Road Rules

Day One (as it stands):

We left about 2.5 hours behind schedule, which is not the end of the world because we should arrive to D.A.R. State Park in Vermont with enough daylight to set up camp and get dinner started. London just recently grew big enough to sit in a forward-facing car seat, so we debuted that today, thinking that the novelty of seeing what we see would make her a more willing traveler. In reality, it made her screaming less muffled, as it is now megaphoned right into our ears.

While it was a bit of a crazy start, she is sleeping peacefully now, along with Harper who delayed us a tad with his (no joke) 20 minute pit stop before we were even half an hour outside of Rochester. But, a man's business cannot be rushed...

The oldest girls are busy with their activity books I put together. I am contemplating what this trip's focus should be. We have some specific things we want to work on with each kid, but the overall theme for the trip will be gratitude. In keeping with my goal of total fabulousness in my old age, I am going to use this time to be more aware of, and thankful for, every single thing in my life. That means no complaining.

In order to reduce complaining, I plan to strictly enforce some rules. Some are basic; keep your area of the car tidy, no waking up the baby, no whining, only one show allowed per day in the car... Some are a little more unusual; no gremlin crying in the tent, if you slam your whole water bottle before we are out of rochester, you lose the privilege of water, and sprinkling your legs with water is not allowed.

We are harsh I know. But, this should help in making this a fun, family adventure for everyone. Speaking of everyone, our outspoken and high-maintenance friend, Joe Cassara, lodged a complaint against last year's blog coverage. He claimed that there was a disproportionate amount of attention paid to myself and the kids in comparison to Tom.

So, by singular request... I give you a new recurring feature called "All Tom, All the Time." Expect big things. If you hate the name, consider yourselves lucky that I didn't take Joe's suggestion and call it "Kingtom" as in "Kingdom," but dumber sounding.

A little taste of what's to come in "All Tom, All the Time"?? Well, re-read last year's posts about Tom's desperate search for buffalo, but insert the word moose where it says buffalo. This should give you the general idea.

The next two nights Tom's parent's will join us in Vermont. I have high hopes of eating so much Vermont cheddar and anything Maple-flavored... Because like all fabulous elderly women, I love myself a maple treat.

let the wild woman pack.

Well... I am making a good bit of progress in packing.  Which is good, because we leave in about 12 hours.  Believe it or not, vacuum sealing all of our stuff intoindividual ziplock bags is the least obnoxious (and space-saving) packing method in the long run. In the short run, it makes me question my sanity.

But, jammies are ziplocked in, so there is no turning back now.  This really is the only way I can pack for 6 people for 3 weeks and fit in everything, and it keeps us organized as a little bonus.

The kids are very excited and Harper asked about our "country road trip" at least 89 times today. Tom is outside vacuuming out the van in the dark, so I can't say for sure... But I'm guessing he's all sorts of pumped right now.  I am  handling the pressure with my usual pleasant, laid back demeanor.

I am just not the type to freak out and, oh, I don't know... threaten Tom's life if he puts a "tick" mark on my packing list in his handwriting.  Nobody should let a woman like that drive all over the country without supervision. Fortunately, I am more stable than those kind of women. That reminds me, I better go ziplock all our undies.

butterfly baby

it's the final countdown.

we are officially leaving for our second annual "Capuano Tour de USA" in 4 days.  one might expect that we are nearly packed, and are finalizing last minute details.  one would be seriously disappointed to find that one couldn't be more wrong.  one might call me a total failure.  i might tell one to stick it where the sun don't shine, mostly because i am really committed to seeing that phrase make a comeback.

we are not nearly as prepared as we were for our last trip.  this lack of preparation is totally tom's fault.  okay, one should probably know that i am lying, and really... it's nobody's fault.  ok, one, it's probably my fault.  but, what can ya do?  i will tell you what i plan to do: scramble like a crazy person for the next 4 days, and hope that any lack of preparation just makes for good blog fodder.

here is what we have done, and what we have yet to do.

     done:

• planned the general route we will go.
• located and reserved campsites through day 10.
• planned meals through day 10.
• made a grocery list.
• thought about how much laundry needs to be done.
• panicked about not having anything packed.
• went away for the weekend to de-stress from all that stress of needing to do things that we haven't done, instead of staying home and actually doing things.

    not done:

• packing for 6 people, for 3 weeks.
• buying supplies (sunscreen, bug spray, propane for the camp stove, groceries, etc.)
• planning the second half of our trip.
• cleaning out the van and organize it into road-trip mode.
• making state-by-state activity books for the kids.
• making a state-by-state activity book for tom.  (he is a very squirrelly traveler.)
• pretty much anything one might think needs to be done, goes in this "not done" category.

while i am terribly worried that this road trip will not go too smoothly because we have so little of the preparations made this time... i am equally excited for what this trip may bring.  we are expecting more rain and mosquitoes, but on the up side, much less time in the car actually driving.  we will cover a fraction of the ground we covered last time, which will allow us to see a lot and spend more time at each stop.  we have 18 days of travel, and will cover all of new england.  i plan to blog regularly, just as i did last year.  i expect each post to be riveting.  one could safely expect a thrilling account, starting in 4 days.  

until then, i have a lot of work to do.  my blood pressure goes up just thinking about it.  

london and ella