Saturday Morning Sip N’ Share: Distance

Good morning my friends! Here we are on another Saturday morning. I spent the last five days in Florida with family, so on this Saturday morning I am definitely a bit tired. After spending time in Florida at my sister’s house I figured “distance” seemed like a fitting theme for this morning’s chat.

Got your coffee? I do! I might even need an extra cup or two today. Go ahead and get cozy. It’s time for us to chat.

Driving the Distance Alone

At this point my girls are pretty seasoned when it comes to road trips. When we lived in Maryland we took several road trips that required us to travel 12+ hours one-way. Our longest trips were always to Florida which ended up being a 20+ hour drive one-way. My husband and I always take turns driving, giving each other breaks and the chance to catch a nap if needed. We also keep each other company, having conversations along the way which helps with the drive.

This trip to Florida was a bit different. It was the first time we’ve been to Florida since moving to North Carolina. Another first? I drove the girls and myself down to my sister’s house without my husband. 9 hours isn’t too bad, but it does kind of suck when you don’t have another adult there to talk to and to let you get a break from driving occasionally.

My girls did pretty good! Of course they complained about having to sit for a long time, and they wanted to get out often. But I made sure we were prepared, too. Here are some tips that I have for when road tripping alone with kids:

• Take activities to keep them busy. Tablets and video games are great, but eventually they need to be charged. Get some dry erase books, some note pads, coloring books…anything to keep them busy.
• Take lots of breaks. They don’t need to be every hour, but every 2-3 hours is a good idea. It’s good for them and you.
• If you have the time, eat as a family inside the restaurant or with the car parked. It’s more sitting, but at least you get to relax together.
• Keep your expectations low. Kids need to get out and be active…don’t expect to drive straight through. It just won’t happen.
• Have a buddy system. Let your kids know that they can’t leave you. When you’re the only adult responsible for your kids, you need to be more aware of all of them and what they’re up to. When my hands were full with food I told them they still had to keep a hand on my pocket or my purse strap.

Distance Between Sisters

Growing up my sisters and I had to share a room. There are three of us, and I am the oldest. I shared a room with my youngest sister, who is ten years younger than me, until I moved out at almost 20 years old. We all lived fairly close to one another until the second oldest moved to Florida in 2013 when her husband enlisted in the Marines. Then in 2020 the youngest of us moved to Louisiana when her husband enlisted in the Air Force. And then when I moved with my family to North Carolina in 2022, we officially had all moved away from home and away from each other.

Having young children makes it hard to travel…I know most of you know that already. But throw in there the rules of the military and a pandemic, and then it gets really hard to travel. When I told my sisters that I was going to bring my girls down to Florida this past week, my youngest sister decided she would make the trip to Pensacola as well. It was the first time that we were all together in about 4ish years.

It was nice to be able to hang out and spend time together again. At this point in my life it’s almost always about the girls. While I was happy to see my sisters, I was even happier to see my girls play with their cousins. They got to play with their cousins on my husband’s side (they live 7 hours away from us) back in May, and then they got to spend time in Florida with their cousins this week. For those two events to happen so close to one another is rare; I’m so glad we were able to make it happen.

Back At Home

As of this morning we are back at home, and we’re happy to be here. It was so adorable to see the grin on my youngest’s face this morning after she realized that she could finally see her Daddy again. He’s been travelling a lot for work lately…he didn’t go to Florida with us because he had to travel to San Diego for work. So when my youngest came downstairs this morning she headed straight to Daddy to get her snuggles.

Do you ever take road trips? What’s the furthest you’ve ever driven? I hope to travel more with the girls as they get older. One of these days we’ll finally get them on a plane!

I hope you have a great weekend, my friends. Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Oh! And did I mention I started a new deals group on Facebook? You can find me in the group “Mama Runs on Deals & Coffee.”

Until next time…

Meg