It's what we do

We complicate things. It's not always a bad thing. When we decided a year ago that we wanted to do this trip, we knew - we knew - that we must be a little touched in the head to volunteer for such a road trip with 3 kids. We decided immediately that rules were in order, and that they must be written down.

The first incarnation of the rules was in commandment form. Lots of "thou shalt"s and "thou shalt not"s. Somehow...I don't remember exactly how now that I'm writing about it...this morphed into Constitution form. Val?

So we have a Constitution of the Swaggon (including a preamble!), which consists of rules for the kids while on the road. Val knew that we needed rules for OUTSIDE the Swaggon, as well, as our children have inherited enough of our smartass DNA to point out that "we're not IN the Swaggon right now." To stay with the theme, she created the Houseguests' Bill of Rights. That particular document details how we expect them to behave while in someone else's home.

I've created a page-a-day worksheet that they'll get each morning of the trip. It has a little synopsis of what's planned for the day, then a fill-in-the-blank section about the day. Mac and Bella have different pages, and I tried to gear their stuff to them directly. I want them to have a record of what we did that would be less painful than a "what I did this summer" report.

To help keep them busy, we also created our own personalized Scavenger Hunt. Most of the "road trip scavenger hunts" out there are extraordinarily lame. Seriously. Google it. Or don't - just trust us...lame. Val discovered the University of Chigago's annual ScavHunt and we were inspired. Read some of the archived lists. Things of BEAUTY! So we created our own version of the ScavHunt (scaled down for an 8 & 10 year-old) and call it, of course, the SwaggHunt.

To keep track of all this we have provided the two older kids with Trapper Keepers. They'll have a copy of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, SwaggHunt lists, worksheet pages, and copies of the AAA TripTiks of their own. On top of the portable DVD player, the netbook, DSs, and whatever else they bring to keep them entertained.

We're going to post copies of everything. The ScavHunt will come last, as it it constantly evolving and growing. We welcome questions or comments - and especially suggestions. This is going to be a ridiculously long car trip, and the happier the kids are the more sanity Val and I will retain.