucky boy to have so many pillows, not to mention a loving mom and a road trip to look forward to.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

RobinM — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:44:28 GMT

I drove from CT to various points on the west coast 6 summers in a row as a kid.

It was truly a rite of passage and still the best stories my brother and I can tell.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

sinda — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:38:30 GMT

I'm just home from a trip to SF via Denver, flying Frontier. We chose to fly b/c my oldest hurled on our last road trip, and we figured this would at least reduce the amount of hurling-possible time spent traveling.

She did get airsick, but it was easy to contain. Ahem. Anyway, regardless of the relatively shorter time spent traveling, we're opting for the car next time. I can barely contain my own panic for the duration of the flight, much less entertain them and answer their questions (Is this a bumpy bumpy ride? YES, YES it is, STOP TALKING.)

All to say - go for it! From what I know of Jackson, he'll do great, and you two will have a blast.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Tina — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:35:16 GMT

We we used to go on road trips (such as Dallas to Pheonix--nice LONG one there), my parents would fold down all the seats on the station wagon and somehow load up the luggage on one side. Then we had blankets, sleeping bags, etc. to play on the entire other side. We could move around, play, sleep... Car seats and seat belts have made that part not as fun.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Rhonda — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:33:44 GMT

I was about to write that my daughter and I leave on our first girls only road trip...

bad writer.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Rhonda — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:32:53 GMT

I myself could have written this post.

Have a great road trip, my daughter and don't forget the snacks.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Calculus — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:32:15 GMT

I love driving cross-country.

Of course when I was a kid my parents would only drive in the morning, then we'd spend the rest of the day camping. It would take us 5 whole days just to drive from Bellevue, WA to Minnesota.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Rebecca — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:14:05 GMT

Okay, you've inspired me to put Funny Lady on my Netflix queue, <i>and</i> I've got "I Found My Million Dollar Baby in a Five and Ten Cent Store" stuck in my head.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Lori — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:42:24 GMT

That's just ... awesome. You covered a lot of ground in a few short paragraphs, all of it funny.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Rebecca — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:41:49 GMT

Good lord, I loved Funny Lady. My mom had the soundtrack album (A gatefold! With all the lyrics!) and I spent long hours creating several entirely new musical routines in our living room. I like to think I could have given Barbra a run for her money.

re: Good Lord, My Son Has a Lot of Stuff On His Bed

Lin — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:02:19 GMT

Beautifully segued (?). The whole damn thing. And yeah, one skidding sideways across a bridge when I was asleep in the backseat on a family roadtrip was enough to ensure that I am unable to ever fall asleep in any moving vehicle. Ever.