Family Moments
“Family moments are the best souvenirs.”
Moments. Maybe a split second decision. A window of time that surprised you, and allowed you to spend time with family. A car ride conversation. A road trip. A stay-cation. It’s the moments within in these times that we remember, that children remember.
There is a five year gap between my brother and I, which to some seems like a lot, but honestly, I love it and always have. It’s one of those things, as a kid, you didn’t really think about unless somebody pointed it out. We have always been best friends, partners in sneakiness, and have always loved family. Family trips and family time were no brainers for us. Yes, we had a home that was open to many friends and extended family. But when it was family time or time for a trip, it was us four.
To be completely honest, I’m not sure anyone really wanted to travel with us after a couple of our trips had unfortunate events- tornados, fires, tornadoes, snow storms…
The great thing about family time and trips was that we knew each other like the back of our hands. My brother was generally the talkative one, everywhere but the car. And I, became a non-stop talker once I hit the car and didn’t usually stop until our destination. This is how the story of most of our trip stories start… “Well, Anna decided to talk the whole way…” 😂
Reminiscing is fun. My brother and I were obsessed with getting t-shirts everywhere they sold them – restaurants, surf shops, ice cream/desert hole-in-the-wall places. We were taught that everywhere you go, there is always something to learn. So whether it was reading the history of the restaurant, or why a city was considered important for history, we would take the time to learn. (not always with the best attitude, but it paid off eventually. And now we do it without even realizing it)
So of course when my niece came along, and then my nephew, I was excited to share some of these unique moment memories with them.
(Disclaimer: What I am about to type doesn’t mean I am against screens. There are definitely times in which they are necessary! We traveled with a mini dvd player on these trips- just because we didn’t have an iPad – so no judging here.)
My niece and nephew live about 30ish minutes away, so when they were little the drive sometimes was a struggle for them to wrap their mind around. So we had to get creative. One side of the car was lined with matchbox cars and the other with dress-up sticker sheets/pad. And as they grew older, we took them on small one day and/or overnight out of town trips. So we needed a little something extra to keep their attention.
One thing I did was “Hour gifts,” every hour they get to open up a gift, each gift was something they could do while in the car, as well as at the hotel, or in a restaurant.
Another thing I did, which is pictured above, is I mad them each “Travel Boxes.” Each had their own dry erase marker, eraser, twistable color pencils/or crayons, activity books, and books they could read/look at. These came in handy because everything fits into the box – which they were responsible for putting back in the box when exiting the car 😉.
The one thing I did, especially as they both became elementary school age, and a little more space-saving, is a “Road Trip Binder.” I found this website that has wonderful printables! Actually a few websites, which I will link at the bottom of this post. From tic-tac-toe, hangman, I-spy, ABCs.
The most important thing I remember about family time and trips were that we were together, learning together, seeing and hearing together, it was a shared experience. And that’s what I wanted to give my niece and nephew during our “road time.”
It’s the time of year of traveling, family, and rushing, but I encourage you to resist the temptation to overlook the moments. Take those split second opportunities to stop and make that split second a fantastical moment, that will last for a lifetime. I encourage you to look out the car window, plane window, train window, like there is absolutely no screens, like it’s the era of car bag phones and phone booths, and play I-spy or the ABC game.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Life Book of the Week: Glad and Golden Hours: A Companion for Advent and Christmastide, by Lanier Invester.
Links for Travel Box and Road Trip Binder:
https://www.artsyfartsymama.com/2015/05/road-trip-binder-with-free-printables.html
https://www.momsminivan.com/category/printable-car-games
